A Multi-layer Cooperation Framework for QoS-aware Internet access in VANETs

A VANET is composed of vehicles, equipped with short range wireless communication capabilities, which cooperate to form a temporary distributed network enabling communications with other vehicles or road infrastructure nodes, located in line of sight or even out of the radio range (if a multihop network is built among vehicles). It is clear that granting to vehicles continuous and high-quality connections to the Internet is a very challenging objective, due to the dynamicity of vehicular networks. In this paper, we discuss some inter-layer cooperation principles that could drive the augmentation of widely deployed protocols, at the application and network layers, to provide vehicular users with the best available Internet access