A Real-Corridor SUMO and ns-3 Testbed for VANET Traffic Congestion Studies on NH-16, Visakhapatnam

Abstract: Vehicular ad hoc network (VANET) applications for traffic congestion need to be tested on roads that look like the ones they are meant for, yet most simulation studies still rely on synthetic grids. This paper describes a simulation testbed built on a real Indian corridor: the 6.48 km stretch of NH-16 between Old Gajuwaka and NAD Junction in Visakhapatnam. The road network is taken from OpenStreetMap, and seven roadside units (RSUs) are placed at identifiable roadside sites such as bus stands. SUMO, controlled through TraCI, moves ten vehicles whose routes are weighted by segment congestion levels and applies a repeatable jam on one segment. The resulting mobility is replayed in ns-3, where on-board units and RSUs exchange IEEE 802.11p beacons. In the reference scenario, seven of the nine vehicles that entered the network reached the jam zone and dropped below 5 km/h. Their mean speed there was 3.8 km/h against 44.1 km/h elsewhere, the queue grew from five to seven vehicles as later arrivals drove into it, and all vehicles recovered within a few seconds of the jam being lifted. The testbed provides a realistic and repeatable base for studying congestion-aware VANET services on Indian roads.

Keywords: VANET, IEEE 802.11p, SUMO, NS-3, TraCI, Roadside Unit, Traffic Simulation, Traffic Congestion, OpenStreetMap