A modular distributed simulation-based architecture for intelligent transportation systems

Summary Simulations have been used extensively for evaluating scenarios, which are very difficult, costly or impractical to implement in real systems. Testing in a synthetic, realistic environment provides a means to determine the viability of solutions. Simulations have proved to be very useful in the verification of algorithms and protocols, offering tools for testing them in different situations. The simulation of vehicular area networks pose additional challenges as realistic mobility models are crucial and must be incorporated in scenario elements while applications and communication protocols are tested. Several simulators and simulation frameworks have been designed that aim to synthetically reproduce communication and mobility of vehicles as realistically as possible. The majority of such simulators merge pre‐existing networking and mobility simulators, which add issues regarding compatibility and realism. Such simulators present limited run‐time 3D visualization tools, essential for providing immersive environments. Therefore, in this paper, we propose real‐time simulation and 3D visualization for vehicular networks of realistic scenarios. This proposed simulation system generates output in real time, making use of 3D‐modelled real‐world maps and effectively generating visualization as elements are updated in the simulation. Experiments have been conducted with simulation and visualization components to evaluate delays and performance of the proposed simulator. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.