Transportation is a crucial component of every society. However, today's transportation systems are facing significant challenges. In terms of safety, traffic accidents are the most common cause of death in the 15 to 34 age group by a wide margin. In terms of congestion, in the past three decades, average delay has tripled. Today, congestion wastes about 40 percent of travel time on average, unnecessarily consumes about 2.3 billion gallons of fuel annually, and adversely affects the envioronment. These critical issues of transportation are not only collecting a high toll on the economy, they are also changing the way that people live, travel, and work. Many countries are planning the wide deployment of vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs) that can dramatically improve safety and efficiency of transportation systems. VANET is emerging as an exciting research field. Nevertheless, there is currently no rigorous mathematical framework for vehicular ad hoc networks. This research aims to develop a solid theoretical framework for wireless-enabled transportation networks by combining communication theory and traffic flow theory. This research aims to develop a new theory based on two separately established fields: Communications and Information Theory and Traffic Flow Theory. The research combines tools from Differential Geometry, Topology, Probability Theory, and Graph theory to provide a holistic theoretical analysis of wireless-enabled wireless communication systems. While this research increases the understanding in communication and traffic flow theory, it addresses important industrial needs. Although, the research is motivated by the important application of vehicular ad hoc networks, it turns out the developed theory is applicable to much broader scenarios, namely to the communication scenarios that are limited by geometry, line-of-sight, or restricted mobility pattern.
Level of effort statement: At the recommended level of support, the PI will make every attempt to meet the original scope and level of effort of the project. Considering that the revised budget is very close to the original requested budget, the PI expects that this will be done with no problem.
