On the impact of antenna patterns on VANET simulation

Although the level of realism in vehicular network simulation is constantly increasing, antenna radiation patterns have only rarely entered the picture. In this paper we investigate the impact of these antenna patterns on the outcome of a city-wide simulation with hundreds of cars as well as an isolated intersection collision avoidance scenario. We show that in both cases pronounced differences can be observed: Compared to idealistic isotropic antennas, using realistic antennas changes the distribution of angle of arrival, affecting network topology dynamics. In collision avoidance applications, the antenna radiation pattern can make the difference between a crash and a successful emergency brake, strongly indicating that antenna characteristics should find more consideration in vehicular network simulation.