Adaptive certificate distribution mechanism in vehicular networks using forward error correcting codes

A method for distributing digital certificates in a vehicle-to-vehicle network, said method comprising:

• establishing wireless communications between two vehicles in the vehicle-to-vehicle network, where a first vehicle is transmitting messages and a second vehicle is receiving messages;
• employing a digital certificate by the first vehicle, where the digital certificate contains information which can be used to verify the authenticity of messages sent by the first vehicle over the vehicle-to-vehicle network;
• dividing the digital certificate into a group of source data segments by the first vehicle;
• encoding the group of source data segments into a larger group of transmitted data segments by the first vehicle, where the encoding uses forward error correcting codes;
• transmitting message packets over the vehicle-to-vehicle network by the first vehicle, where the message packets contain transmitted data segments and message data;
• receiving the message packets by the second vehicle, separating the message packets into received data segments and message data, and storing the received data segments and the message data associated with the received data segments;
• decoding the received data segments into a group of reconstructed data segments by the second vehicle when a sufficient number of message packets are received;
• using the reconstructed data segments to create a reconstructed digital certificate by the second vehicle;
• using the reconstructed digital certificate by the second vehicle to verify the authenticity of the message packets;
• using the message data by the second vehicle in an application;
• measuring performance of the vehicle-to-vehicle network as a function of network and configuration parameters, where the network and configuration parameters are allowed to vary throughout their permissible range;
• and
• adaptively controlling the configuration parameters to optimize the performance of the vehicle-to-vehicle network.

A distribution system for distributing digital certificates in a vehicle-to-vehicle network, said distribution system comprising:

• a first vehicle in a vehicle-to-vehicle network;
• a first application system in the first vehicle, where the first application system contains information about the first vehicle to be provided to other nearby vehicles in the form of message data;
• a first communication system in the first vehicle, where the first communication system includes an encoding module configured to use forward error correcting codes for encoding a digital certificate into a number of transmitted data segments, and a transmitter for transmitting message packets containing the transmitted data segments and the message data;
• a second vehicle in the vehicle-to-vehicle network;
• a second communication system in the second vehicle, where the second communication system includes a receiver for receiving the message packets and separating the message packets into received data segments and the message data, and a decoding module configured to use forward error correcting codes for decoding the received data segments into a reconstructed digital certificate;
• and
• a second application system in the second vehicle, where the second application system processes the message data after validating the reconstructed digital certificate.