Vehicular Fog Computing on Top of a Virtualization Layer

© 2018, Springer Nature Switzerland AG. This paper presents a networking architecture that brings the principles of fog computing to the realm of vehicular ad-hoc networks (VANETs), by systematizing the use of one or more end-user clients or near-user edge devices to carry out tasks on behalf of others. The proposal is grounded on a virtualization layer and specific routing algorithms, adding new constructs and protocols to orchestrate the allocation of tasks and the sharing of resources. This proposal solves persistent problems of previous approaches to mobile augmentation in VANETs, which require the nodes offering their resources to stay close to the ones that would use them transiently. The advantages are proved by simulations of an application of collaborative mapping and navigation, in which the vehicles in a city share storage, computing and communication resources to distribute the tasks of (i) downloading, storing and sharing chunks of maps from a server, and (ii) computing routes to the intended destinations.