Patent ID: 8233389

Claim:
A node, in a vehicle ad-hoc network (VANET), wherein the node is arranged in a vehicle, wherein the node includes a transmitter, a receiver and a processor for performing steps of a protocol stack, comprising: a protocol stack, further comprising: an application layer; a link layer; and a congestion control layer arranged between-the application layer and the link layer, wherein the congestion layer is configured to transfer short messages between the application layer and the link layer, and wherein the short messages are defined according to a standard for the VANET, and wherein the congestion layer optimizes a network-wide rate allocation for the short messages, wherein the congestion control layer determines a transmission probability of a short message as a function of a local density, and wherein the local density depends on a number of neighboring vehicles, and data rates used by the neighboring vehicles, and wherein the transmission probability is e λμc 0 *+λμ c 0 *−λμ−1=0, where μ is a constant that depends on transmission power, λ is the local density.