Towards a Stable Cluster-Based Routing Algorithm for Safety Traffic Communication in Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks

A VANET (vehicular ad hoc network) is an emerging and innovative wireless technology in which dynamic vehicles communicate, aiming at improving traffic safety and providing comfort to road users. However, high vehicle mobility and dynamic changes in topology pose a significant challenge to the reliable delivery of safety messages. Cluster-based routing protocols allow VANET to make fewer topology changes. However, research has shown that most of the present clustering algorithms focused on electing CH, with very few addressing other challenges such as cluster formation and cluster maintenance, which led to unstable clusters and affected the timely delivery of safety messages. In this research, a stable clustering algorithm has been developed. In the proposed algorithm, for the cluster forming process, only those vehicles that are from the same road segment, have the same road ID, and are within the transmission radius of their neighbors. Moreover, for the CH election, a weighted-based technique is used in which vehicles share their mobility information with their neighbors. The proposed algorithm also introduced the Backup Cluster Head (BCH) while merging two clusters and ensuring the stability of cluster members during the cluster maintenance process. The stability and performance of the proposed algorithm are evaluated by comparing it with several existing cluster-based routing algorithms, namely ACA and CBSC, using SUMO and OMNeT++ as simulation tools. All the algorithms in this research are simulated and evaluated on several stability parameters, namely CH lifetime, CM lifetime and the average number of re-affiliations per vehicle. The results from the simulation show that the proposed algorithm has better stability as compared to ACA and CBSC algorithms.