Cluster-based content download and forwarding scheme for highway VANETs

The recent advances in wireless communication technology enable high-speed vehicles to download data from roadside units (RSUs). However, the data download volume of individual vehicle is rather restricted due to high mobility and limited transmission range of vehicles, bringing users poor performance. To address this issue, we exploit the combination of both clustering and carry-and-forward schemes in this paper. Our scheme coordinates the cooperation of multiple infrastructures, cluster formation in the same direction and data forwarding of reverse vehicles to facilitate the target vehicle to download large-size content in dark areas. The process of data dissemination and achievable data download volume are then derived and analyzed theoretically. Finally, we conduct extensive simulations to verify the performance of the proposed scheme. Results show significant benefits of the proposed scheme in terms of increasing data download volume and throughput.