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Leveraging fog computing and software-defined networking for a novel velocity-aware routing protocol with election and handover thresholds in VANETs

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Abstract

Vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs) facilitate real-time communication between vehicles and infrastructure, but ensuring efficient and reliable communication is a challenge due to the high mobility and dynamic nature of the network. To address these challenges, we propose an intelligent routing protocol that introduces a novel clustering algorithm for selecting cluster heads (CHs). The algorithm uses a weight function that considers vehicle speed, inter-vehicle distance, and lifetime within a cluster. This selection method enhances route stability, reduces long-range communication, and significantly lowers control overhead. Moreover, we developed a new architecture for cluster management in VANETs by redefining both the election and handover processes. In this new design, we establish distinct areas and threshold distances for each stage. The election area is where the current CH crosses the election threshold distance and initiates the election process for a new CH. Once the election is completed and a new CH is selected, the handover area comes into effect. This area marks the transition point where the responsibilities of the current CH are transferred to the newly elected CH. This modification enhances cluster management, improves communication reliability, and reduces control overhead during the transition phases. Additionally, our approach integrates advanced technologies such as fog computing for enhanced location awareness and software-defined networking (SDN) for increased programmability and scalability. A dual-phase strategy is employed, with SDN handling primary packet routing and AODV serving as a fallback mechanism in case of SDN failure, ensuring robust communication under varying network conditions. We evaluated our protocol using the NS3 simulator, comparing it with five existing VANET routing protocols, that are, IDVR, VDLA, IRTIV, GPCR, and ICDRP, on key performance metrics such as throughput and end-to-end (E2E) delay. We also compared it with CBDRP, BRAVE, MoZo, CORA, and ICDRP protocols on control overhead. The results show significant improvements in network performance, and particularly, throughput increases by 22,451.8%, 176,296.2%, 191,450.2%, 255,222.7%, and 69.6%, while E2E delay decreases by 87.35%, 90.16%, 92.79%, 97.61%, and 48.50% compared to IDVR, VDLA, IRTIV, GPCR, and ICDRP, respectively. Furthermore, Hello message overhead is reduced by 99.37%, 98.68%, 97.31%, 84.36%, and 11.24%, compared to CBDRP, BRAVE, MoZo, CORA, and ICDRP, respectively, while overall control overhead improves by 29.21% compared to ICDRP. Finally, our protocol achieves a 99% SDN packet delivery ratio and an E2E delay of less than 0.15 s, demonstrating superior performance across key metrics.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Computer Engineering Department, School of Engineering, The University of Jordan, Amman, 11942, Jordan

    Khalid A. Darabkh

  2. Electrical Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Jordan University of Science and Technology, P.O. Box 3030, Irbid, 22110, Jordan

    Mamoun F. Al-Mistarihi & Bayan Abdallah Odat

Authors
  1. Khalid A. Darabkh
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  2. Mamoun F. Al-Mistarihi
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  3. Bayan Abdallah Odat
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Contributions

K. A. D. and B. A. O. did methodology, formal analysis, and conceptualization. K. A. D. and M. F. A. supervised the study. K. A. D., M. F. A., and B. A. O. done investigation as well as writing and editing the article.

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Correspondence to Khalid A. Darabkh.

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Darabkh, K.A., Al-Mistarihi, M.F. & Odat, B.A. Leveraging fog computing and software-defined networking for a novel velocity-aware routing protocol with election and handover thresholds in VANETs. J Supercomput 81, 426 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11227-024-06883-3

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