A moving cluster architecture and an intelligent resource reuse protocol for vehicular networks

Real-time data transmission, especially video delivery over high-speed networks have very stringent constraints in terms of network connectivity and offered data rate. However, in high-speed vehicular networks, direct communication between vehicles and road side units (RSU) often breaks down, resulting in loss of information. On the other hand, a peer-to-peer based multihop network topology is not sufficient for efficient data communication due to large packet loss and delay. In this paper, a novel 'moving cluster multiple forward' (MCMF) architecture is proposed and investigated for efficient real-time data communication in high speed vehicular networks. MCMF involves novel aspects in relation to the formation of clusters and managing the communication between groups of vehicles and introduction of a hierarchical multiple forwarding mechanism which enables communication between any vehicle and RSU via other vehicles. Additionally, a novel protocol called 'alternate cluster resource reuse' (ACRR) is proposed and its detailed communication mechanism is presented. Simulation tests show how the use of MCMF and the ACRR protocol results in superior bit-rate performance-around three times that obtained in peer-to-peer multihop communications and twice that of MCMF with no ACRR protocol. Further, the average delay in MCMF-based transmissions from vehicle to RSU is around 50 % that of a peer-to-peer multihop communication mechanism. MCMF/ACRR has the potential to support multimedia traffic according to the IEEE 802.11p standard, even with a sparse investment in the infrastructure.