An Evolutionary Algorithm-Based Vehicular Clustering Technique for VANETs

Abstract

Many precious lives are lost world-wide due to road accidents. To counter this issue, the ultimate solution is Vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs). Due to the high mobility of vehicles and varying network topology in VANETs, efficient communication among the vehicular nodes is of extreme importance. To enhance communication proficiency in VANETs, clustering is a renowned procedure. Therefore, a clustering algorithm based on Moth-Flame Optimization (MFO), titled AMONET, is projected which can effectively work in high mobility nodes scenario of VANETs. AMONET is based on bio inspired procedure and creates optimized clusters for reliable and efficient communication. Our algorithm is assessed experimentally with well-known procedures such as Ant Colony Optimization (ACO), Comprehensive Learning Particle Swarm Optimization (CLPSO) and Multi Objective Particle Swarm Optimization (MOPSO). Several experiments are conducted to measure the comparative efficiency of these procedures. The average cumulative results for all the grid sizes are 27.1% for AMONET while 36.3% for ACO, 54.9% for CLPSO and 58.7% for MOPSO. The results signify that AMONET produces near ideal results, covers the entire network and generates least number of clusters. It is an efficient technique to accomplish vehicular clustering with the purpose of improving the network’s overall performance and consequently reducing the routing cost of the vehicular network.

Keywords

• Clustering
• evolutionary algorithms
• intelligent transportation system (ITS)
• moth-flame optimization (MFO)
• swarm-based algorithm
• vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs)