Performance evaluation of cluster-based schemes for message dissemination in a vehicle-to-vehicle communication in urban environment

Effective message dissemination in vehicular ad hoc networks requires proper management of broadcast storms for effective bandwidth usage, fast and reliable delivery of messages. Studies suggest clustering of vehicles as a means of solving broadcast storm problems due to reduction of nodes that rebroadcast emergency messages. However, clustering in an urban environment faces challenges in terms of bandwidth utilization and high End-to-End (E2E) delay due to high density of vehicles, and the number of intersections and buildings. Several cluster-based dissemination schemes have been proposed however, their model evaluations lack typical urban features, like intersections and buildings, which can adversely affect their actual performances. Thus, it is still not clear which scheme is truly the best for real-world urban scenarios. To address this challenge, a fair and thorough performance evaluation of the state-of-the-art schemes in a detailed urban setup, specifically at crossroads with buildings nearby, is urgently needed. Results deduce that, in terms of E2E delay, the Time-Barrier Emergency Message Dissemination Scheme (TBEMDS) outperforms Effective Emergency Message Dissemination Scheme (EEMDS) and Position-based Emergency Message Dissemination Scheme (PBEMDS) by 75% and 50% respectively at low traffic density. However, it is outperformed by PBEMDS by around 9% in high density. For Packet Delivery Ratio (PDR), from low to high density, EEMDS has the least percentage decrease in PDR with a 10% and 40% higher than TBEMDS and PBEMDS respectively, making it the most robust scheme in maintaining PDR as traffic density.