Fuzzy Logic - Based Congestion - Aware Geographical Routing ( CAGR ) for Vehicular

Vehicular Ad hoc Networks (VANETs) is usually grouped with other similar networks types such as Mobile Ad hoc Networks (MANETs) and Wireless Mesh Networks (WMN). All of these types of networks are characterized as self-configuring and infrastructure-less. However, the vehicular nodes in a VANET are highly mobile and the corresponding communication protocols are specified to work up to speeds of more than 100 kph. In response to the communication requirement of VANETs as the network environment in Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS), the IEEE conceptualized the WAVE (Wireless Access in Vehicle Environment) System Architecture. One of the fundamental protocols behind WAVE is 802.11p, which is an enhancement of the 802.11 standard used in WiFi. While 802.11p enables inter-vehicle communication (IVC), especially neighboring vehicles, the communication protocol to use in sending traffic to and from a final destination, such as a back-end infrastructure or portal, is an open research. Two of the leading recommendations are (1) to use the cellular network and (2) to deploy a large-scale WAVE Roadside Units (RSU) infrastructure. In addition, there have been research initiatives to use the mobile vehicular nodes themselves to carry the traffic to and from the backend infrastructure. This involves multihop routing by relaying through the mobile nodes until an entry/exit point to the backend infrastructure is reached. This research focuses on multi-hop routing through the VANET nodes or relays with two key considerations: avoiding network traffic congestion and utilizing the geographical location of the neighboring nodes to enhance the wireless link quality. Fuzzy logic is used to make routing decisions based on these multiple metrics or constraints. Furthermore, heuristics is employed for the prediction of future received signal strength in a highly mobile fading channel to augment the fuzzy decision. Index Terms — VANET, MANET, vehicular ad hoc network, mobile ad hoc network, multi-hop routing, congestion, geographical routing, fuzzy logic Prof. Elmer P. Dadios, Ph.D. Manufacturing Engineering and Management De La Salle University Manila Manila, Philippines [email protected]