TDMA Slot Reservation in Cluster- Based VANET

A vehicular ad-hoc network (VANET) is an autonomous and self-configuring network of mobile hosts connected by wireless links. It is a highly dynamic network and has harsh channel conditions. Cluster-based MAC scheme in VANET is needed to overcome the lack of specialized hardware for infrastructure and the mobility to support network stability and channel utilization. This work presents a MAC algorithm for vehicular ad-hoc networks using a new method for TDMA slot reservation under a lane-based clustering formation algorithm. Our algorithm aims to decrease collisions and packet drops in the channel. It also will make clusters stable which will reduce the overhead of re-clustering and lead to an efficient hierarchical network topology. Cluster performance will be measured in terms of average clusterhead duration, average cluster member duration, and average rate of cluster head change. The proposed algorithm is also robust to channel error and exhibits reasonable overhead.