An UAV-assisted VANET architecture for intelligent transportation system in smart cities

TLDR

Vehicular ad hoc networks are widely studied for intelligent transportation and smart city applications, yet urban deployment suffers from intermittent connectivity, high routing overhead, inflexible infrastructure, unscalable networks, and frequent packet collisions. The authors propose integrating micro unmanned aerial vehicles into VANETs to address these challenges. They design a UAV‑assisted VANET architecture where UAVs fly over the area to provide line‑of‑sight communication, load balancing, flexibility, and cost‑effective coverage, and evaluate it through a highway vehicle‑collision case study. The results demonstrate that UAVs enable guaranteed, timely delivery of emergency messages to nearby vehicles, allowing safe actions to prevent further damage.

Abstract

Vehicular ad hoc network is a pretty research vibrant area since last decade. It has been successfully used for intelligent transportation system and entertainment purposes for realization of smart cities. However, intermittent connectivity, high routing overhead, inflexible communication infrastructure, unscalable networks, and high packet collision are the key challenges that put hindrances on the wide applications of vehicular ad hoc network. The severity of these challenges become even more intensified when deployed in urban areas. To overcome these hurdles, integrating micro unmanned aerial vehicles with vehicular ad hoc network provides a viable solution. In this article, we proposed an unmanned aerial vehicle–assisted vehicular ad hoc network communication architecture in which unmanned aerial vehicles fly over the deployed area and provide communication services to underlying coverage area. Unmanned aerial vehicle–assisted vehicular ad hoc network avails the advantages of line-of-sight communication, load balancing, flexible, and cost effective deployment. The performance of the proposed model is evaluated against a case study of vehicle collision on highway. Results show that utilization of unmanned aerial vehicles ensures the guaranteed and timely delivery of emergency messages to nearby vehicles so that a safe action can be taken to avoid further damages.