Clustering multi‐hop information dissemination method in vehicular ad hoc networks

As a special case of mobile ad hoc networks, vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs) have attracted great interest in the research community. With the help of wireless communication, many of the safety related and non‐safety related applications can be realised in VANETs. In the multi‐hop and dynamic topology networks, building and maintaining a route is very challenging. To disseminate information among the vehicles and the infrastructures efficiently, a position‐based clustering multi‐hop routing method is proposed. The method hierarchically organises VANETs based on the competitive learning Hebb neural network, which partitions the vehicles into clusters, and these clusters are represented by virtual cluster‐heads. The method is evaluated using NS2 and compared with typical ad hoc routing protocol Ad hoc On‐Demand Distance Vector, Distance Routing Effect Algorithm for Mobility. The simulation results prove that the method is efficient.