A Software-Defined Collaborative Communication Model for UAV-Assisted VANETs

Abstract

AbstractDue to the increased number of vehicles and the vast development of autonomous vehicular technology, the vehicular ad-hoc networks (VANETs) undergo various challenges in terms of intelligence, scalability, longevity connections, and flexibility. Software-defined networking (SDN) is one of the solutions to handle the increased number of vehicles, high dynamic environment, and providing vast services. When SDN supports VANET, they can offer the network with adaptability of dynamic changes and optimal solutions, thereby reducing the latency and improving the quality of service (QoS) and quality of user experience (QoE). In addition to SDN, the VANETs require a relay technology for enabling high accessibility and flexibility in complex network environment. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are recently developing technology that is apt for providing collaborative communication model for SDN-assisted VANETs and can act as relay nodes. Considering the advantages associated with SDN and UAVs over VANET, we propose a kind of SDN-assisted space-air-ground VANET (SSAGV) model, namely UAV-assisted VANET (u-VAN). The u-VAN framework enhances the control and management of SDN-enabled multimodal collaborative UAVs-assisted VANET and overcomes the challenges such as effective network management, interoperability, QoS, and dynamic networking. The UAVs in u-VAN support the VANET with various services efficiently, seamlessly, and optimally. The simulation results prove the efficiency of the proposed u-VAN model in terms of end-to-end latency, throughput, packet delivery ratio, and number of hops.KeywordsSDNUAVCollaborative communicationQoS