Structure-free message aggregation and routing in traffic information system (SMART)

Abstract In a VANET (Vehicular Ad-Hoc Network) environment, it is highly probable that multiple nodes detect and report common events. Hence, elimination of redundant messages can help in efficient bandwidth usage. Data aggregation has also been identified as another potential tool to address broadcast storm in VANETs. Though many aggregation and in-network filtering schemes have been proposed, few studies have been done to combine the two approaches in a structured fashion in order to reap the full benefits. In this work, we have shown how our proposed SMART protocol utilises the data aggregation tool in conjunction with message fragmentation, to address the prevailing challenge of vehicular networks—efficient bandwidth usage. The data is broken down into fragments and subsequently analysed, thus resulting in the elimination of redundant data than simply suppressing the transmission of duplicate data. The data received at every node is compared, analysed and stored into a well-organised data structure for faster and efficient look-up, thus transforming the network into a multi-level filtering system. Our SMART protocol is an efficient and scalable data aggregation scheme that achieves information dissemination without incurring any overhead of constructing a structure. As a proof of concept, we have shown that the SMART protocol improves efficiency in VANET communication by restricting the transmission of 75–80% redundant data.