A SURVEY ON TOPOLOGY-BASED MESSAGE BROADCAST SCHEMES IN VEHICULAR NETWORKS

Vehicular ad-hoc networks (VANETs) are subclass of mobile ad-hoc networks (MANETs). They have been the most promising research field and development for the last few years. VANETs use vehicles as mobile nodes to provide communication among nearby vehicles and between vehicles and nearby roadside equipment. VANETs come with several challenging characteristics, such as dynamic and potentially large scale network topology, high mobility and intermittent connectivity of vehicular nodes, and broadcasting as the predominant communication to disseminate the safety messages. When a traffic accident happens, the safety message should be broadcasted to all vehicles in the area exposed to potential hazard. Recently, there have been a significant number of broadcasting protocols for VANETs reported in the literature. In this survey paper we provide an overview of topology-based broadcasting protocols and associated requirements, along with challenges and their proposed current and past major solutions. In addition, classification and comparison of topology-based broadcasting protocols are described from their pros and cons. Featured solutions in this domain are categorized and discussed