Application of the lowest-ID algorithm in cluster-based TDMA system for VANETs

To gather data of a larger area and improve the capability in the system, vehicles in Vehicular Ad-hoc NETworks (VANETs) are organized into clusters. Moreover, the effectiveness of application in VANET depends on performance of Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol. In addition, cluster-based MAC protocols can avoid or limit channel contention, provide fairness to channel access, increase radio network capacity management by reusing the spatial network and effectively controlling the topology of the network. This paper proposes a cluster-based TDMA system using the lowest-ID algorithm for Vehicular Ad hoc NETworks (VANETs). Using the lowest-ID algorithm, the analytical and simulated results show that not only the average number of time slots for electing a vehicle head but also total number of time slots before data can be successfully transmitted is less than the existing cluster-based TDMA system and IEEE 802.11p.