Providing fast broadcasting by reserving time slots for multi-hop distance in VANETs

In vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs), multi-hop broadcast protocols are required for many applications including driver assistance systems. However, providing a low end-to-end latency has been very challenging. In this paper, we propose a protocol which can provide a fast channel access for broadcast traffic flows in VANETs. The protocol introduces new control messages to reserve time slots for the forwarder nodes and eliminate the hidden terminal problem. By providing a contention-free multi-hop forwarding scheme based on reliably generated forwarding backbone, the protocol can provide low end-to-end delay and high packet dissemination ratio. The theoretical analysis and simulation results demonstrate the advantage of the proposed protocol over other existing alternatives.