An improved deep reinforcement learning routing technique for collision-free VANET

Sci Rep. 2023 Dec 8;13(1):21796. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-48956-y.

Abstract

Vehicular Adhoc Networks (VANETs) is an emerging field that employs a wireless local area network (WLAN) characterized by an ad-hoc topology. Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks (VANETs) comprise diverse entities that are integrated to establish effective communication among themselves and with other associated services. Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks (VANETs) commonly encounter a range of obstacles, such as routing complexities and excessive control overhead. Nevertheless, the majority of these attempts were unsuccessful in delivering an integrated approach to address the challenges related to both routing and minimizing control overheads. The present study introduces an Improved Deep Reinforcement Learning (IDRL) approach for routing, with the aim of reducing the augmented control overhead. The IDRL routing technique that has been proposed aims to optimize the routing path while simultaneously reducing the convergence time in the context of dynamic vehicle density. The IDRL effectively monitors, analyzes, and predicts routing behavior by leveraging transmission capacity and vehicle data. As a result, the reduction of transmission delay is achieved by utilizing adjacent vehicles for the transportation of packets through Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I) communication. The simulation outcomes were executed to assess the resilience and scalability of the model in delivering efficient routing and mitigating the amplified overheads concurrently. The method under consideration demonstrates a high level of efficacy in transmitting messages that are safeguarded through the utilization of vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communication. The simulation results indicate that the IDRL routing approach, as proposed, presents a decrease in latency, an increase in packet delivery ratio, and an improvement in data reliability in comparison to other routing techniques currently available.