Hybrid Accurate Localization Approach for Dense and Highly Mobile Vehicular Networks

ABSTRACT Localization is a critical aspect of vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs), essential for enhancing their safety and comfort applications. However, challenges arise in achieving accurate and timely localization particularly in dense and highly mobile vehicular networks, urban environments and indoor settings where Global Positioning System (GPS) signals are unavailable and unreliable. Several localization solutions have been proposed in the literature, but they could not achieve simultaneously the desired requirements especially when applied to vehicular networks. In this paper, we propose a novel hybrid solution for localizing nodes in VANETs with high accuracy and low latency. Our approach combines optimized localization techniques and hybridizes them with a robust MAC scheme designed for efficient broadcast of beacon messages that are used for the exchange of localization information. By dynamically adapting localization techniques based on road traffic conditions and localization regions while incorporating a time slot reuse policy and a dynamic beaconing rate adjustment in the MAC scheme, our solution aims to overcome the challenges of computational overhead, communication delays and reliability concerns. It is an economical solution that enables timely and precise localization even in the absence of GPS signals. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach in achieving accurate localization for dense and highly mobile VANETs.