V2V Communication QoS Comparison of Reactive and Proactive Protocols: A Simulation-Based Evaluation in Urban and Highway Scenarios

Vehicular Ad-hoc Networks (VANETs) are crucial for modern intelligent transportation systems and can significantly enhance road safety and traffic efficiency through reliable vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication. This research focuses on improving road safety and addresses the challenges of maintaining stable communication in dynamic environments. We evaluate the performance of three routing protocols: Ad hoc On-Demand Distance Vector (AODV), Learning Automata-enhanced AODV (LA-AODV), and Destination-Sequenced Distance Vector (DSDV) under various traffic scenarios. We use NS-3 for simulation to analyze real-world urban and highway traffic models with differing vehicle densities and mobility patterns. Essential Quality of Service (QoS) metrics, including packet delivery ratio, packet loss ratio, throughput, end-to-end delay, and jitter, help identify the most effective protocol. Our findings show that LA-AODV consistently outperforms AODV and DSDV, especially in highway settings, achieving a throughput of 40.538 Kbps and a packet loss ratio of 73.67%. However, further optimization is needed to lower the end-to-end delay for time-sensitive applications. These results are not just academic findings, but practical tools for the development of more efficient and reliable VANET routing protocols. They provide actionable insights that can inform and prepare you for enhancing communication in intelligent transportation systems.