Improving the efficiency of vehicular networks via the simultaneous deployment of roadside units and unmanned aerial vehicles

The rapid growth of Internet connected devices necessitates improved area coverage due to advancements in information and communications technology. The increasing network request volume demands efficient resource management systems to stop resource waste while delivering prompt, accurate responses. Different solutions exist to achieve balanced request distribution and efficient network management. The expensive deployment of roadside units (RSUs) needs optimization to achieve fast communication with limited infrastructure. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) function as aerial base stations to improve network coverage in regions that do not allow or justify permanent RSU installation. The research presents a method to combine RSU and UAV deployment aimed at better network efficiency and coverage enhancement. The simulations ran tests across different vehicle density levels. The message delivery success rate reached 97.1% at average density, but decreased to 67% when vehicle density reached its maximum. The addition of UAVs resulted in 100% message delivery during average density conditions and 99.2% successful delivery during maximum density conditions within the specified time. The proposed solution demonstrate noticeable network performance enhancement even when the system operates at its highest capacity.