# FOXS-GSC--Fast Offset Xpath Service with HexagonS Communication
## 5 Conclusions  
This article has presented FOXS-GSC, a decentralized traffic service for route suggestion that uses a distributed multi-hop communication protocol. The proposed multi-hop protocol efficiently allows vehicles to communicate with an RSU that is not in coverage range. The protocol sectorizes the scenario using hexagons. Messages are carried along a path between the origin and destination using the sectors occupied by vehicles. When unable to communicate with an RSU, vehicles are able to calculate their own alternative route, thereby reducing infrastructure dependency. Several experiments were executed to show the efficiency of the proposed communication protocol and traffic service. These experiments showed the packet collision when using FOXS-GSC remained low even when the density of the scenario increased, having up to 95% fewer collisions than the other tested solutions. Similar behavior was observed for the receive coverage and packets transmitted. In regard to traffic efficiency, the proposed protocol reduced related several drawbacks: a 39% reduction in stopped time, 10% reduction in carbon emission, and 19% reduction in PTI. The proposed routing service shows good results even when there is no communication with the RSU. Our results in scenario with varied levels of RSU distribution show that the coverage influences the quality of the solution. However, the multi-hop protocol developed in this research alleviates this problem. As seen in our experiments, despite a difference in results of up to 50% for FOXS-GSC between the scenario with minimum coverage and the scenario with full coverage, in the scenario with minimum coverage FOXS-GSC obtained better results than the other compared solutions. These results show that a routing service is highly dependent on the dissemination of traffic data within the network. One of the key factors in the good results obtained in this study was the integration of the routing service and the sectored multi-hop protocol, which takes into account relevant data for the routing service such as the traffic density of the region. Continuing this general analysis, it is possible to infer from the results obtained in this research that, in addition to the importance of the density of the region, a trade-off must be observed between the cost of implementing the infrastructure and the effective gain in improved traffic flow. The proposed solution does have several limitations, although these can serve as a guide for future research directions. A deeper study involving traffic engineers and urban specialists is necessary to determine an effective RSU distribution that considers the communication radius and whether there are roads within its coverage. Additionally, it is necessary to verify the feasibility of implementing Roadside Units (RSUs) by assessing locations where they can be deployed while ensuring compliance with regional laws and regulations. The routing mechanisms used in the proposed solution only detect existing congestion or congestion that is on the verge of forming. Therefore, the vehicle route suggestions are limited, and could use a more detailed prediction service based on the history and patterns of traffic behavior. The FOXS-GSC multi-hop communication protocol was developed based on the requirements of the router service, and this protocol has the limitation of not addressing the network partition problem. Finally, implementing methodologies in the FOX-GSC communication protocol that offer privacy and security for the transmitted data while maintaining low computation overhead and low communication overhead, such as the methods proposed in [37; 38], is desirable for application in real-world environments. In our future work, we plan to execute experiments considering different scenarios and extend the service to include mobile fog computing nodes (e.g., buses), thereby removing the need for full coverage. Buses are a plausible choice for mobile nodes, as they have a predefined route, making it possible to schedule services according to this route.