# TACRP: Traffic-Aware Clustering-Based Routing Protocol for Vehicular Ad-Hoc Networks
###### Abstract  
On account of the highly dynamic topology of vehicular networks, network congestion and energy utilization are greatly increased, which directly affects the performance of VANETs. So, managing traffic and reducing energy consumption in the network becomes a challenging task in such huge mobility-based VANET networks. Thus, in this paper a new traffic and cluster-based network method is introduced, namely, Traffic-Aware Clustering based Routing Protocol (TACRP). The main aim of the approach is to improve traffic management in the network as well as to reduce energy consumption in it. In the constructed network, a Traffic Management Unit (TMU) is introduced to control the entire network traffic with the help of RSUs. Vehicles with similar speed and direction are grouped into a cluster to increase the network stability and help to reduce the energy consumption of the network. The clustering model provides principles associated with vehicles leaving the clusters, joining the clusters, cluster updates and inter-cluster communication, which makes the network more stable and reliable. For instance, in the proposed work the CH selection is based on centralization, weight, distance, and energy calculation. Such network settings facilitate successfully clustering of vehicles on the road. Simulation experimental analysis showed that the proposed TACRP routing protocol achieved better results in terms of energy efficiency, throughput, packet delivery ratio, and end to end delay of the network when compared with earlier methods, such as ECHS and NRICS.  
VANETs; traffic management; AODV routing protocol; clustering technique; dynamically varying topology; traffic management unit (TMU) 2022  
[PERSON]. [PERSON], M.  
The suitable traditional routing protocols for VANETs are Ad-Hoc on-demand distance vector (AODV), dynamic source routing (DSR), destination-sequenced distance-vector (DSDV), etc. From earlier research, it has been proven that AODV is the best among the traditional routing protocols for effective path establishment to transfer data. In VANETs, communication links are intermittently disconnected, due to the huge mobility of vehicles, so, traditional routing protocols become ineffective for VANETs [7, 8]. Recent research has included geographic location-based routing, map-based routing, location, route-based routing, and topography-based routing. In VANETs, high mobility in vehicles results in dynamic changes in the topology, reflected in rapid changes in channels and frequent handovers. For these reasons, analyzing and predicting vehicle trajectory are essential [9].  
In VANETs, the vehicles move freely from the source to the destination in a random manner with rapidly changing topology. The vehicles within the coverage area can exchange information directly. The vehicles outside the coverage area should transmit the data indirectly by adapting the multi-hop routing protocol. The dynamically varying network of each vehicle is accountable for the process of route discovery. By using clustering in VANETs, efficiency of routing can be increased. Clustering is defined as a technique of rearranging all the vehicles into small clusters, according to the area vicinity and the cluster head (CH). The CH is accountable for cluster management and other activities inside the clusters, such as routing table update, and route discovery. Vehicles other than CH are declared ordinary vehicles. The ordinary vehicles transmit packets to the CH. If the destination is inside the same cluster, then the CH would transfer the data to the destination, otherwise the data is transmitted to the RSUs. Thus, CH and RSUs participate in the process of control packets. In order to achieve better performance, VANETs routing overhead and power consumption have to be significantly reduced to protect the network from scalability issues in dense areas [10].