Towards efficient data collection mechanisms in the vehicular ad hoc networks

Summary Recently, the fast growth of communication technology has led to the design and implementation of different types of networks in different environments. One of these remarkable networks is vehicular ad hoc network (VANET). The ubiquitous connectivity among vehicles is possible through VANET in the absence of fixed infrastructure. Moreover, it provides safety and comfort to people sitting in the vehicles. In this regard, collecting information from vehicles that are moved constantly is an essential challenge. To develop an efficient method for data collection in the VANET, some parameters must be considered such as data aggregation, latency, packet delivery ratio, packet loss, scalability, security, transmission overhead, and vehicle density. Since data collection has a significant importance in the VANET, the aim of this study is to investigate the existing methods and describe the types of important issues and challenging problems that can be addressed in data collection in the VANET. The data collection techniques are investigated in four primary groups, namely, topology‐based, cluster‐based, geocast‐based, and fog‐based. Also, the mentioned parameters are important to compare all of the presented techniques. In this paper, the data collection methods in the vehicular ad hoc network (VANET) are examined systematically. It is found that most of the methods attempt to improve packet delivery ratio and scalability and reduce the transmission overhead and latency, but data aggregation, packet loss, and security are not considered in most methods. Also, topology‐based methods in comparison with methods of other categories have good features.