MDVR: a novel multicast routing protocol for unmanned mine detection vehicle (UMDV) communication in VANET

Unmanned mine detection vehicles (UMDVs) have been used for military missions to detect and deactivate mines and reduce military and civilian casualties. UMDVs must cover an area of several kilometers to detect mines. Hence, a central coordination system is required for these UMDVs, and it has been achieved via the development of a vehicular ad hoc network (VANET). UMDVs can communicate with each other by broadcasting mine detection messages (MDMs) to incoming vehicles in VANET without infrastructure installations. Therefore, a novel mine detection vehicle routing (MDVR) protocol has been developed to create an ad hoc communication network among UMDVs. The protocol performs cluster-based multicast communication in real time. It adapts to dynamic scenarios by proposing a priority-based cluster head election scheme (PBCHE) and introducing cluster adaptability level schemes. Network simulator results show that the MDVR protocol can reduce the overhead and delay in MDM dissemination. In addition, the MDVR protocol shows promising results in terms of throughput, packet delivery ratio, and cluster stability.