Artificial Intelligence-Empowered Optimal Roadside Unit (RSU) Deployment Mechanism for Internet of Vehicles (IoV)

Abstract

Currently, the world is witnessing a huge growth in additional computing proficiency and extensive network coverage capability, which resulted in a paradigm shift from VANETs to Internet of Vehicles (IoV). Moreover, enhanced network capabilities facilitate enabling of IoV technology for latency-critical applications in energy-constrained smart IoT devices. However, IoV networks demand energy efficiency due to its dynamic nature for which Roadside Units (RSUs) are critical. However, in cities, huge deployment of RSUs and their maintenance is expensive in IoV infrastructure, requiring a trade-off between the network coverage and installation-related expenses. Also, the latency issues in IoV are highly dependent on the positioning of accessible RSUs. Motivated by the above highlighted issues, we propose an upgraded RSU placement method to boost network efficiency through placement of RSUs in optimal locations in a given road map. The Memetic Framework-based Optimal RSU Deployment (MFRD) algorithm is proposed to maximize the coverage area among the vehicles in an IoV and minimize the overlap in the coverage of the different RSUs. We observed from simulation results based on real-world maps that MFRD yields a significantly higher fitness score as compared to the existing state-of-the-art in terms of optimal positioning of the RSUs.