A Secured and Optimized Clustering Approch in Vehicular Ad-hoc Network

Vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs) take vital role in intelligent transportation systems, but they face challenges due to dynamic network topology, impacting communication efficiency, especially with increasing active nodes. Security and privacy concerns are paramount, necessitating authentication to ensure only legitimate vehicles access the network. Secure vehicular clustering offers a solution, yet the number of clusters affects network dependability and efficiency. To tackle this, we present a secure clustering mechanism using Bat optimization algorithm, mimicking echolocation behavior to optimize clusters. We introduce an authentication technique for cluster heads to admit approved members, enhancing vehicular authentication. Simulations using MATLAB evaluate our approach, showing improved performance in end-to-end delay, overhead, and cluster head count compared to similar methods.