Clustering in vehicular ad hoc networks (VANET) is one of the control schemes used to make VANET global\r\ntopology less dynamic. Many of the VANET clustering algorithms are derived from mobile ad hoc networks\r\n(MANET). However, VANET nodes are characterized by their high mobility, and the existence of VANET nodes in the\r\nsame geographic proximity does not mean that they exhibit the same mobility patterns. Therefore, VANET\r\nclustering schemes should take into consideration the degree of the speed difference among neighboring nodes\r\nto produce relatively stable clustering structure. In this paper, we introduce a new clustering technique suitable for\r\nthe VANET environment on highways with the aim of enhancing the stability of the network topology. This\r\ntechnique takes the speed difference as a parameter to create relatively stable cluster structure. We also developed\r\na new multi-metric algorithm for cluster-head elections. A simulation was conducted to evaluate our method and\r\ncompare it with the most commonly used clustering methods. The simulation results show that our technique\r\nprovides more stable cluster structure on the locale scale which results in a more stable network structure on the\r\nglobal scale. The proposed technique reduces the average number of clusters changed per vehicle by 34-46%, and\r\nincreases the average cluster lifetime by 20-48% compared to the existing techniques.
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