Mobility-based Multi-layered Caching and Data Distribution in Vehicular Fog Computing

Abstract

Intelligent transportation systems provide valuable services to drivers and passengers, whereas vehicular networks enable fundamental underlying support through communication and data sharing. While edge and fog computing offers the benefits of providing support to access data closer to devices and applications, they come at the cost of requiring ongoing communication and computation. %Vehicular edge and fog computing became essential to access data almost instantaneously and perform computation closer to devices and applications; however, there is a high demand for continuous communication and computation. Therefore, caching data is a practical approach as it improves performance and enhances data availability. Moreover, the significant latency of the communication makes it prohibitive to fetch data from other sources. In the context discussed, caching data is a feasible option as it helps to increase performance and make data more readily accessible. Also, finding the desired data in the cache enables services besides improving performance. This study proposes a multi-layer caching mechanism that magnifies data availability while enhancing communication between the layers. The cache in the layers is distributive and updated on time based on the demand and criteria of the requests. We also distribute data using vehicular mobility by placing limited but significant data into the cache of the vehicle. These communication and data exchange types are standardized through policies in the proposed methodology. This cache management design is extensively analyzed using established frameworks and vehicular networks through simulated environments and visual constructions. Our simulation results indicate that the proposed method improves the performance of data availability and latency in vehicular fog computing. This approach can be applied to the diverse vehicle-to-everything use cases of the intelligent transportation system.