{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,1]],"date-time":"2026-04-01T18:16:26Z","timestamp":1775067386770,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":35,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"7","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,17]],"date-time":"2025-07-17T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1752710400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Malaysia Ministry of Higher Education","award":["FRGS\/1\/2021\/ICT11\/UNIMAP\/03\/1"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["FRGS\/1\/2021\/ICT11\/UNIMAP\/03\/1"]}]},{"name":"Malaysia Ministry of Higher Education","award":["RGP2\/353\/46"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["RGP2\/353\/46"]}]},{"name":"Deanship of Research and Graduate Studies Grant at King Khalid University","award":["FRGS\/1\/2021\/ICT11\/UNIMAP\/03\/1"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["FRGS\/1\/2021\/ICT11\/UNIMAP\/03\/1"]}]},{"name":"Deanship of Research and Graduate Studies Grant at King Khalid University","award":["RGP2\/353\/46"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["RGP2\/353\/46"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Computers"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Vehicular Communication Networks (VCNs) are essential to intelligent transportation systems, where real-time data exchange between vehicles and infrastructure supports safety, efficiency, and automation. However, achieving high Quality of Service (QoS)\u2014especially under delay-sensitive conditions\u2014remains a major challenge due to the high mobility and dynamic topology of vehicular environments. While some efforts have explored routing protocol optimization, few have systematically compared multiple optimization approaches tailored to distinct traffic and delay conditions. This study addresses this gap by evaluating and enhancing two widely used routing protocols, QOS-AODV and GPSR, through their improved versions, CM-QOS-AODV and CM-GPSR. Two distinct optimization models are proposed: the Traffic-Oriented Model (TOM), designed to handle variable and high-traffic conditions, and the Delay-Efficient Model (DEM), focused on reducing latency for time-critical scenarios. Performance was evaluated using key QoS metrics: throughput (rate of successful data delivery), packet delivery ratio (PDR) (percentage of successfully delivered packets), and end-to-end delay (latency between sender and receiver). Simulation results reveal that TOM-optimized protocols achieve up to 10% higher PDR, maintain throughput above 0.40 Mbps, and reduce delay to as low as 0.01 s, making them suitable for applications such as collision avoidance and emergency alerts. DEM-based variants offer balanced, moderate improvements, making them better suited for general-purpose VCN applications. These findings underscore the importance of traffic- and delay-aware protocol design in developing robust, QoS-compliant vehicular communication systems.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/computers14070285","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,17]],"date-time":"2025-07-17T10:33:47Z","timestamp":1752748427000},"page":"285","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["Performance Evaluation and QoS Optimization of Routing Protocols in Vehicular Communication Networks Under Delay-Sensitive Conditions"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"14","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3204-4070","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Alaa Kamal Yousif","family":"Dafhalla","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Computer Engineering, College of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Hail, Hail 55476, Saudi Arabia"}]},{"given":"Hiba Mohanad","family":"Isam","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Communications Technical Engineering, Al-Farahidi University, Baghdad I10091, Iraq"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8010-1909","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Amira Elsir Tayfour","family":"Ahmed","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Information System, College of Science & Arts, King Khalid University, Mohyel Asser 62521, Saudi Arabia"}]},{"given":"Ikhlas Saad","family":"Ahmed","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Computer Department Applied College, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam 31441, Saudi Arabia"}]},{"given":"Lutfieh S.","family":"Alhomed","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Information and Computer Science, College of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Hail, Hail 55476, Saudi Arabia"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0552-8539","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Amel Mohamed essaket","family":"Zahou","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Computer Department Applied College, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam 31441, Saudi Arabia"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5390-2820","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Fawzia Awad Elhassan","family":"Ali","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Computer Department Applied College, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam 31441, Saudi Arabia"}]},{"given":"Duria Mohammed Ibrahim","family":"Zayan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Computer Science, Applied College, University of Najran, Najran 61441, Saudi Arabia"}]},{"given":"Mohamed Elshaikh","family":"Elobaid","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Electronic Engineering & Technology, Universiti Malaysia Perlis, Arau 02600, Perlis, Malaysia"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1023-1780","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Tijjani","family":"Adam","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Electronic Engineering & Technology, Universiti Malaysia Perlis, Arau 02600, Perlis, Malaysia"},{"name":"Micro System Technology, Centre of Excellence (CoE), Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP), Arau 02600, Perlis, Malaysia"},{"name":"Institute of Nano Electronic Engineering, Universiti Malaysia Perlis, Kangar 01000, Perlis, Malaysia"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,17]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","first-page":"109","article-title":"The economic burden of road traffic accidents and injuries: A small island perspective","volume":"17","year":"2024","journal-title":"Int. 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