{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,26]],"date-time":"2026-02-26T21:05:08Z","timestamp":1772139908310,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":39,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"18","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,9,9]],"date-time":"2022-09-09T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1662681600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"SAUDI ARAMCO Cybersecurity Chair"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Sensors"],"abstract":"<jats:p>In vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs), helpful information dissemination establishes the foundation of communication. One of the significant difficulties in developing a successful dissemination system for VANETs is avoiding traffic fatalities. Another essential success metric is the transfer of reliable and secure warning messages through the shortest path, particularly on highways with high mobility. Clustering vehicles is a general solution to these challenges, as it allows warning alerts to be re-broadcast to nearby clusters by fewer vehicles. Hence, trustworthy cluster head (CH) selections are critical to decreasing the number of retransmissions. In this context, we suggest a clustering technique called Optimal Path Routing Protocol for Warning Messages (OPRP) for dissemination in highway VANETs. OPRP relies on mobility measured to reinforce cluster creation, evade transmission overhead, and sustain message authenticity in a high mobility environment. Moreover, we consider communication between the cluster heads to reduce the number of transmissions. Furthermore, the cluster head is chosen using the median technique based on an odd or even number of vehicles for a stable and lengthy cluster life. By altering traffic densities and speeds, OPRP is compared with prominent schemes. Simulation results revealed that OPRP offers enhanced throughput, end-to-end delay, maximizing packet delivery ratio, and message validity.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/s22186839","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,9,13]],"date-time":"2022-09-13T04:05:41Z","timestamp":1663041941000},"page":"6839","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":23,"title":["Optimal Path Routing Protocol for Warning Messages Dissemination for Highway VANET"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"22","author":[{"given":"Mumtaz Ali","family":"Shah","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Computer Science, University of Engineering and Technology, Taxila 47080, Pakistan"},{"name":"Telecommunications and Networking Research Center, GIK Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology, Topi 23640, Pakistan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4463-0683","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Farrukh","family":"Zeeshan Khan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Computer Science, University of Engineering and Technology, Taxila 47080, Pakistan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3836-1373","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ghulam","family":"Abbas","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Telecommunications and Networking Research Center, GIK Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology, Topi 23640, Pakistan"},{"name":"Faculty of Computer Science and Engineering, Ghulam Ishaq Khan (GIK) Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology, Topi 23460, Pakistan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Ziaul Haq","family":"Abbas","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Telecommunications and Networking Research Center, GIK Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology, Topi 23640, Pakistan"},{"name":"Faculty of Electrical Engineering, GIK Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology, Topi 23460, Pakistan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0589-7924","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jehad","family":"Ali","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Sejong University, Seoul 05006, Korea"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8246-4658","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Sumayh S.","family":"Aljameel","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Computer Science, College of Computer Science and Information Technology, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, P.O. Box 1982, Dammam 31441, Saudi Arabia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1002-6178","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Irfan Ullah","family":"Khan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Computer Science, College of Computer Science and Information Technology, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, P.O. Box 1982, Dammam 31441, Saudi Arabia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1619-5733","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Nida","family":"Aslam","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"SAUDI ARAMCO Cybersecurity Chair, College of Computer Science and Information Technology, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, P.O. 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