Archives of Computational Methods in Engineering

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11831-020-09487-1

ORIGINAL PAPER

Vehicular Ad Hoc Network (VANET) Localization Techniques: A Survey

Faruk Baturalp Günay1   · Ercüment Öztürk2 · Tuğrul Çavdar2 · Y. Sinan Hanay3 · Atta ur Rehman Khan4

Received: 3 February 2020 / Accepted: 27 August 2020

© CIMNE, Barcelona, Spain 2020

Abstract
Localization has become an important area of research with the development of wireless communication technologies. Of
particular prominence within this area is Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks (VANET), which plays an important role in many
applications such as vehicle tracking, accident prevention, and efficient transportation. GPS technology, which can easily be
integrated into vehicles has been instrumental in the development of localization-based applications. Furthermore, owing
to the improvements in the wireless communication technologies such as Internet of Things (IoT), VANET localization can
be implemented in places where GPS is not available. In this survey, we begin by providing a summary of the use cases of
localization in VANET and highlight various techniques that are proposed in the literature. Moreover, we classify the stud-
ies in this area with respect to their methodologies, and discuss their respective advantages and disadvantages. Finally, we
provide an overview of potential research topics for future research.

1 Introduction of the close proximity between vehicles. The accuracy of

Low-cost and accurate localization is a crucial requirement
for various areas of usage including vehicular networks [1].
With rapid urbanization and the emergence of transporta-
tion systems in metropolitan areas, localization has become
instrumental in navigation systems of vehicles. Vehicular
Ad-Hoc Network (VANET) is a temporary network environ-
ment where vehicles communicate and share information
with each other [2]. Recently, VANET has been a very active
area of research to tackle the traffic problems in congested
areas of cities. Estimating the location of the vehicles in
motion can provide an overview of traffic on the network
and prevent traffic accidents [3]. It can also provide signifi-
cant fuel savings by reducing the disruptions in transporta-
tion services. In dense traffic conditions, capturing accurate
location information is highly critical for VANETs because
* Faruk Baturalp Günay
baturalp@atauni.edu.tr
1
Department of Computer Engineering, Ataturk University,
25240 Erzurum, Turkey
2
Department of Computer Engineering, Karadeniz Technical
University, 61080 Trabzon, Turkey
3
Department of Computer Engineering, Erzurum Technical
University, 25050 Erzurum, Turkey
4
College of Engineering and Information Technology, Ajman
University, 346 Ajman, UAE
guidance operations carried out on electronic maps relies on
the quality of the captured location information. However,
there are difficulties in locating vehicles in VANETs, due
to mobility of vehicles and the weakness of signals caused
by environmental objects (fading and Doppler effects). A
detailed list of published papers focusing on this aspect is
provided in this paper.
In order to use VANET for localization, nodes and vehi-
cles should first identify their own locations. This can be
achieved by leveraging either GPS signals or manually
located Road Side Units (RSU). Also, a vehicle in VANET
can determine its location by estimating the distance
between neighboring nodes and by replacing this distance
information with nearby nodes in the network as shown in
Fig. 1. This type of relative localization is a widely used
technique in Mobile Wireless Sensor Networks [4]. There
are many studies in the literature focusing on the VANET
localization issue with conventional techniques (GPS, map
matching, dead reckoning, etc.) or limited usage area (Vehi-
cle Collision, Autonomous Vehicles) [5, 6]. However, there
is a lack of detailed analyses and comparison of conventional
methods and newly designed IoT the integrated methods
such as RSUs. Also, more research is needed for the usage
of filters (Kalman, Particle filter, etc.) and their role in coop-
erative localization for VANET localization. Unlike previous
studies [3, 7] one of the remarkable points in this paper is to

13
Vol.:(0123456789)

Fig. 1  General VANET localization scheme
focus on cooperative localization and its data fusion which
is more popular these days.
The key motivational point to conduct this study is to
remedy the deficiency of a collected work to summarize the
studies on localization in VANET including recent studies
[3, 5]. Another reason is to evaluate and sum up them in
an innovative classification depending on the content and
functional status of the growing body of evidence rather than
the traditional ones. Below a summary of the contributions
of this paper is provided:
• As IoT technologies are widely used in many applica-
tions, access to vehicles is now easier than ever and more
information can be collected from them in a more eco-
nomical way. In this paper, VANET localization appli-
cations are explained from the point of IoT technologies
as well as other aspects distinguishing this survey work
from existing ones.
• Several parameters (i.e. usage of RSU, Cooperative
Localization methods, communication technologies) and
their corresponding effect on VANET localization are
investigated in great detail in this work.
• A detailed summary of all methods in VANET localiza-
tion proposed in the literature is provided in this paper.
• Real tests on the city environment as well as simulations
in the studies are explained in this paper.
This study is organized as follows: Sect. 2 briefly introduces
the applications of VANET localization. Section 3 gives the
detailed description of basic localization technologies and
methods of VANET. Section 4 explains Cooperative Local-
ization Term. Section 5, 6 and 7 review all categories of
VANET localization algorithms in detail. Section 8 provides
detailed information about the existing problems and future
direction for localization algorithms. Finally concluding
remarks are made in Sect. 9.
13
F. B. Günay et al.
2 Applications of VANET Localization
Although localization is used in many different areas, it
can be classified under two broad categories for VANET:
military and civilian use. For the former one, there is a
wide range of applications such as positioning and track-
ing of vehicles, search and rescue operations, finding the
position of targets, guided control and landing/launch-
ing of aircraft in fierce weather conditions. Cartography,
vehicle tracking systems, tourism, agriculture, forestry
are prominent areas of civil use. For both of the afore-
mentioned areas, accurate location identification is criti-
cal under any circumstances. Localization in VANETs is
mainly for civilian use, but it must be done with no latency
and high accuracy.
Localization in VANETs that is mostly used for civil-
ian use has to be made quickly at a high accuracy level
because it is a dynamic network. The previous applications
had several features including accident prevention, crash
report, vehicle speed, and further location estimation,
and the current ones have got several objectives such as
autonomous parking, precise navigation, location estima-
tion and accident prevention inside the tunnels. There are
also different applications regarding driver assistance and
cooperative driving. In the following sections, the primary
application areas are listed where VANET based localiza-
tion is utilized.
2.1 Accident Prevention Applications
In accident prevention applications, communication proto-
cols such as IEEE 802.11 b/g are used, and vehicular sen-
sors are chosen for crash location. The precise position can
be determined by including speed and heading information
with localization data [5, 8]. For position estimation and
accident avoidance inside tunnels, several methods are
utilized including Dead Reckoning (DR) and RSUs. This
way, communication protocols can be implemented in a
more efficient way where GPS signals are not available.
Another application is alerting drivers to avoid traffic light
violations. In this application, warning messages are trans-
mitted to a vehicle, if the traffic signs are not followed.
In addition, a safe trailing distance application provides
drivers with warnings when the distance between vehi-
cles is smaller than the required distance. Furthermore, the
left turn assistant collects information on intersections and
helps vehicles to turn left and complete their turn safely.
Apart from these, intersection collision warning, blind-
spot capture, and pedestrian crossing are considered as the
other applications in this group [9].
Vehicular Ad Hoc Network (VANET) Localization Techniques: A Survey
2.2 Public Safety Applications
Public Safety Applications can help emergency response
teams reaching an accident site as soon as possible. For
this purpose, an ambulance, trying to reach an accident
area, can communicate with all vehicles on the road and
send a message to clear the lane [10]. The emergency vehi-
cle signal preemption changes traffic lights at the junc-
tions where the ambulances approach, turning red light to
green through vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communi-
cation system and help the vehicle moving forward with-
out getting stuck in traffic. In addition to lane changing
warning, visibility enhancer warns drivers of bad weather
conditions and facilitates driving in these conditions. Fur-
thermore, road condition warning application reports road
conditions such as ice, gravel, snow, and rain, etc.. Also,
it informs all vehicles which approach to those road zones
through VANET. Lastly, the SOS service and post-crash
warning applications are also considered to be part of this
category [9].
2.3 Sign Extension Applications
These applications are designed to provide careless drivers
with warnings to follow traffic signs and watch for road-
side hazards [11]. In these applications, the infrastructure-
to-vehicle (I2V) communication is used to transmit mes-
sages at the frequency of 1 Hz and within the minimum
range of 100 to 500 m. Thus, drivers can recognize nearby
places such as hospitals, schools, etc. and have a chance to
reduce their speeds by receiving notification before they
approach a hazardous hairpin bend. Broadcasting warning
messages to vehicles like the wrong way, overpass heights,
etc. are included in Sign Extension applications.
2.4 Vehicle Maintenance and Diagnostics
Applications
The aim of these applications is to disseminate to driv-
ers the messages of vehicle conditions and their possible
breakdowns in an approximately 400 m coverage zone.
From other vehicles, information can be delivered through
different applications in VANET [12]. Other than safety,
several applications including cooperative cruise control
offer drivers to use their own vehicles more easily. It is
aimed to ensure that a group of vehicles autonomously
travel in the fleet at a speed inputted before setting out
by the driver, free from driver’s intervention. In the
application, Vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication is
used, and partial automatic modifications can be made on
the velocity based on the road direction and conditions,
through intra-vehicular communication.
As mentioned above, the localization process is needed
in the VANET applications of vehicle maintenance and
diagnostics, accident prevention, public safety, and sign
extension, or it makes these more efficient, and even the
integrated use of multiple localization techniques increases
the efficiency. V2V communication within VANET during
the localization is a key factor to facilitate it at the same
time. In these respects, it is necessary to utilize localization
in different VANET applications. Naturally, this necessity
varies from application to another. For instance, in coopera-
tive adaptive cruise control or vehicle following application,
localization information is needed in high accuracy. It is
essential that the jointly moving vehicles are sharing their
individual location with one another. However, in order to
achieve effectiveness in the applications or processes that
should be more sensible, such as vehicle collision warn-
ing or automatic parking, ultrahigh localization accuracy is
required. Owing to the high accuracy localization the target
may avoid crash or damage before it’s happening via this
kind of application.
3 VANETs Localization Techniques
In this section, we cover various techniques used in
localization.
3.1 GPS and DGPS
Global Positioning System (GPS), at its simplest form, is a
satellite network used to determine the position on Earth’s
surface. Its working principle is based on determining the
position by computing the differences between the devices
and the satellites. The GPS satellite network belongs to the
U.S. Department of Defense and transmits to the Earth the
location information that they are constantly estimating.
Each satellite completes one round around Earth in nearly
12 h [13]. From 1978 till the 1990s, a network of 24 sat-
ellites (21 actives, 3 spares) was established. The number
further increased in time, particularly in recent times. From
the orbits they travel at a height of about 20.000 km, the
satellites transmit low-power radio signals to the Earth’s sur-
face. They are located in a way that every region throughout
the globe can be seen by at least four satellites. To realize
the positioning activity, the GPS receiver needs to process
the signals from the satellites and estimate its own location.
For the computation process, a technique called
Time of Arrival (ToA) is used, and as a result, the GPS
receiver finds out the latitude, longitude, and altitude of
its own position. However, the time equalization problem
occurs due to the mobility of the satellites during signal
13

transmission. It is solved by leveraging an atomic clock
that every GPS satellite contains. Using this clock, any
time-lag can be avoided between the satellites, or the sat-
ellite and the receiver [14]. The first GPS satellite was
launched by the US for military purposes and used for a
long time for the same purposes. Russia also started to
develop its own satellite system, GLONASS and experi-
enced drawbacks on coverage zone throughout the Earth
until the mid-2000s [15]. In addition, nowadays, the Euro-
pean Union, China, and India have their own positioning
systems, named Galileo, BeiDou and NAVIC, respec-
tively. Furthermore, Japan developed a system, Quasi-
Zenith Satellite System, to improve the accuracy and reli-
ability of GPS, and it began to operate with its 4 satellite
constellations. The advantages and disadvantages of GPS
technology are shown in Table 1.
Differential GPS (DGPS) is an improved method of
GPS which utilizes reference ground stations besides GPS
satellites. This method is based on determining the dif-
ference between satellite and actual pseudoranges. Also,
those stations transmit the mentioned difference to other
stations and it is evaluated as a correction signal. This
way decreases localization error from meter to centim-
eter-level. A disadvantage of this method is the neces-
sity to set up fixed reference nodes for giving differential
information [14].
Table 1  GPS Advantages and disadvantages
Advantages of GPS
Provides high accuracy positioning (Up to 50 km in the area has an error rate of 6–10 m,
100–500 km in area 7–10 m, 1000 km in area 10–9 m) [16].
Low transaction complexity
It does not need a directional antenna, so it is enough for the receiving antennas to see the Receiver antenna should have a clear view of the sky
sky to receive the satellite signal.
GPS accuracy is largely independent of weather conditions
The measurement is possible throughout the day
Three-dimensional position can be obtained
Easy to use and install
13
F. B. Günay et al.
3.2 Data Matching Techniques
The methods of Map Matching and Dead Reckoning fall into
this category because they serve a function by matching or
integrating the subsequent location data. Map Matching is
a process in which the geographic coordinates of any object
that are estimated using GPS are matched to the real world
map. The estimated position points are recorded in a list
representing the motion of a user or a vehicle, and thus a
logical model is designed inconsistent with observations.
Map matching algorithms can be divided into real-time and
off-line algorithms. The first group relates the latest GPS
information to the map while the latter is used after data are
recorded and then matched with the map [17]. For the map-
matching technique, different positions obtained at a certain
time interval are used to identify an approximate route. In
recent times, with the advent of using high-quality digital
maps, the obtained results can be matched with the loca-
tion from the navigation system, and so sensors are better-
calibrated for localization. Moreover, in the cooperative map
matching technique, a more precise map matching can be
accomplished by receiving information from other vehicles
in VANET, unlike traditional map matching methods [7].
Dead Reckoning (DR) is the procedure in which a vehi-
cle estimates its current position based on its known posi-
tion prior to a certain period of time. In a local coordinate
system, DR solution can be made through trigonometric
Disadvantages of GPS
GPS satellites are under the control of the United
States. Because of the permissions required to use
GPS satellites, the position in the sky changes due
to the decision made within a day or two, causing
the different signals to be picked up, resulting in
poor positioning accuracy [16]
Sensitivity of the GPS receiver may be reduced
due to problems such as multipath and noise.
Especially in urban areas (between high build-
ings), satellite signals are blocked by hitting high
buildings and a significant decrease in the number
of satellites seeing the area results in low position-
ing accuracy. In addition, satellite signals can be
reflected from the surface of the buildings, causing
multipath effects and may reduce the positioning
accuracy. To overcome these problems, different
techniques and methods such as DGPS, GPS and
Inertial Navigation System (INS) or GPS and Dead
Reckoning (DR) have been proposed
Vehicular Ad Hoc Network (VANET) Localization Techniques: A Survey

calculations [18]. (x,  y) represents the coordinates, and
(0,0) the origin in this system. The following equations can
explain the DR method [18] :
k=1
∑ tion, d is the distance between receiver and transmitter, and
xi =x0 + si × cos𝜃i
i=0
k=1
∑ RSSI = P𝛾 + G𝛾 − PL(d)
yi =y0 + si × sin𝜃i
i=0
where x0 , y0 ) is the initial vehicular position at the time of
t0 . si and 𝜃i are respectively the shortest way and the changed
direction based on the former position ( xi − 1, yi − 1).
In other words, DR represents localization for a target
that is out of a node’s coverage area. The DR method makes
calculations on a map using data such as location, head-
ing (movement direction), speed, distance, time, and wind.
Several techniques were suggested for localization processes
to run in the DR zones [18, 19]. For example, the vehicular
position can be estimated based on the latest known position
and the current speed and direction of the vehicle for a short
time when GPS is unavailable. It has a disadvantage that the
localization accuracy declines due to the errors accumulated
during a long period when it is employed. Furthermore, in
a relevant study reviewed before, it is showed that it can be
utilized in high accuracy and feasibility in a traffic environ-
ment without GPS signals [19].
3.3 Lateration Techniques
PL(d) = PL(d0 ) + 10 × n × lg(d∕d0 ) + X (3)
where PL(d0 ) is the path loss of radio signal propagation per
unit road length, X is the random number of Gauss distribu-
(1)
n is weakness factor of the environment. With this, we can
simply find out the RSSI (dBm) value (dBm) as below [21].
(4)
(2)
In the above equation, P𝛾 is wireless signal power in dBm
and G𝛾 is the gain of transmitting antenna.
Every chip producer describes their own value of “RSSI
Max” in accordance with the IEEE 802.11 standard, which
can be within the range of 0 to 255. For instance, Atheros
uses a scale from 0 to 60, and Cisco from 0 to 100. Usually,
RSSI value is converged to transmitter power as long as the
target gets close to RSU chip or access point. Signal power
can be expressed as dBm or RSSI, and however, these are
different measurement units. The difference between them
represents power as dBm mW (miliwatt) while RSSI is a
relative value. Basic RSSI scheme is illustrated in Fig. 2.
TDOA is based on calculating the distance between trans-
mitter and receiver nodes by measuring the time difference
of the receiver node and anchor nodes. The signals emitted
from the target point, arrive at different times to at least 3
synchronous receiver antennas located at different places.
By computing the time difference of arrived signals to the
receivers, the target location is estimated.
Compared to the TDOA method, TOA uses the abso-
lute arrival time of a signal from transmitter to receiver,

Lateration techniques leverage radio signals, such as signal

quality, the arrival time of a satellite signal, and the time
difference between the arrival times of signals. Hence, in the
current study, we use these techniques for both cooperative
and non-cooperative localization types. These techniques
based on different algorithms have the ability to position
the nodes in VANET through satellite signals, which are
explained in detail below.

3.3.1 Distance‑Based Lateration Techniques

RSSI is a method used to measure the received signal qual-

ity with a device at an exact signal power value. By means
of this method, the received radio signal power and the lost
signal propagation model are utilized for distance measure-
ment and location estimation. There are mainly three factors
for signal weakness: slow fading, multi-path fading of the
radio signal and the path loss of wireless signal propaga-
tion. Furthermore, there are the effects of wireless channel,
interference, noise, and the radio path loss equation can be
shown such below [20]: Fig. 2  Basic scheme of RSSI lateration

13

rather than the time difference measured for the signal to
depart from one station and arrive at another one. In this
respect, it is also called Time of Flight (TOF). The distance
between receiver and transmitter can be computed based on
the frequency and speed of the radio signals. Here at least
three anchor nodes should be used. The synchronization of
the node to locate with anchor nodes is the key point. It
is unlikely that both receiver and anchor nodes have high-
precision synchronous timers. Thus, it is more practical that
either its location must be determined, otherwise, anchor
nodes receive time data from a common timing source. The
distance between these nodes can be estimated directly using
arrival time while moving at a constant speed. The arrival
time data from two base stations tighten up the circle for the
desired position, and it is necessary to import data from a
third one in order to find the exact position.
3.3.2 Angle‑Based Lateration Techniques
In addition, AOA measurement (also called Direct of
Arrival, DOA) is a method of determining radio frequen-
cies propagation direction or high signal power in a series
of an antenna. The target is estimated with the intersection
of two angular lines, each of which is formed by the radius
of one main station. AOA estimates direction by evaluat-
ing TDOA on the array elements. TDOA measurement is
usually made in a way that computes the phase differences
of antenna array elements. In AOA, delayed arrivals are
directly measured for each point and it is converted to an
AOA measure. They perform well in the situations of Line
of Sight (LoS), however, the accuracy and precision reduce
when signal reflections occur. For high accuracy positioning,
at least two receiver sensors (triangulation) are required. In
Fig. 3, AOA and TOA methods are presented [22].
3.4 Filters
Real-time localization problem has been adapted to land,
sea and air platforms and state estimation methods which
consist of parametric filter approaches such as Kalman fil-
ter based Extended Kalman Filter and Distributed Kalman
Filter; and non-parametric methods such as Particle Filter.
Fig. 3  a Angle Of Arrival (AOA) b Time Of Arrival (TOA) [22]
13
F. B. Günay et al.
Those are utilized as well as other techniques that are model
or graphic-based, having objective of high-level control [23].
Likewise, these are used in VANET and they assist in solv-
ing issues such as localization and data fusion. In the fol-
lowing sections, various filtering techniques are discussed.
3.4.1 Kalman Filter
The Kalman filter is an algorithm that estimates the next
state over the noisy data, even though called a filter, based
on current and previous states. Kalman filter is used in many
fields, e.g., aviation and control theory. In control theory,
a Kalman filter is a recursive filter that evaluates system
dynamics and noise measurements of the state vector of a
dynamic system model. The Kalman filter is a minimal vari-
ance filter when it is noisy Gaussian and is minimum vari-
ance linear filter when it is not noisy Gaussian [24]. Several
methods in literature are based on estimation of the distance
between two nodes for GPS localization [25–28]. These are
derived from any of radio positioning techniques including
Time of Arrival (TOA), Angle of Arrival (AOA), Received
Signal Strength (RSS), and Time Difference of Arrival
(TDOA) [29]. However, localization in radio positioning
methods may result in two types of errors: multiple path
effects or non-line of sight (NLOS) and hardware measure-
ment errors. Typical localization techniques integrate data
of GPS receiver and movement measurement of the vehicle.
Nevertheless, these fail to produce high accuracy of locali-
zation from outdoor environments when the vehicle passes
through a site producing multipath signals. Such a contribu-
tion of Kalman filter is undeniable.
3.4.2 Extended Kalman Filter
As a kind of Kalman Filters, Extended Kalman Filter (EKF)
estimates recursive states. If the system conditions and
observation models are linear functions of the state and the
initial uncertainty is Gaussian, Kalman filters may provide
optimal solutions. EKF can be applied to nonlinear systems
and it may linearize them with the first-order Taylor Series
expansions. Also, EKF has computational efficiency because
of Kalman filter [27]. But this feature may find out only
unimodal distributions and it can be applied to only local
localization. Moreover, it may fail in the relocalization of
nodes in VANET because of the difficulties in solving some
situations like symmetry.
3.4.3 Bayesian Filter
It is noted that the Bayesian filter is a common algorithm
for estimation; it determines the probabilities of several
beliefs to allow a vehicle to gather its position. The algo-
rithm provides a framework to estimate the state of the
Vehicular Ad Hoc Network (VANET) Localization Techniques: A Survey
system based on probability theory. Bayesian filters can
estimate a state of the dynamic system in noisy ambients.
The state is a person’s or location of an object and loca-
tion sensors provide information about the state in location
estimation for pervasive computing. The state could be a
simple 2D position or a complex vector including 3D posi-
tion, yaw, roll, pitch, and linear or rotational speeds [30].
This method generally has the capability of determining
the orientation and position of a node in VANET [31].
3.4.4 Particle Filter
The Particle filter is an implementation of the Bayesian
Filter and a kind of learning algorithm. It uses a sequen-
tial Monte Carlo method and it is usable for any kind of
nonlinear distribution and probability. Also, this method
can be utilized in noisy systems. Monte Carlo methods are
used for updating density values over time. This approxi-
mation is nonparametric and it may be more effective than
EKF with Gaussian. Also, this method can be applied eas-
ily in localization techniques. In this method, the size of
the particle set affects the accuracy of localization. So,
increasing the number of particles allows a more accurate
localization. However, the localization cost will increase
with this technique.
3.5 Cellular Localization
This technique is based on using a mobile cellular infrastruc-
ture in the urban environment to calculate the location of an
object. Cellular data may not be available everywhere. It
may also vary depending on the network mobility related to
the Doppler effect and the location of the connected object.
Therefore, the cell coverage area should be large enough
[32]. Mobile cellular systems require a communication infra-
structure consisting of a number of cellular base stations
distributed over a closed region for working properly [33].
A cell typically uses a different set of frequencies than the
neighboring cells in order to prevent interference and ensure
the guaranteed quality of service within each cell. When
combined, these cells provide radio coverage in a wide
geographical area. In this regard, different types of port-
able transceivers, e.g. mobile broadband modems, pagers,
mobile phones, tablets, and laptop computers, can access the
network and communicate over the base stations at any loca-
tion in the network. Base stations in cellular networks can
be used for location estimation of above-mentioned devices.
One advantage of positioning with a cellular network is
that a single transmitter can be used for a large number of
connections. Another advantage is that mobile devices con-
sume less power than a transmitter or a satellite.
3.6 Image/Video Processing
Another method uses the captured image and/or video
data for positioning [34]. With this method, the geometric
parameters of the vehicle including the width of the strip,
the road gradient, the distance between the lane and the
vehicle, the direction of the vehicle and the camera tilt
angle can be precisely calculated. However, this method
can produce a huge amount of data and cause congestion
in the network. Moreover, the processing the images and
videos should be fast enough. Delays due to processing
time may decrease the accuracy of the positioning.
3.7 Road Side Unit‑(RSU)
RSUs in VANET are fixed infrastructure communication
nodes present at roadsides. As shown in the study, they
are individually used in types of localization, coopera-
tive and non-cooperative. RSU structure has a key role in
VANET for different reasons. First, they send important
data to the vehicles within the network. The second favor
is that they transmit the received messages to end-users.
The last advantage is that they have the ability to connect
the vehicles to the Internet. Since VANET is a network
fully mobile with dynamic topology and latency, RSUs
substantially facilitate communication as well. To consider
all these, RSU structures improve VANET coverage and
network performance. Also, the communicative perfor-
mance of the network vehicles may depend on the number
of RSUs in VANET. Furthermore, RSU installation and
operation increase VANET costs and partly aggravate its
execution. Therefore, a balance should be made between
RSU coverage area and installation cost. In this context,
the idea of the limited number of RSUs to be used in
underpopulated settlements has become important [35].
Apart from these, RSUs can not only send location data to
the vehicles in VANET but also communicate information
on road, weather conditions and traffic situation.
The RSUs generally utilize high-frequency DSRC
communication (i.e. 5.9 GHz) to meet the requirement for
a quick response like collision avoidance and have low
latency. GPS signals can easily be broken or blocked, and
that’s why the use of the RSU can help intra-vehicular
communication on highly dense traffic roads for more
accurate localization. A critical security problem for
localization techniques is to have accurate and reliable
position data from the vehicles. Fake location informa-
tion has serious effects on the performance and safety of
13

location-based applications. The RSUs currently used are
available in different cities and regions throughout the
world.
3.8 Other Techniques
In the Nano Integration method, it is designed to use Carbon
Nano Tube Network integrated with nanodevices. They offer
millimetric precision in such areas as collision avoidance,
collision alarm, and following lane for VANET [36].
The location of a target is found by using a signal inter-
ference-noise ratio from Exchange messages in the first
method of Weighted Localization (WL). In the second tech-
nique, localization is made through the measurement of the
distance between both SINR and neighborhood vehicles.
There is a detail for determining those weights in weighted
centroid localization (WCL). If a vehicle gets closer to the
anchor node, SINR value of this connection and weight of
anchor node increases. There are primarily 3 general steps
in WCL:
1. Each node periodically broadcasts beacon message.
2. Weights are assigned to nodes according to both
approaches above.
3. The identified weights will be used for the WCL locali-
zation.
As for Optimized Weight Localization, all the nodes in the
Network essentially transmit beacons periodically. This
includes the data of sender id, position, turning angle, and
SINR and RSSI values. A table for neighborhood vehicles
are prepared using the beacon messages received as well as
the containing information of them. The general weighted
function is equal to the sum of the parameters of distance
and turning values, and then location is made according to
these weights [37].
NLOS problem is dealt with in a different angle in the
Geographical Information Enhanced Cooperative Localizer
(GIECL) technique. First of all, area sampling is performed
by using a method built on geographic information including
building locations, and so NLOS links are described. Both
LOS probability of each link and the current vehicular posi-
tions are computed using geographic data. In another study,
the Relative Cooperative Positioning (ReCoP) algorithm
requires three modules [38].
• Partition Module Here, exchange of information is made
with neighborhood vehicles, and the evaluation between
them is realized through the AOA method. After that,
clusters are formed based on their status of the neighbor-
hood within the network, and one candidate for cluster
head is assigned to develop a cluster member map.
13
F. B. Günay et al.
• Positioning Module A relative map is designed and sim-
plified.
• Globalization This module is where the related position
values are adjusted to other relative maps, which offers
the best choice of gateway and transfer of the data to the
other ones.
In the GeoLV technique, geometry-based localization can
be performed for GPS outage conditions. In the present
study, the current position can also be found using the pre-
sent and past vehicular dynamics and road trajectories of
the vehicles [39]. It is worth to explain another technique,
Monte Carlo Localization. This method is used in various
studies and anchor box localization based on the min/max
values of node or vehicle in a coordinate system is essen-
tial. In other words, the intersectional area of anchor nodes
is the potential area where a non-localized node can be
found and is relatively enlarged using the straight edges.
Thus, mobile network localization can be provided in a
more realistic way and with high fault tolerance. Localiza-
tion through the Monte Carlo technique is shown in Fig. 4.
Anchor box at any “t” time is defined as below [40]:
At = [x(t)min , x(t)max , y(t)min , y(t)max ] (5)
where min and max values represent the minimum and
maximum operators for x and y coordinates, and in the fol-
lowing figure anchor box made for three anchor nodes are
illustrated.
At places like tunnels, cities with large buildings, can-
yons, parking lots where GPS is not available or not suffi-
ciently precise for local applications, the location accuracy
can be increased by using any known infrastructure such
as Localization services, RADAR, UWB, WSN or WiFi
Localization.
Fig. 4  Monte Carlo localization [40]
Vehicular Ad Hoc Network (VANET) Localization Techniques: A Survey
4 Cooperative Localization (CL)
Cooperative Localization (CL) can be described as the pro-
cess of more accurate localization in a combination with
different localization techniques with fusion. In cooperative
localization, nodes aim to find their location by measuring
relative distances with respect to each other in a coopera-
tive fashion. The additional information acquired from these
cooperative measurements between pairs of nodes enhances
the accuracy of the localization system [41]. In VANET,
there are some information sources for the localization of
moving vehicles. Firstly, the position and velocity of mov-
ing vehicles can be provided with an odometer or vehicular
sensor measurements. Positions of other vehicles may be
also obtained and used. Finally, position measurements will
track mobile vehicles, relative to the position of roadside
unit (RSU), or base station (BS). Some of the studies about
CL are shown in Table 5 in Sect. 7.
Kalman Filter, Particle Filter, and Spawn Algorithm are
important techniques in Cooperative Localization. Kalman
and Particle Filters are explained in the Filters Section.
Spawn algorithm basically uses factor graphs and sum
product algorithm (SPA). In the Spawn algorithm every
node or vehicle first obtains position information from
the last localization. Then a node receives messages from
neighbor nodes in the network and updates its position
estimation according to this new information. These new
Fig. 5  Localization algorithms classification in VANETs
estimates are shared with all neighbors and express the
probability density function of that node in VANET.
CL accuracy is not only influenced by the number of
techniques combined but also some other factors such as
their compatibility, landmark density in VANET and their
individual achievements. They are related to the hardware
of vehicles or locations. There are also several methods to
be applied in the form of mathematics and software such
as filtering or algorithms.
In the classification of VANET localizations, a dif-
ferent methodology has been followed. In recent years,
many articles have been published about Non-Cooperative
Localization as well as Cooperative Localization. Besides
this, the rising number of studies on Cooperative Localiza-
tion has brought out the requirement to divide into GPS
based and non-GPS based ones. In this respect, the only
classification by name of the techniques may not be ade-
quate for this issue. Instead, techniques are subdivided by
their attributes or characteristics. Likewise, the studies on
GPS based techniques are classified by use of the filter.
Following this division, the techniques and the related
studies are summarized. In the NON-GPS based coopera-
tive techniques, using built-in technologies or accuracy
escalating techniques is highlighted to enhance the accu-
racy in VANET structures. In Fig. 5, a general classifica-
tion of VANET localization techniques is presented.
13
 F. B. Günay et al.

Table 2  Studies on filter usage

Type of filter Fusion type Requirements Accuracy (m) Landmark Den. References

Particle GPS+PF GPS 0.5 – [68]

Kalman GPS+Vehicle Sensors+KF GPS+Vehicle Sensors 1 – [44]
Kalman GPS+Vehicle Sensors+KF GPS+Vehicle Sensors 0.88–7.2 High [45]
Extended Kalman GPS+V2V+EKF GPS+V2V 0.12 High [57]
Unscented Kalman GPS+V2V+UKF GPS+V2V 1.58–9.8 High [63]
Bayesian GPS+CMM+BF GPS+V2V 2.74–10.47 Average [72]
Particle GPS+TOA+PF GPS+V2V+V2I 2.07–3.54 Average [70]
Particle GPS+TOA+PF GPS+V2V 2.28–3.83 Low [65]
Kalman GPS+IVCAL+PPD+KF GPS+Vehicle Sensors 0.05–1.89 Low [42]

5 GPS Based Cooperative Localization 5.1.1 Kalman Filter (KF)

GPS usage has more efficient and successful accuracy values
when cooperatively used with other methods. With this, it
is more useful than its single-use and contributes to the sus-
tainability of VANET localization in GPS outage. It means
that GPS location found just before outage is at the same
time the latest status auxiliary to localization immediately
after the outage. GPS based CL techniques are shown in
Table 2 in Sect. 6.
5.1 Filter Usage
Both Kalman and Particle filter techniques are based on the
Bayes filter approach. In the section where filter usage is
considered in VANET localizations, the systems including
a variety of filters are explained. In Table 3 in Sect. 5.2, CL
techniques with filter usage are presented.
Inter-vehicular Communication Assisted Localization Using
Previous Path Detection (IVCAL+PPD) algorithm [42]
makes localization real by integrating the estimates of GPS,
direction, speed and previous position in a hybrid way. In
the study, firstly the fusion of GPS information with the data
of direction and speed is made. If multipath is recognized
in the signal, the most efficient three neighborhood anchors
in VANET are identified and positioning and accuracy
enhancement are performed once again. Then, the previous
position estimates within a limited time, such as the last
one minute, are gathered with the Previous Path Detection
(PPD) algorithm and averaged. By combining with the cur-
rent estimate, the past data have been utilized. The algorithm
has not been tested in real life, however, the methods of
GPS, KF, IVCAL, and IVCAL+PPD are compared in real-
istic simulations. The most effective result is achieved with
IVCAL+PPD in an accuracy error of 0.05 m.

Table 3  GPS based cooperative Accuracy (m) Network density Landmark density Type of localization References
localization
0.02–0.4 Low Low UWB (Time Of Flight) [89]
0.8–7.2 High High Na [45]
0–3 Low High RFID [101]
4–7 Average Average IEEE 802.11p [102]
0.28–1.11 Low Low IR-UWB [59]
1.7 Low Low radio-based ranging sensor [71]
0.05–1.89 Low Low IVCAL+PPD [42]
2.07–3.54 Low Average TOA+PARTICLE FILTER [70]
0.8–4.0 Average High GPS+DSRC [109]
0.5–2.0 High High GPS+WAVE(IEEE [61]
802.11p)+MAP MATCH-
ING
0.7–6.1 Low Low GPS+RSSI [93]
2.28–3.83 Low Low GPS+TOA+PF [65]
3.81–15.75 High High GPS+DLEA+KF [96]

13
Vehicular Ad Hoc Network (VANET) Localization Techniques: A Survey
In [43], VANET localization is improved by non-coop-
erative features like traffic lights, inactive cars or people. So
it is called Implicit cooperative localization. Also, above-
mentioned features are fused with V2V communication
links. Moreover, Gaussian Message Passing algorithm is
applied for this study which integrates GPS measurements
with Kalman filter. Many VHF (Vehicle to feature) methods
are used in this paper and those measurements are almost
noisy. So with the construction of consensus by applying
those VHF techniques more accurate localization can be
obtained. If those features would be applied increasingly,
localization results could be more accurate. For instance,
localization root mean square error has been about 0.2 m
when 200 features were applied in Urban Canyon. However,
RMSE was acquired approximately 4 m for only 5 features
in urban canyon too. These features were applied in an urban
canyon, but not in a rural area.
The researchers in [44] propose to send collision alarm
to drivers by integrating the movements of the positioned
neighborhood vehicles by means of vehicular sensors, GPS
and wireless communication. The vehicular sensors consist
of wheel velocity sensors, steering angle coder, and fiber
optic gyro. The information received from these sensors and
steering angle coder were combined in a Kalman filter. In the
study, a dynamic cycle model was used as an example, and
in urban areas the data obtained at low and high speed dur-
ing a trip of 60 km were processed, such as stops, junctions,
U-turns, lane changing, etc. These are verified with the facts
that the filter makes dead reckoning, disseminates the speed
and involves the collision alarm. Namely, real-time position-
ing structures designed and deployed on the vehicles were
compared. An extended Kalman filter was integrated into
vehicular sensors, including wheel velocity, yaw rate gyro,
DGPS observations, and the steering angle. For the cur-
rent study, the mean number of satellites is less than 5, and
hence GPS location errors are badly computed with greater
than 2 to 3 m on average. A similar study aims to mini-
mize the multipath problem depending on the localization
precision of VANET vehicles. The suggested Inter-Vehicle
Communication Assisted Localization (IVCAL) technique
utilizes communication between VANET vehicles to obtain
more information from the vehicles in the neighborhood.
The simulation results indicate that the positioning error is
reduced up to 53% compared to that of the traditional tech-
niques [45].
A study using KF structure [46] suggested the technique
of Constrained Weighting Scheme of Inter-Vehicle Commu-
nication Assisted Localization (CWS-IVCAL) that utilizes
intra-vehicular communication to enhance the accuracy of
vehicular localization. CWS-IVCAL fulfills the procedures
in consideration of the uncertainty of dead reckoning for the
vehicles with IVCAL as localization technique. The sug-
gested method was tested through simulation and compared
with an orderly IVCAL scheme. CWS-IVCAL verifies the
reliability of GPS in urban environment and the flexibil-
ity against wrong intra-vehicular distance estimates. Con-
sequently, it was concluded that the constraint weighting
scheme optimizes the localization process thanks to use of
an innovative assurance measurement and described that it
is effective for the soundness and accuracy of localization.
The subsequent vehicular position data in VANET sys-
tem are discrete, and therefore update frequency of loca-
tion information should be efficiently decreased in order to
lessen the burden of communication and data management.
The next study [47] suggests that a location updating model
will be designed based on the equations taking into account
the Kalman filter difference, and an updating strategy of
vehicular position data based on Kalman filter, with repeat-
ing package. A decision algorithm for repeating packages
to avoid package losses is designed to present the vehicular
position updating data. In addition to this, the model not
only produces location updating information according to
the predefined position but also makes decisions on package
repeating mode of the distance between two neighborhood
vehicles. As a result of the simulation, it is shown that pack-
age repeating location updating strategy can substantially
reduce Messages Generation Density (MGD) of the vehicles
and increase the Packet Delivery Ratio (PDR) to keep band-
width, which decreases database problems and enhances the
reliability of network communication.
Rohani et al. [48] suggested cooperative vehicular locali-
zation based on a decentralized Bayesian approach that a
vehicle can integrate GPS localization with other vehicles’
GPS data and vehicular distance measurements. The aim of
the study is to improve GPS localization and eliminate data
dependency due to the fact that this is common in proba-
bilistic approaches[49–51]. It has been also proven that the
suggested method has no over convergence problem, unlike
other methods. The new localization estimates produced
using that method was employed a Kalman filter and the
results were compared to GPS measurement positions. Con-
sequently, it was shown that this significantly decreases the
positioning uncertainty along with localization error.
The study of Ghaleb et al. [52] aims to develop a highly
accurate system under dynamic and unstable circumstances.
For this purpose, innovation-based Adaptive Estimation
Kalman Filter (IAEKF) structure was used to help localiza-
tion measurements be utilized together with vehicular kin-
ematic information so that this was partly renewed according
to VANET localization, named as EIAE-KF in the study.
Based on the obtained results, satisfaction charts were estab-
lished with regards to the localization conducted and the
variety of noise levels, and the EIAE-KF method achieved
the best outcome in terms of satisfaction.
The published paper of Sunil and Rekha [53] is on vehic-
ular localization made through Kalman filters. In the study,
13

they allow to improve the results without filling the memory
obtained using Kalman channel. The penultimate situation
is not kept in memory, which is a key advantage for built-in
systems in which GPS and video images are used together.
The researchers in [54] emphasize the observation of corre-
lation between successive localization measurements. Then
those measurements are integrated for modeling localization
error. Yule-Walker equations determine the correlation of
past and future positions of vehicles. Also, p-order Gause-
Markov method is applied for future location prediction of
vehicles and utilizes past positions of vehicles. That method
compares the datasets which contain the mobility traces of
two vehicles.
Another paper [55] proposes a plan to identify the pres-
ence of multipath conditions and mitigate their effects on
vehicular localization using the suggested IVCAL localiza-
tion technique. In order to achieve maximum accuracy, the
location uncertainty indexes of vehicles exchange with the
position data.The improved localization performance was
evaluated in both open areas and urban or canyon environ-
ments [55].
5.1.2 Extended and Semi‑Extended Kalman Filter
(EKF‑SEKF):
Relating to this method, Jaiswal and Jaidhar aimed localiza-
tion for nonlinear vehicle movement using Extended Kalman
Filter (EKF) in their study [56]. The nonlinearity indicates
the speed variability of vehicles inside a city. Nonlinear
vehicle movement was analyzed especially in an urban envi-
ronment. It was assumed in the study that all vehicles have
an omnidirectional antenna and communicate both RSU
and also other vehicles through the IEEE 802.11p protocol.
Additionally, it is assumed that the values of latitude, longi-
tude, velocity, acceleration, and steering angle are observed
by GPS and inertial navigation systems on the vehicles. The
study professed that the EKF method is more efficient than
KF, and then the comparison was made between these two
methods and better localization results obtained. Further-
more, it was observed in the localization through EKF that
the simulation results for the highway environment were
more successful than those for urban environment [57]. In
another study [58] trace traffic times for intra-vehicular dis-
tance estimate and reduced inertial sensor system (RISS)
are utilized for localization as integrated. Location errors
from this integration are limited by means of the applied
EKF method. The paper employed scenarios in which sev-
eral vehicles could be connected to GPS for a short time.
The localization system additionally requires no synchro-
nization in the use of trace traffic, and this feature makes a
difference. The percentages in VANET of the vehicles with
the ideal GPS update were ultimately 25, 50, 75, and 100.
The study results differently evaluated (0 to 5m) are also
13
F. B. Günay et al.
given for comparison. Naturally, the system with low rate of
error provides better localization. The study of Hoang et al.
[59] aims to reduce localization errors through integration
of GPS positions with V2V IR-UWB distance measurements
and turning information from the IMUs. In addition, it was
tried to decline Geometric dilution of precision (GDOP) in
localization. Different problems including distance-based
CL limits, IMU turning integration and lane borders inte-
gration, were intended to solve based on the applied method,
using definite-time distance measurement with IR-UWB
technology, modified EKF, quality gyroscope, camera and
digital map. Localization results were obtained through the
above-mentioned technologies used in the problem solving,
individually or in group. According to these, the package for
which all technologies are utilized and GPS+UWB+IMU
package are so close to one another in localization perfor-
mance. Plus, the simulations are not performed for different
speeds.
Golestan et al. in [60] proposed a method for localization
through vehicular movement model-based (dynamic model)
V2V communication and data fusion. The system designed
specifically for this purpose includes context-aware informa-
tion processing unit (CAIPU), data fusion unit (DFU), and
Cognitive Gateway. DFU combines data from sub-levels and
transmits them to the CAIPU together with an estimate Ack-
erman movement model was applied, which does not just
consist of gas and brake but also have such information as
velocity, steering angle, etc through sensors. AOA and TOA
measurements are used for localization, and communication
is provided using Dedicated Short Range Communication
(DSRC). For estimation of all vehicles’ current situation and
location, Bayesian filter, Extended Kalman Filter for recur-
sive state estimating, and Unscented Transform methods are
utilized to make adjustments to the results. Furthermore, the
combination of TOA and AOA is a significant difference. In
the study, two test cases were made in itself: one of them is
straight road and the other is curvy road. And the simula-
tions were conducted using 5, 7 and 9 cars, and the least
localization error is 0.77 m.
In study [61] all the nodes have synchronous Positive
Orthogonal Code (POC) MAC to deliver safety packets
to other nodes. Each node has one POC codeword. It is
assumed that all VANET nodes are both frame-synchronous
and slot-synchronous. They can use TDOA due to the known
times of transmitting and receiving the messages synchro-
nous. Only a semi-extended Kalman filter was used in the
study, in which both the received GPS locations and the
approximate distances between the vehicles through the
POC were utilized. The study was tested in two cases: one
is the situation of single road and low dense traffic, and the
other is multipath with different traffic density. In both, it is
assumed that the intra-vehicular communication range can
be maximum of 50 m, and the vehicles are heterogeneously
Vehicular Ad Hoc Network (VANET) Localization Techniques: A Survey
distributed on road. Both have 5 types of results: Semi-
Extended Kalman Filter with map matching, Parker’s
method with map matching, Semi-Extended Kalman Fil-
ter without map matching, Parker’s method without map
matching, and VLOCI2 algorithm. The accuracy ranking
was simulated as 0.8, 0.9, 1.0, 1.3, and 2.0  m, respectively.
In the multipath situation, they are found as 0.5, 0.6, 0.7, 1.0,
and 1.6 m, respectively. It is arguable of how much possible
is to employ TDOA in such a simple way.
5.1.3 UKF
In [62], a new approach is suggested for vehicle localization
of using Unscented Kalman Filter (UKF). The kinematic
parameters of vehicles (i.e. position, velocity, movement,
acceleration, etc.) are regarded as a multi-dimension datum.
As a result of the simulations, it was shown that the sug-
gested approach could be more accurate and more reliable
than GPSIDR system and Extended Kalman Filter (EKF)
based solution. For vehicular localizations, the 10 m preci-
sion of GPS is insufficient to apply it for VANET’s security
applications. In the proposed algorithm, both vehicular data
and movement models are taken into account, and UKF is
used to achieve better localization accuracy. In the study of
Cruz et al. [63] UKF was employed as a second-step filter.
5.1.4 Particle Filtering
An alternative approach is proposed in [64] to perform
vehicular localization through the RSU structures inside
tunnels. The main difference is the necessity of the locali-
zation without GPS connection. However, the obtained
data from Particle filtering and Inertial Measurement Units
/ Wheel Speed Sensors (IMU/WSS) were combined based
on localization. Different localization infrastructures were
tested within ToF-based ranges and with ITS-G5 RSS in a
tunnel. Localization errors were found depending on their
filter-fusion situations are between 0.1 and 2.0 m.
Particle filter and weight update were used for improv-
ing accuracy and based on absolute position, vehicle motion
and mutual positioning in this study [65]. TOA was applied
for range finding. TOA, GPS and TOA, GPS, Particle with
particle filters were shown in simulation results. Results are
categorized into two kinds, GPS and GPS outage. For GPS
results, 3, 5, 7 and 9 nodes are used in results and 3.83,
3.30, 2.76 and 2.28 m positioning errors are acquired with
particle filters respectively. On the contrary GPS, outage
caused less accurate results and 13.04, 9.68, 9.21 and 7.41 m
were obtained for position errors respectively. Simulation
was tested for Istanbul with Sumo.
The closed localization systems have been reached up
to the still acceptable performance [66, 67] and outdoor
localization have remained a challenge. In this study [68] it
was suggested to integrate GPS absolute localization with
the data computed using a vision system producing the
position and heading information of the vehicle on road.
A great number of outcomes are acquired through the sys-
tem deployed onto an empirical vehicle on real roads and
in real-time, and the best standard deviation became 48 cm
along with road axis and 8 cm along with axis normal. These
results are found by making applications along the road of
4 km in an urban area including a curvy road as well as
single-and double-lane roads. The obtained results indicate
the requirement of integration of the information from differ-
ent sensors to mitigate the uncertainty of and the non-access
to GPS data for vehicular localization. In another study, this
method is also applied. [69].
In [70], simulations were performed with 3 to 11 nodes.
The most successful method in all cases the particle filter
method was followed by the GPS and TOA measurements,
respectively. Particle filter for 11 nodes with 2.49 m error
and 4.32 m for 3 nodes. Also, GPS system is considered
to be disabled and the simulation was also performed for
this situation. 11 nodes and 3 nodes results are 5.13 m and
6.25 m respectively. Again a simulation in a tunnel was
made and where 3-4 nodes and RSUs are used. The particle
filter and only TOA have 3.86 m. and 17.25 m. accuracy
respectively [70].
5.1.5 Sequential Monte‑Carlo Probability Hypothesis
Density (SMC‑PHD) Filter
The researchers in [71] propose to make a cooperative,
multi-sensor, multi-vehicle, high-accuracy localization. All
the vehicles contain GPS-module, radio-based distance esti-
mation systems. The intra-vehicular communication distance
is 300 m. To determine the target status and number through
the Bayes filter, the condition of the vehicles is predictable
with Sequential Monte Carlo-Probability Hypothesis Den-
sity (SMC-PHD) filter. Maximum RMSE is found as 4.7 m
when the standard deviation is 0.83, and RMSE with the
standard deviation of 0.26 as 1.7 m. Furthermore, it was
observed that more accurate localization was made than the
only GPS option. GPS usage in every vehicle can be consid-
ered as a disadvantage.
5.1.6 Bayesian Filtering
To investigate Bayesian Filtering, the related study [72] aims
to develop a cooperative map matching method (CMM),
obtain pure GPS data between vehicles and design a precise
map. At the first step, the vehicles transmit GPS data to
another through CMM and VANET. The other vehicles using
this information improve localization by means of more pre-
cise mapping. As a second step, dynamic base station DGPS
will be utilized, which help the vehicles, particularly those
13

which newly join VANET, to correct their GPS Pseudorange
errors in a decentralized way. That pseudorange errors are
distance measurement errors between GPS satellites and
vehicles. The difference of this study from others is that
there is no need for distance information between the related
vehicle and others, and the pseudorange errors of different
vehicles and mapping uncertainties are eliminated through
the CMM and DGPS. In the best scenario to compare with
the only GPS and Single Vehicle MM (SVMM), location
error was found as 14.06 m for GPS, 5.02m for SVMM, and
2.74 m for CMM with 10 vehicles. The method was simpli-
fied with a lack of intra-vehicular distance measurement,
and however it is remained unclear whether localization is
more successful when it is applied. There is an obligation
that every vehicle has a GPS module, and it is economically
disadvantageous as well.
In [63] localization has been tried to be performed with
both vehicle communication and mobile phone sensors. The
two-stage Bayes filter technique was used for localization.
The first filter is the Kalman filter used to estimate the angle
of rotation thanks to the sensors in the mobile phone, and
the other filter is the particle filter structure that combines
the map information, GPS location, and inter-vehicle RSS
measurements. As a contribution to the study, the location
of other unknown vehicles in the absence of GPS is to help
localization and real-world data is tested with urban sce-
narios. Urban scenarios are also supported by 30-minute
driving. Localization errors have been between 1.58 and
10 m. [63].
The researchers in [31] propose to use both EKF and PF
which finds good results even in sensor failures. GPS sen-
sor is used for some time to measure the accuracy of the
proposed model.
5.2 Non‑Filter Usage
5.2.1 Dead Reckoning (DR)
While DR can provide more accurate and robust localiza-
tion, the disadvantage is their uninterrupted and real-time
information which have received from sensors. The study
using Position Based Forwarding (PBF) [73], analyzed the
effects of DR strategies on location accuracy between bea-
cons. For this purpose, simulations are performed to inves-
tigate the effect of different DR strategies on the protocol
performance and the relation between cost and performance
is explained. In the previous study [74] it was shown that
Position-Based Forwarding is superior to Topology-Based
routing methods using vehicle highway scenarios, and this
was compared to Active, Passive Anticipation and Defensive
Neighbor Selection. As a result, it was observed that Active
Anticipation reduced average localization error to less than
50 cm and showed that it exhibited better performance than
13
F. B. Günay et al.
other strategies for all the metrics studied including Package
Delivery Rate, MAC cost, package delay, and average route
length. In the study of Abumansoor and Boukerche [75],
The NLOS condition is dealt with, and location verifica-
tion protocol between the neighborhood vehicles to provide
VANET localization services. The position of any node can
be verified as well as the safety measures for the improve-
ment of data integrity through this multihop-based approach.
5.2.2 RSSI in GPS‑Based Cooperative Localization
One other preferred technique is RSSI in Non-Filter usage
like the other methods. The first study in this kind [76] sug-
gests a distributed algorithm that is made through a radio-
based spacing technology, using control movement estimates
in order to realize vehicular localization between the neigh-
borhood nodes. In this method, the algorithm establishes a
cluster minimizing excesses of Euclidian distance between
the vehicles because the intra-vehicular distance estimates
include noise factor, and helps a position of a vehicle within
this cluster to be accurately localized. The suggested algo-
rithm works in three steps:
1. Initialization : Each vehicle evaluates its distance from
the neighbors and then shares this information with the
other vehicles.
2. Attenuation : Each vehicle sensitizes the initial estimates
to obtain a final estimate of its neighbors’ positions. The
aim is to minimize the residuals of the intra-vehicular
Euclidean distance and the measured length.
3. Iteration : In a mobile environment, the first two steps
are repeated per T seconds.
Consequently, a new distributed solution was proposed for
localization to be used as a collateral way to GPS, and it
was shown that the GPS accuracy can be improved using
radio-based spacing technology (i.e. RSSI). Even in greater
error levels for vehicular localization (e.g. GPS accuracy
underestimating localization), the algorithm was shown to
come closer to its real position with relatively higher accu-
racy. The researchers in [77] propose to exploit RSSI for
position estimation via vehicular networks. Also, the pro-
posed method is a self-correcting technique that works on
different topology scenarios and tries to develop techniques
for reduction of localization errors. Self-correcting locali-
zation scheme was used for solving important problems
of RSSI. RSSI limitations are destructed with this method
in sparse networks. Generally, localization with lateration
needs 3 nodes at least. SCL-VNET method provides the
necessity of 2 nodes. According to this method 2-hop, near-
est nodes to 1-hop nodes should be used for localization.
There are 3 phases of this process. In the communication
phase, communication and listing processes of all nodes are
Vehicular Ad Hoc Network (VANET) Localization Techniques: A Survey
realized. Selection of 3 1-hop nodes or less than 3 1-hop
and farthest 2-hop beacon nodes are made in the estimation
phase and finally correction and alignment phase is carried
out. According to simulation results, 0.44 and 0.42 m are
acquired for average localization errors in urban and subur-
ban area respectively. Above mentioned results are valid for
high traffic density but average localization error increase to
0.6 m to moderate and low traffic density.
To have a safe and rapid transportation system in the
VANET structure, it should be known of where traffic prob-
lems may occur including any vehicle or crashed or broken
vehicle. Like tunnel, in these cases, localization problems
occur and then a method without GPS should be utilized
to localize vehicles. In a relevant study, a new technique
is proposed to be a solution for this issue and based on the
communication interval. For the Optimized Disseminating
Alarm Message (ODAM) algorithm, a simulation was real-
ized using 150 nodes on a two-way road of 20 km. In the
simulation, speeds are different. The best result was obtained
in the way that 40% of the nodes are equipped with GPS
[78].
Another published paper on this issue aims to create
a lightweight security system and determine Sybil nodes
through a distributed and localized approach. The useful
characteristics in this technique RSUs are and traffic pat-
terns. The method can be divided into three steps:
1. The nodes periodically transmit beacon messages,
receive them from all their neighbors, and signal
strengths of the related messages are kept in memory.
To realize this, there are three sub-steps. Claimer: Each
node transmits a beacon message for the discovery of
neighbor in a periodical way, and the message has the
position and id data such as GPS Position. Witness: It
measures signal strength and memorizes the related
information to the neighbors. Then, a beacon is trans-
mitted with an attached list of neighborhood informa-
tion. Verifier: After receiving the beacon message, node
stays at the verifying interval and during this period of
time, it can more accurately achieve localization than
that made by claimer, comparing with the messages of
witness process from the neighbors
2. A node can find more accurate location of its neighbors
following after collecting sufficient signal strength data.
3. If the neighborhood node at the second step is recog-
nized as being Sybil node, it will try to find out whether
the other nodes are Sybil using node classification algo-
rithm computed.
There are two different scenarios for simulation. In the first
one, the maximum signal distance is 200 m, its distance at
the claimer point is 200 m, and the number of witnesses is
escalated to 30%. As a result of the study, the detection rate
is determined to depend on such situations as Sybil devia-
tion, observation period, witness number, etc., however, a
localization accuracy was not explained [79].
5.2.3 Map Matching
The project named Cooperative Vehicular and Infrastruc-
ture System, have the following functions: It offers a new
localization method to make the connection between vehi-
cles, pedestrians, roads, and traffic data. Also, it shares traffic
information which is taken through wireless communica-
tion, distribute local map data of RSU and Wi-Fi and uses
map matching algorithm with the On-Board Units (OBU)
equipped with GPS receiver and Wi-Fi devices [80]. This
method helps vehicles to find the true path and also the true
lane even on the single-lane roads. Map Matching method is
used also in the study of Abumansoor et al. [75].
In their study, Bauer et al. [81] evaluated shadow maps
for safe and real-time vehicular localization in urban areas,
in the reference of shadow mapping rather than classical
digital 3D maps. The proposed approach proved that single-
frequency GPS receiver enhanced the accuracy and integ-
rity without additional physical sensors in urban areas. The
evaluated results are generated from different test drives.
Nowadays, accurate localization is a key necessity in the
areas of comfort and safety for the intelligent Transporta-
tion System (ITS). NLOS measurements are fairly made and
can be derived from the positioning solution. Shadow map-
ping designs a compact map to explain signal coverage for
each satellite in a certain region under one service provider.
Afterward, that is transferred onto the vehicles available in
VANET by a RSU. As a result, the study has introduced a
concept of shadow maps to efficiently display satellite signal
coverage in urban areas and developed an interval of locali-
zation accuracy and estimation integrity. Furthermore, it is
highlighted that the maps in shadow can substitute for the
conventional digital map databases, with modern VANETs,
which requires its deployment onto the vehicles and keep-
ing updated.
In another study, a multi-sensor fusion strategy is pro-
posed for a new path matching technique designed to
improve the characteristics of real-time navigation in the
advanced driver assistance systems. [82]. This is a useful
approach to eliminate uncertainties in the path matching.
Multi-sensor and multi-path estimation have been made
using a hybrid Bayesian Network. In fact, real-time locali-
zation on digital path maps helps to drive assistance mod-
ule for accurately position the vehicle, facilitating processes
(i.e. route estimation, Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC), col-
lision alarm, lane departure warning, etc.) and promoting
Advanced Driver Assistance System Applications (ADAS).
The path matching problem is a localization problem based
on dynamic vehicular localization. In the previous studies,
13

errors were not explicitly modeled, the methods were com-
prised linking dead reckoning and path geometry. The topol-
ogies proposed by Taylor, Blewitt, and Greenfeld are used to
eliminate outliers [83, 84].
The main contributions of the study are the formaliza-
tion of path matching technique in the context of Hybrid
Bayesian Network and its empirical verification with real
facts. Another aspect of this approach is its flexibility and
modularity so that we can easily integrate other sensors.
5.2.4 AOA in GPS‑Based Cooperative Localization
In a study of this technique [85] it was aimed to integrate
the cooperation VANET scenario well-designed through a
signal processing at a low level on the physical layer, and
hence an adaptable system to varying road conditions was
designed, in which data exchange is minimum. Therefore
the covariance matrices of adaptive control with the EKF
method and the variables of beacon package purchases were
used. The study suggests that it is effective and successful
even in the environment of lightweight communication and
at low computational complexity and remarks that it is dif-
ferent from this aspect.
5.2.5 Ultra Wide Band (UWB)
The relevant study aims to fulfill localization with data
fusion, fed by the local and VANET neighbors utilizing
UWB (TOA) measurements and GPS-oriented information
[86]. In the paper, three methods are primarily used: DGPS,
Tight CL, and INS aided tight GP. In this context CL can
be made, either debug from pseudorange errors or Kalman
filter or more robust CL through Doppler Shifting computa-
tion are conducted, and the tight-CL method is employed.
It is seen that better interpretation and conclusions may be
dependent to the number of GPS satellites. As expected, the
increased number of satellites has positive effects on the
results, and however, as it rises, the achievement rates of
these methods get closer to each other. As understood from
this, the method was designed in tests with a satellite number
that can be accepted as low as 5 became more successful
than the other one. The effectiveness of T-CL with UWB
was compared to the other three methods: DGPS, T-CL and
T-CL with INS. Localization accuracy was found to be 1.32,
1.40, 1.42, and 1.52 m, respectively. Tests were conducted in
an NLOS environment, which is a disadvantage. Presenting
the measurement results owing to the number of GPS satel-
lites is considered a true approach.
The probabilistic approaches used for localization prob-
lem are based on a posterior probability distribution estimate
out of possible vehicular locations. One of these approaches
is Kalman filter [87] that makes Gauss distribution reason-
able. Different variations on this matter were previously
13
F. B. Günay et al.
suggested such as Kalman filters and Markov Localization.
Out of Markov techniques, Monte Carlo localization algo-
rithms (MCL) are remarkable, renowned as Particle Filters
or Condensation Algorithms [88] which function by repre-
senting the posterior estimates of potential locations with the
weighted samples or the particle clusters [89].
5.2.6 TOA and TDOA in GPS‑Based Cooperative Localization
The researchers in [90] propose a location verification algo-
rithm is proposed to prevent specific attacks in VANETs
(e.g. spoofing attacks). The suggested algorithm, Coopera-
tive Location Verification (CLV), is primarily based on the
use of two vehicles (Verifier and Cooperator) to complete
the verification of one vehicle (Prover). Verifier and Coop-
erator transmit a message to the Prover, and it disseminates
radio frequency-based location information. According to
simulation results, it was proven that that approach is better
than Secure Location Verification (SLV) and Greedy For-
warding Algorithm (GFA).
Agarwal et al. used [91] the methods of TOA (time of
arrival) and TDOA (time difference of arrival) for VANET
localization. In the scenario tried to realize, vehicular cloud,
roadside cloud, and central cloud servers were utilized for
real-time road safety. By means of OBU and vehicular cloud
networks, localization can be achieved in the spaces with-
out GPS like tunnels. The vehicles within the clustered net-
works act as service providers for other vehicles with OBU.
The used technique for localization is virtual beacon-based
method indeed, which vehicle B that can know its own loca-
tion through GPS outside of the tunnel communicates to
vehicle A inside the tunnel and estimates their distance and
upon three repetitions of this way, can find out the posi-
tion of vehicle A. However, heading estimate can be made
with built-in cam in the OBU. In the study, it was described
that OBU tech continued to be improved, and additionally,
a mobile application was developed to transmit the relevant
data to a range with a radius of 10 km via central cloud
system and to cover the position and report to the police.
In the study [92] it is aimed to perform localization with
no need for GPS by means of clustering and link prediction.
TOA and TDOA methods are employed for inner-tunnel
localization when GPS is unavailable. Unit Disk Model is
the channel model applied to the study. According to this
model, two vehicles can communicate to each other as long
as their Euclidean distance is less than communication
distance. Thus, these can pass by one another and remain
unstable. In the process of link prediction, four attributes
are utilized: degree centrality (or the number of neighbor-
hoods with other nodes), closeness centrality (or the inverse
proportionate of the average of the distances from the related
node to all the other nodes), betweenness centrality (or the
ratio of the shortest path communication through the related
Vehicular Ad Hoc Network (VANET) Localization Techniques: A Survey
node), and straightness centrality (one of centrality indexes).
Centrality based approach differs the study from others, and
the disadvantages of the study are lack of conclusion and no
numerical result obtained.
Another relevant study [93] aims to control the posterior
unmanned vehicles with WSN for a mobile vehicle fleet
on which the only first one has a driver. The system was
designed in the way that the whole fleet follows the lead-
ing vehicles along the path via WSN. In this pursuit, it was
assumed that the fleet primarily had two types of mobil-
ity. The proposed Straight Path technique is used when the
Anchor nodes located through GPS available on the fleet
are in the same line. If not, or in the case of road bend, tri-
lateration techniques are applied or mobile nodes between a
greater number of anchor nodes are positioned.
In trilateration or multilateration, the least mean squares
(LMS), Tulip and Cramer–Rao techniques were used.
Cramer-Rao is the major method to produce the most accu-
rate results out of the applied ones and becomes a success-
ful method especially for the vehicles having 1 m following
distance. At this point, the location errors made approxi-
mately ranging from 0.7 to 3.5 m can be considered a suc-
cessful result. As the following distances between vehicles
increase localization errors increase too. Tulip method is
another method to apply to the system through trilateration.
Localization errors were found to be variable between 0.90
and 4.0 m. It was observed that LMS method has the highest
localization errors between the applied techniques for mobile
vehicles. Localization errors were observed to be nearly 0.85
to 6.10 m by varying distance levels. In addition, the dis-
tances of anchor nodes to mobile nodes were arranged as 15,
25, and 35 m, and the lowest levels of location error were
determined using the TOA method as 0.853, 1.5702, and
1.9671 m respectively, depending on the above distances.
5.2.7 Weighted Localization (WL)
In [94] two weighted localization (WL) methods were
applied to VANET. The centroid localization diversification
is different from other studies. The methods of Weighted
Localization (WL) and Weighted Localization Distance
(WLD) dealt with in the study were compared to Centroid
Localization and Relative Span Weighted Localization
(RWL) in terms of accuracy, WLD accuracy error was found
less than 30 m, the second-best method was RWL with the
accuracy of a bit more than 30 m, and they were followed by
WL and centroid localization respectively. As a simulation
environment, a Manhattan Grid (3X3) with an edge length
of 1000 m was selected, and active working time was 30
minutes. Examined in the study, centroid localization and its
derivatives, WL and WCL are the fast estimation methods
based on the rapidly changing VANET structure, which is
a key advantage.
In a thesis related to the method [95] it was examined
with types of Weighted Centroid Localization used to get
weights applied. The first technique is Link Quality Distance
(LQD) in which Heading and Map are utilized to determine
them for vehicles based on the quality of intra-communica-
tion channels. LQD is calculated with SINR/di. For Head-
ing, if vehicles are moving towards the same direction, the
related weight element is recorded as 1 or otherwise 0. For
map, if they are in the same map, it is 1, or if not, 0. In the
paper, it was anticipated that RSS errors could occur and
weight identification was made with Fuzzy Logic. Beacon
messages are transmitted from the node to all the others and
a localization chart is established through them. A fuzzy rule
base is made with RSS (distance) and Heading values from
the received signals and the result appears as the weight fac-
tor. Finally, the position data taken are adjusted through data
verification for better localization. WCL, Fuzzy WCL, and
Mobility Data Verification WCL methods were compared
with each other. Those three methods were compared to cen-
troid localization and accuracy errors were presented both on
average and at the maximum that average values were 22, 21,
and 1 m respectively and maximum levels were 60 and 1 m
for WCL and Mobility Data Verification WCL respectively.
In [96], Weighted Least Squares Double Difference
(WLS-DD) and Distributed Location Estimation Algorithm
(DLEA) algorithms are proposed for improving the accu-
racy of localization. First, WLS-DD detects the intervehicle
distances based on the sharing of GPS pseudorange meas-
urements and a weighted least squares method. Based on
this distance information and the sharing of inaccurate GPS
pseudorange measurements, DLEA improves the accuracy
of vehicle positioning. The results show that 4–15 m locali-
zation error of GPS can be reduced to 1.5–6 m by employing
this method.
5.2.8 Grid‑Based On‑Road Localization (GOT)
To overcome the unavailability of GPS signals, this study
[97], suggests that the vehicles with or without GPS signal
on low-density traffic or in tunnels.Vehicles should be inte-
grated into VANET, change location, and distance informa-
tion , and have a new Grid-based On-road localization sys-
tem (GOT) be developed to assist one another. This method
evaluates several fuzzy geometrical relations between the
vehicles and applies a grid-base approach to estimate the
vehicular position, and thus beacon nodes and error propa-
gation, two significant challenges in path localization, are
handled. Consequently, it is shown that the proposed model
offers high localization accuracy as well as a little burden
of communication and estimation in both tunnel and city
scenarios.
Within the vehicular range, the system receives the loca-
tion and position information and these are transferred if its
13

distance to the related node is greater than the communica-
tion threshold. If a vehicle simply knows the positions of
and the length from the neighbor vehicles, it should have
at least three vehicles’ location data to activate Reckoning
mode. This feature constitutes the essential of the previous
localization papers [98, 99]. The tunnel scenario of GOT
was evaluated together with city and hybrid scenarios on
the real maps [100]. According to the simulation results, in
the tunnel scenario, although distance measurement error is
at a high level, 30%, a vehicle 100 m farther from the tun-
nel exit can locate itself with an error less than 12 m and a
delay less than 15 m. In the city scenario, on high-density
traffic, only 10% of the vehicles can estimate their position
and when distance measurement error is at a high level, 30%,
the proposed system measures localization error less than
10 m. 40% of the vehicles have location information while
more than 90% of the other vehicles can effectively manage
to locate their positions.
5.2.9 Nano Integration
In the paper of Nasr and Mohamed, the aim of the theoretical
model is to achieve a higher accuracy rate and performance
level along with low cost and energy consumption through
vehicular localization. In a article [36], this suggestion pro-
vided theoretical researches and mathematical formulations,
and simulations were made except for a physical applica-
tion. An integrated nanotechnology model was developed
to determine exact positions in the near distance. It was
aimed to make a-few-meter distance estimate with one-or-
two-millimeter deviation. Furthermore, a theoretical model
was developed for Vehicular Carbon Nano Tube Network
(VCNT).
5.2.10 RFID
VANET applications including safe driving and disaster
recovery typically involve high position accuracy. However,
the conventional Global Positioning System (GPS) cannot
provide this high-level accuracy. Apart from GPS, Lee et al.
put anchors on roadsides using the DGPS concept in order to
discover the GPS errors [101]. These anchor points are the
RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification) transmitter devices
placed at the roadside which propagate the data of physical
position, and this method is called RF-GPS. The proposed
system computes GPS errors using location information
from static RFID tags with a range of 3 to 4 m. Those RFID
tags are disseminated to the neighbor vehicles and hence
they also recognize the GPS errors. This is useful infor-
mation for them because similar deficiencies occur on the
GPS receivers in the vicinity. The main contribution of this
study is to exclude signal strength and propagation char-
acteristics for localization. Through the proposed system,
13
F. B. Günay et al.
even Non-GPS vehicles can locate themselves by means of
RFID readers that they contain, using the position informa-
tion from RSU or RFID tags on other GPS vehicles. The
authors showed with both simulations and the tests made
on test-beds of a real urban environment that the system that
they have suggested reduced GPS –oriented errors. With
the test results, the best performance is obtained with the
deployment of one 4-tag cluster per 5 m. The weaker side of
this method is the requirement of additional RFID devices
for their placement on roadsides.
5.2.11 Tight Integration
A new CL method is proposed to improve relative localiza-
tion between two vehicles within VANET using the received
data from GPS [102]. This method is similar to differential
solution principles such as differential GPS (DGPS) and
however shows better performance than DGPS and increases
relative localization accuracy and precision nearly by 37%
and 45% respectively. Technically for localization estima-
tion, several radio techniques were used, including the differ-
ence between nodes, time of arrival (TOA), Time Difference
of Arrival (TDOA), and Received Signal Strength (RSS).
This method [103] is very similar to the above study and
it’s analysis was made based on the number of satellites
connected with GPS module. Also, individual results were
obtained only for GPS outage times. Accordingly, accu-
racy errors were between 1.3 and 1.52 m and dramatically
increased 15 s after GPS outage.
5.2.12 Real‑Time Kinematic (RTK)
According to a study on this method [104] it is consid-
ered that the GPS itself is insufficient for high precision in
VANET localization. Therefore, localization was aimed to
have higher precision in the exchange of GPS locational
measurements and the evaluation of their differences by
means of DGPS and real-time kinematic calculations. For
VANET communication ITS-G5 protocol was utilized,
which helps transmit messages with 10 Hz and dynamic
information such as acceleration and speed. Test roads,
county routes and highways were assigned as application
areas, and tests were conducted at intervals of 30 km/h, max
100 km/h and 80 to 180 km/h. Correction values were got
between 0.08 and 2.96 m. Naturally, the designed the real
time kinematic system has a greater part in these location
error corrections.
5.2.13 Interference‑Aware RSSI‑Based Localization
(INTERLOC)
The researchers in [105] propose an RSSI-based localization
in which other mobile nodes are used for localization of a
Vehicular Ad Hoc Network (VANET) Localization Techniques: A Survey
mobile node. Also, it was aimed that that node can adjust
itself according to heterogeneous ambient noise sources. In
addition, a system was designed to discover the attacks of
Sybil nodes. To know the noise levels, it is important to
identify all the initial levels and then make it adapted to
keep pace with the variability on the mobility-based levels,
which is caused by noise grades and may update localization
results. After being updated, all nodes make an advertise-
ment about their positions. The received locations are con-
sidered Sybil nodes if not within the updated localization
area. In the study, there is no need for a reference point like
RSU, which makes the system more economic. A compari-
son was made with POEST and FRIIS methods. In POEST,
vehicular localization is performed using the RSSI values
from the RSUs. FRIIS offers distance measurement with the
received signal power to the transmitted signal power ratio,
however neglecting noise sources and path losses. INTER-
LOC became more effective than these two methods, with a
detection success rate of nearly up to 60% on a 900-vehicle
environment while the others brought success with about
40%.
5.2.14 Multi Dimensional Scaling (MDS)
For the convex optimization problem, multi-dimensional
scaling (MDS) is a method to present a variety of data
objects as a geometric graph. MDS is also a method in which
measurement is made in a multi-dimensional space com-
mencing with Dissimilarity matrices, especially distance
matrices. In a relevant study, the convex optimization based
real-time vehicular localization was conducted, in which
time is divided into slots. In general, less-dimensional
Euclidean space points are embedded and point-to-point
distances are considered as a real dissimilarity. Accord-
ing to the obtained localization results, the lowest RMSE
(m) error rate is 1 m and there is no requirement for GPS
and RSU. In the simulations made, better outcomes were
achieved compared to Parker’s algorithm. This superiority
remains between 0.3 to 1.3 m by communication distance.
In comparison with other studies, it is suggested that this is
efficient for the mobile VANET [106].
5.2.15 Improving Localization in Real City Environments
(IPC)
Another technique [107] aims to decline localization accu-
racy error by way of cooperative positioning in a simple
manner, even with only two vehicles. While doing this, it
doesn’t need a digital city map. When the single GPS is
used in VANET localization systems, an error of 5 to 30
m occurs. It is considered to minimize the errors caused
by GPS, using the past traveling records through the DR
system, which is not totally errorless though, that’s it may
lead to non-deliberate localization errors in the case of error
accumulation and when the initial reference point is wrong.
Differently, it used a webcam to estimate the intra-vehicular
distance and was able to manage thanks to knowing the ID
and the recorded scale of the vehicle. The vehicles’ ID data
are transmitted via DSRC, and their identification is made
through a vision scan. For example, one vehicle has a plate
numbered 4567-AB, and in this case, it is enough to visually
identify the number of 4567 and math with the ID. By means
of the IPC algorithm designed in the study, it is aimed to
remedy these deficiencies. The IPC algorithm has primarily
the following steps:
1. The GPS positions of all the vehicles are collected, and
the relative measurements for angles and distances are
made.
2. New circle radius values are found, which helps intra-
vehicular distance to be calculated.
3. According to the resulting status, new positions are
organized.
Moreover, the study not only explains the methodological
theory but also exemplifies it in quantities. The IPC algo-
rithm developed was compared first to the single GPS and
then to both GPS and the previously used method of the dis-
tributed location estimate algorithm (DLEA). Hereunder, out
of the average location errors found in the tests conducted
for the intravehicular distances of 5 to 30 m, the lowest rate
was observed in the IPC, for 5 to 10 m DLEA provided bet-
ter localization than GPS and for 15 to 30  m GPS was more
precise in localization. For example, for a 30 m distance,
the location errors of IPC, GPS and DLEA methods were
respectively found 7.67, 9.25, and 12.32 m. Its advantages
are being real-world tested and the ingenuity of the method
and the disadvantage is that the tests were conducted at low
speeds (20 to 40 km/h), and thus the applicability of the IPC
algorithm is assisted with a webcam at high speeds could be
questionable.
5.2.16 Parked Cars
The core idea of this study is the localization of parked
cars on streets or roads [108]. These vehicles are utilized
as anchor nodes. When the engine is off, the following two
conditions are to be met: V2V communication could be
made with the other vehicles on traffic and the OBUs can be
easily used. In the study, why parked cars should be utilized
was clarified. As statistically explained, one car is parked
for 6.64 h, and 69.2% of them are on the streets. Further-
more, the vehicles start to use GPS following the long-time
parking. It is assumed that the vehicular communication dis-
tance is 400 m. A localization simulation was designed in
the study with 5 parked and 15 moving vehicles. Accuracy
13

was obtained as 4.06 m while it was found 9.04 m using the
traditional CL method. The study could have given better
information in regard to theoretical and localization data.
5.2.17 Absolute Sum of Single Differencing (ASOSD)
According to this new method, the aim of Mahmoud et al.
is to achieve localization through an angle approximation
method that is artificially developed when no efficient con-
nection is made by GPS satellites [109]. The blocked pseu-
dorange is produced using the data of visible pseudoranges
transmitted via DSRC communication between the target
vehicle and the vehicle with multi-constellation GPS. The
artificial pseudoranges were established by using a geo-
metric approach which are actually the blocked pseudor-
anges. These are artificial candidate pseudorange (ACP)
and the optimum pseudorange is selected through either
absolute sum of double differencing (ASODD) or absolute
sum of single differencing (ASOSD). Generating pseudor-
anges according to the choice of methods is considered the
originality that belongs to the study. The assistant vehicles
respectively remain 10 and 25 m far from the target vehicle
in the simulations. In addition, the vehicles move in a tan-
dem arrangement. For localization accuracy results average
ACP and ASOSD selection based simulations were made,
and minimum accuracy errors were 4.0, 1.8, and 0.8 m,
respectively.
5.2.18 Geographical İnformation Enhanced Cooperative
Localizer (GIE‑CL)
A relevant method proposes to perform cooperative localiza-
tion with enhanced geographic data [110]. TOA method pro-
duces the likelihood of LOS above a certain threshold value
with respect to updating localization. The study was simu-
lated through NanoLOC transceiver and TOA methods, and
20 measurement points were determined. Localization was
made with the only GPS, least squares (LS-CL), extended
generalized approximate message passing (EGAMP-CL) and
GIE-CL techniques, and average accuracy errors were found
12.814, 9.5651, 10.1386, and 6.0091 m respectively. The
study’s essential advantages are the fixed geographic blocks
and locations and their capability of being pre-installed. This
method is preferable because it is advantageous in high
mobility.
5.2.19 DSRC/WAVE
In this study, each equipped vehicle its position by compil-
ing neighbor vehicles positions with distances to the target
vehicle and it’s own GPS position then realizes better locali-
zation [111]. For non-equipped vehicles GPS positions are
required related to the absence of DSMC communication
13
F. B. Günay et al.
between vehicles. Each equipped vehicle has a 48-bit MAC
address with the IEEE 802.11p standard. Also, they have
100 ms periodic time which they transmit their updated posi-
tion. Generally, this system provides a future position esti-
mation with last GPS positions, distance measurements from
neighbor vehicles with vehicle speeds on time slots. Average
localization errors are about 0.65 m with 100% equipped
vehicles and 1.4 m with 10% equipped vehicles.
5.2.20 Other Methods for GPS Based Localization
It is possible to enhance the safety level without many costs.
Several vehicles may decline the performance of applications
by deliberately transmitting incorrect positions in bad inten-
tion. In addition to the malicious vehicles, a fake position
could be produced due to the breakdown of the localization
device and sensory system (e.g. GPS receiver). In considera-
tion of these problems, an RSU method-based localization
technique was proposed [112]. The number of RSUs will be
greater because of many intersections in urban areas, which
escalates the costs. In another study [113], the suggested
method improves localization accuracy in some regions with
the range of three RSUs. Furthermore, it decreases the nec-
essary steps for location estimation and incorporates the full
path into the coverage area. The purpose of another study is
to transmit safety messages to the vehicles through the RSUs
[114]. Low-density traffic brings about network fragmenta-
tion leading to research difficulty that is critical for safety
applications. That’s why Raut et al. proposed a system to
find out relative positions among multiple vehicles using
Big Circle Algorithm [114]. RSU can disseminate the details
of the broken vehicles and the affected vehicles from the
multipoint alarm system to the specified ones, which will
prevent the propagation issue. The study allows to establish
communication with each other within the range of 100 to
150 m and aims to develop a mobile network in a large area.
A routing protocol is required to deal with the problematic
network fragmentation and transmit multipoint signal rout-
ing messages to the vehicles. Therefore, special vehicles
receive early warning messages using partial localization.
These results from transmitting emergency alert messages
onto the vehicles in the danger zone and the recorded early
warning messages onto the crashed vehicle in the related
area. Multicasting is preferred because all the vehicles in
the network are not influenced when any event like a crash
occurs and early warning messages are not disseminated.
Thus, a state of panic is avoided, which can appear with
transmitted messages for early warning to the needless vehi-
cles, as well as dissemination problems and traffic jams in
the road scenario.
Hashni et al. [115] suggested fusion technique depend-
ing on the scenario for VANET localization that GPS will
be utilized for localization in outdoor environments. In the
Vehicular Ad Hoc Network (VANET) Localization Techniques: A Survey

Table 4  Non-GPS based Accuracy Network density Landmark density Kind of localization References
cooperative logalization
20–50 m Low Low Vehicular Sensors+Fuzzy Logic [124]
0.1–3 m Low Low Vehicular Sensors+TDOA [125]
24–98 m High Low OWL+Vehicular Sensors+RSSI [37]
7–28 m NA Low OWL+Vehicular Sensors [126]
NA Average Average RSSI+RSU [128]
30 m High High RSSI+WL [129]
NA Average Low RSSI+RSU [130]
10 m NA Low MCL+RSU [131]

Table 5  Cooperative localization
Protocol Fusion type Requirement Accuracy Landmark Den. References

– GPS,DR GPS 4.0–5.0 m Average [73]

NA GPS,RSSI GPS 2.0–3.0 m Average [76]
UWB GPS,UWB GPS,UWB 0.02–0.4 m Low [89]
NA GPS,wheel speed sensors GPS,Vehicular Sensors 1m Na [44]
NA GPS,INS,KF,Neural Network GPS,Vehicular Sensors 0.8 –7.2 m Average [45]
NA GPS,RSU,V2V,V2I,INS GPS,RSU,Vehicular Sensors 5–50m Low [31]
802.11p GPS,V2V,DR,MAP M. GPS,V2V NA Low [75]
ZigBee GPS,ACCELEROMETER GPS,V2V About 10 m Low [132]
802.11p RSU,DR RSU,V2V 3.75 m Low [119]
802.11p GPS,RSU GPS,RSU,V2R 0.74 m Average [112]
NA GPS,DR,V2V,INS,IEA-KF GPS,V2V,Vehicular Sensors 0.1– 3 m Average [52]
NA GPS,CMM,BF GPS,V2V 2.74 –10.47 m Average [72]
UWB GPS,UWB,EKF GPS,V2V 0.28 – 1.11 m Low [59]
DSRC GPS,V2V,V2I GPS,V2V,V2I,CAIPU 0.77 m Low [60]
802.11p V2V,INS,Fuzzy Logic V2V,Vehicular Sensors 20 m High [124]
802.11p GPS,WAVE,MAP M.,Semi EKF GPS,V2V 0.5–2.0 m High [61]
NA GPS,RSSI,Self Correction GPS,V2V 1–4 m Average [77]
802.11p GPS GPS,V2V 0.65 m High [111]
802.11p GPS,V2V,V2I GPS,V2V,V2I,KF 0.2 m Average [43]

open areas where GPS communication is made, both GPS
directly and the fixed base station are used to communi-
cate. By comparison of these two, better localization was
aimed. In another scenario, simulations were realized in a
closed area of 4500 x 3400 m. Here, the Bluetooth, Wi-Fi,
and cellular localizations were individually implemented in
this zone. The designed system was tested in accordance
with the epidemic, ProPhet and Spray, and Wait routing
protocols. The most successful protocol, Spray and Wait,
became significant in both latency and delivery. Yokoyoma
et al. aimed in a study [116] to evaluate the distance between
the vehicle and RSU by way of vehicular communication
and recorded RSSI values and datasets. Based on this situ-
ation, RSSI behavior was characterized. In the study, two
traditional analyses were made for RSSI characterization.
The first is the analysis of the quantity of beacon per unit
length for both vehicle and RSU, including the distributions
of RSSI measurements. The second is the varying standard
and average deviations based on the distances. The error
rate is rising in the measurements for distances of more than
120 m. RSSI measurement error rates were from 14 to 16 m
in the range of normal measurements.
In a recent paper [117] the main goals are to detect GPS
position errors and deploy RSU in that region based on the
greatest GPS errors. GPS integrated 316 taxicabs roamed for
1 month in Rome. The cars downloaded the data of id, loca-
tion, and time at intervals of 7 s through an Android applica-
tion. The errors above 20 m were deleted in the system and
ignored. The measurements for more than 120 m distances
contain higher error rates. RSSI measurement error rates
were 14 to 16 m in the normal range. In the study conducted
on Vehicular Sensors [118], the RSUs are taken as reference
nodes. The distinctive part of this study is the economic
choice of both the GPS modules in the RSUs and the speed

13

sensors on the vehicles, which are odometers and heading
sensors. NS3 is a simulation environment and IEEE 802.11p
is used as the communication protocol. In the simulations,
error rates were determined as 2 degrees for turning and
as 10% for velocity. Location errors of GPS modules can
approximate to 15 m. Consequently, the mean of localization
errors were simulated at 0.91 m and the standard deviation
as 0.48 m. The tests performed in the Matlab and NS3 envi-
ronments assumed that the vehicles go at the constant speeds
of 90 and 100 km/h, that’s linear movement was anticipated.
6 Non‑GPS Based Cooperative Localization
Hardware technologies (i.e. RSU, Cellular Loc, etc.) are
available to replace GPS for VANET localization when there
are no systems such as GPS. Additionally, non-GPS based
methods including Weighted Loc and Monte Carlo may offer
good accuracy for localization. However, the lack of GPS is
not just empirical. The unavailability of GPS in such areas
as tunnels, mass buildings, and woods is not arbitrary but a
localization scenario that may be usually. The studies in this
section include both cases. This type of localization without
GPS and so GDOP problems can be considered an advan-
tage. Non-GPS based CL techniques are shown in Table 4
in Sect. 7 below.
6.1 RSU in Non‑GPS Based CL
The current non-GPS based techniques involve communi-
cating with at least two RSUs increase system costs due
to many RSUs needed. In this study, in order to localize
the vehicles via communication with single RSU, partial
use of Dead Reckoning and a localization method using two
TOAs were proposed [119]. The results showed that the rec-
ommended method is 13.1 to 20.1% better than techniques
using one RSU, and meanwhile, full dependency on Dead
Reckoning appeared. When both sides used two RSUs the
result obtained was 3 to 8.9% worse. Also, DR and RSU
aided localization methods with the vehicle to RSU com-
munication were studied, and a localization algorithm was
proposed to avoid the localization spoofing attacks [19].
In [120] a system is designed to take into consideration
the heterogeneous vehicular distribution and help to find the
best parking lot for an autonomous vehicle, as a result of a
common approach whose determinant parameter is the ratio
of the empty parking lots communicable at that time to the
total number. All the empty lots in the parking area are not
available due to the coverage zone. One of the essentials of
study is that vehicles can make localization through latera-
tion via RSU in parking garages. They use the properties
of inertial measurement unit (IMU) and distance measure-
ments. With the Cooperative Awareness Messages (CAM)
13
F. B. Günay et al.
under the G5 standard by the European Telecommunications
Standards Institute (ETSI) or Basic Safety Messages (BSM)
defined by the US Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE),
measurements are made. In the study, it is highlighted that
the localization of an irregular pedestrian is determined with
an error rate of 1 m. With this, it is suggested that the result
will be better because the vehicular movement is simpler,
and the IMU allows for better localization on vehicles. Three
based searching algorithm was used to find the best parking
area out of the accessible ones. One contribution of the study
is the capacity to establish the WSN with a minimum-level
infrastructure. As understood in the study, localization is not
an outcome but just a process towards the end. That’s why,
localization results are not discussed, and the proportional
outcomes related to the parking lots are considered.
Another relevant study [121] provides the optimal
K-coverage to use of the minimum number of RSUs. For
the purpose, the GDOP method was employed. In the GDOP
computation, two different ways were preferred: First, in the
RSS based method, spacing techniques were applied for the
distances between RSU and vehicles. GDOP can also be
computed through the Hybrid TOA/TDOA method for the
vehicles containing a uniform linear array (ULA) antenna.
GDOP is computed with the obtained information of dis-
tance and angle using array process techniques. Follow-
ing this, optimization is made in a range with K coverage
through asynchronous particle swarm optimization (APSO),
and the appropriate RSU coverage was achieved. The origi-
nality of the study is to compute RSU coverage, GDOP, and
APSO and to reduce the number of RSU to perform localiza-
tion. It was compared to uniform interval placement (UIP)
method and in the case of fitness when K=5, had superiority
to it 18.5% versus 10.1%. Lack of accuracy level to display
efficiency in the localization is a deficiency. In [122] the sub-
ject is unrelated to direct localization, in essence, explains
the efficient multicast method developed for location man-
agement system within VANET. There is also an additional
study on the excess of the transmitted and received data in
the tracking process in VANET. Its aim is to make packet
load reduction, using the communication techniques of RSU,
WAVE (Wireless Access in Vehicular Environment – IEEE
802.11p) [123]. To review more studies using RSU, see [40].
6.2 Vehicular Sensors
As a method of integrating sensors to a vehicle provides
low-cost and continuous localization. The researchers in
[124] propose to design an intelligent localization method
through fuzzy logic using the neighbor vehicles’ location
information. The considered parameters for the localized
vehicles are distance and heading in the fuzzy logic. In this
sense, RSSI in the received beacon signals is considered as
distance parameter. In addition, the heading information of
Vehicular Ad Hoc Network (VANET) Localization Techniques: A Survey
the neighbor vehicle is included in the transmitted beacon
message. The neighbor vehicles are weighted based on their
distances identified with this method. The closer the vehicle
is, the bigger the weight is, or vice versa. Previously, these
weights were found as the ratio of the difference between
the related vehicle and the closest ones distances to that
between the farthest and the closest ones’ distances. Accord-
ing to the rule base established, distances are displayed with
“vvclose”, “vclose”, “close”, “med”, “far”, and “vfar”. For
heading, only two situations are available: the same or oppo-
site. Weighted centroid localization is carried out through
the trilateration method by means of the obtained output
membership functions. The main difference of the study
constitutes the weighted localization made using fuzzy logic.
The usage of manhattan grid in the 1000 m simulation area
makes it different as well. Its effectiveness is compared to
that of centroid localization. The highest accuracy level
reached up to nearly 20  m while it became 60 m for centroid
localization without weight. Due to the lack of use of RSU,
GPS, and filter localization accuracy is very low.
The aim of another paper on this method is to design
a system to fulfill CL in the spaces where GPS connec-
tion is unavailable [125]. The followed method can shortly
be explained such as; Each transmitter node periodically
requests for the data of position, turning, and speed from
its neighbors. After these are delivered, both the neighbor’s
and the transmitter’s positions are updated. At this stage, the
calculation of azimuth and speed are made using the infor-
mation obtained from odometer and gyroscope. After that,
the distances of the nodes are determined through the TDOA
method. Finally, advanced location estimation is made with
Kalman Filter. Three scenarios, filtered or unfiltered, are
simulated. They produced the results picked at the speeds of
3, 7, and 11 m/s, respectively. The best localization results
are the filtered ones, and among these, the best accuracy was
0.10 m got with the speed of 3 m/s. For speed simulations
with 7 and 11 m/s in the filtered systems, these levels were
observed 0.2 and 0.3 m respectively.
6.3 Optimized Weight Localization (OWL)
In this study, it is aimed to perform localization using the
SINR ratio calculated with exchange messages and the dis-
tance found between the neighbor vehicles. The used meth-
ods are Optimized Weighted Localization (OWL), Centroid
Localization, Relative Span Weighted Localization (RWL),
and Weighted Localization Using Distance (WLD). Locali-
zation errors are from 24 to 98 m based on the number of
vehicles lined up in VANET. The most successful localiza-
tion method is OWL, followed by WLD, RWL, and centroid
localization ranked in order of success. Furthermore, it was
observed that when the vehicles head for the same direc-
tion, localization estimation is more effective, or otherwise
less. Non-use of GPS is an advantage, however accuracy
success cannot become at the desired levels [37]. Altoaimy
and Mahgoub discuss the data accuracy from other vehicles
and nodes for localization and deal with the correction of the
incorrect ones in their study [126] In the system weighted
localization was completed. The elements of the weight are
distance information, SINR ratio and heading information
to the neighbor vehicles.
Moreover, the localization process is related to a beacon
message, with which the transmitter’s id, position, time,
velocity, heading, and road information are received. The
errors in transmitted data cause faulty localization. To avoid
this, the system is divided into three separate processes: data
gathering, data verification, and localization. In the first
method, data are collected and recorded from the neighbor
vehicles, in the second confirmed and checked for its reli-
ability and then lastly the above-mentioned localization is
made. Four parameters such as position, heading (turning),
map (path) and timestamping accuracy values are acquired
to establish a trust value. When 50% of the vehicles have
wrong information and verification is undone, the average
localization error was measured 24 m, or if done, 7 meters.
The maximum error for either situation was respectively
observed 28 and 14 m.
6.4 TOA in Non‑GPS Based Cooperative Localization
The relevant study aims to carry out 3D localization using
omnidirectional antenna and eliminate collision threat
with Doppler domain analysis [127]. While doing this, any
DSRC protocol is required. The received data of location
and movement of the vehicles through Basic Safety Message
(BSM) are not needed and the only receipt of the message
is enough. BSM refreshes 10 times per second and trans-
ceiver structures require using IEEE 802.11p. The respective
inter angles of the vehicles are identified via omnidirectional
antenna and the TOA method is used for distance measure-
ment. In the system, Doppler domain analysis was conducted
for the vehicles to avoid a collision. In addition, collision and
fake alarm probability computation were not made as well as
accurate measurement. In this respect, the study will be use-
ful to be briefly mentioned. Collision probability was found
as 60.87%, and fake alarms as 41.7%. Moreover a relevant
study is available [27].
6.5 RSSI in Non‑GPS Based Cooperative Localization
The combination of VANET and Wireless Sensor Networks
(WSN) is called Vehicular Ad Hoc and Sensor Networks
(VASNET). The sensor nodes with high mobility are deployed
onto the vehicles in VASNET. This study involves the design
of new protocols, for operating VASNET results in a num-
ber of challenges such as frequency assignment, standards
13

for physical and communicative layers, routing, localization,
and safety issues [128]. This localization protocol is proposed
vehicles in VASNET and GPS is not needed. The aim is to
exactly determine the vehicular positions via sensors placed
at road-sides, and however, its cost is very high. The protocol
performance was evaluated based on the variation in the Effi-
cient Road Side Sensor (RSS) to the number of nodes ratio and
accurate localization information is transmitted by 73% when
the RSS ratio was 50% and by 93% at 90%. In another study
RSSI method is used again [37].
In [129] the same authors apply two weighted localization
(WL) methods for VANET. Another study also compares
RSSI and the other methods [130]. In this paper, localiza-
tion is made through V2V or V2R communication, IEEE
802.11p, IEEE 1609 communication. DV-HOP, RSSI, and
MDS-MAP methods are applied when GPS is disconnected.
The software architecture is primarily divided into three sec-
tions. At the top layer, the operator interface exists to make
necessary adjustments as well as the control interface in the
middle and data interface at the bottom. System workflow
has two stages: the first is the off-line training stage, in which
the OBU receives sampling information for different posi-
tions on the path and can sense the RSUs within the range.
In carrying out this process the periodic broadcast message
of WAVE Service Announcement (WSA) is used. In this
case, the surrounding RSUs are scanned, RSSI values are
collected, and ultimately data of the current location trans-
ferred via network to a location server. The other stage is
an online stage in which all WSAs are sensed and are got
involved with the chosen network. After that, the RSUs are
scanned, the RSSI data accumulated, and the RSSI vec-
tor formed. Finally, the data are uploaded into the server
through the RSU. DV-HOP, RSSI, and MDS-MAP methods
are compared with simulation. MDS-MAP is a successful
way when anchor number in VANET is low. In simulations,
it was seen in the RSSI method that localization error tripled
even for a bit noise factor increase (0.1). Furthermore, the
MDS-MAP method produced a smaller localization error
than the other two methods, in which knowing anchor nodes’
coordinates has a little part in the localization of other nodes.
The maximum error was 200 m in this technique while it
was approximately 300 m in the others. DV-HOP is not a
recommended method in the literature to use for mobile net-
works, rather utilized for fixed wireless networks. One of
the disadvantages of the study is the resulting highness of
localization errors. In the study, no filter was used to posi-
tively contribute to the results along with GPS.
6.6 Other Methods for Non‑GPS Based Cooperative
Localization
The study on AOA [131] provides the angle of arrival (AOA)
data by means of the beacon packages from the RSUs. On
13
F. B. Günay et al.
the vehicles, localization is made by using the weighted least
squares method. Unlike other studies using RSSI, TOA, or
TDOA, the AOA data are obtained from the linear array of
RSUs with M elements. In the study, the effects on the out-
comes of channel contributions were aimed to deal with in a
realistic way. Localization errors increased by the distances
of the network vehicles to the RSU and approximated to
10 m. Nevertheless, simulation results show that much bet-
ter localization can be achieved particularly than GPS as the
RSUs are deliberately got closer to vehicles, and localization
errors reduce down to less than 1 m.
7 Non‑Cooperative Localization
In this section, the localization methods are used alone and a
fusion state does not occur. The smaller number of the used
technologies allows for more economic and less energy-
consuming systems. However, accuracy in these methods
cannot escalate unless landmark density is higher. Non-CL
techniques are presented in Table 8 below.
7.1 GeoLV
The available information in this method are velocity, direc-
tion, and time ticket. They have recorded as the past data as
well as the recently identified GPS location information. The
study primarily examines three localization scenarios [39];
1. Case of short GPS outage: The outage is so short that the
location with traditional GPS is seemingly lined with the
current position.
2. Case of longer GPS outage for Road bend position:
Outage time is longer than traditional GPS location is
considered as being in a different line with the current
position.
3. Case of longer GPS outage for Straight road: Outage
time is also longer that traditional GPS location and the
current position are considered multiple and angular.
This technique is used passing through perpendicular
areas.
Additionally, both static and dynamic relocation is made
the following outage. One of the differences that the study
makes is direction-based and geometric localization. It was
compared to GOT and IVCAL methods. Localization was
applied depending on outage times (60 to 300 s). The best
accuracy was achieved with the GeoLV technique at the
velocity interval of 20 to 80 km/h, followed by GOT and
IVCAL respectively. By using the same parameters, locali-
zation delay was observed, and the same ranking was got.
Nonetheless, GeoLV became much more successful at this
time. Both accuracy and delay simulations were conducted
Vehicular Ad Hoc Network (VANET) Localization Techniques: A Survey
based on the vehicular frequency (200 to 1000 vehicles), and
the rank remained the same.
7.2 Monte Carlo
This method suggests a distributed and range-free pursuit
algorithm to trace the vehicles [40]. The word of range-free
means that audible anchor locations and communication
are used together in vehicular tracking. In addition, this is
a cost-efficient method that declines the expenses spent on
GPS systems to deploy anchors citywide. The proposed
algorithm was simulated, its empirical results in an intel-
ligent city were compared to those of traditional methods,
and its better performance was shown. The algorithm can
also be combined with WiMax and 4G cellular technologies
which are used as substitutes for more energy-demanding
GPS. Furthermore, it costs less than the GPS system for the
citywide deployment of anchors.
In another relevant study, wireless network connectiv-
ity is the main requirement for VANET localization [133].
There are two contributions to this paper. One of those is
designing a localization method which is based on Monte
Carlo Localization and vehicular nodes movement direction.
Heuristics is used for realizing this process that improves
accuracy and increases the number of localized vehicular
nodes in a tunnel. In a connectivity based positioning sys-
tem, there are 2 stages. Those are VANET node deploy-
ment and localization stages. Tunnel shape, tunnel width and
length, number of tubes and lanes are important factors for
the deployment stage. Minimum VANET node number and
maximum coverage are the main goals of the deployment
stage. In the localization stage, there is a time period that is
less than the division of transmission range of Vanet node to
the maximum speed of a node. Moreover, if a node receives
a beacon message from an anchor node, this beacon message
provides its ID and location. Then VANET node stores those
information as a list and forwards to other neighbor nodes in
VANET. Vehicular Node discovers the farthest and nearest
node, so Monte Carlo location estimation can be realized
with those nearest and furthest nodes. The minimum locali-
zation error was acquired 10 m with COPO method.
7.3 IEEE 802.11 and IEEE 802. 11 b/g
Despite the fact that a number of vehicles are equipped with
GPS, it is impossible to accurately localize the vehicles like
in VANETs. However, an ignored issue is the localization
of the neighbor vehicles. In VANETs, the nodes can usu-
ally move at high speed, thus locational information of a
neighbor vehicle may be the quick repetition of its previ-
ous data. In the article, there is a way to solve the problem
instead of increasing the frequency of periodical exchange
messages containing a node’s position [134]. As a result of
the simulations, it was described that an estimation model
with low complexity can substantially enhance the accuracy
of neighborhood localization. The useful information to esti-
mate the nearer future positions of the nodes (in a couple
of seconds) is integrated into the periodic messages with
vehicular locations. In this way, one vehicle can localize
another vehicle within the coverage zone, when necessary.
For the exchange of equal-frequency messages, the average
error rate was reduced at a percentage of more than 50%.
The Vehicle Tracking Systems (VETRAC) help to moni-
tor the drivers or any third party track the position of any
moving vehicle. A majority of vehicles use GPS modules
[135] as well as its use and application. In VETRAC, WiFi
IEEE 802.11 b/g is used for wireless communication. The
vehicular information can be seen on digital maps via the
internet or specific software. In the study, an Intelligent
Vehicle Navigation System has been developed to use WiFi
at low traffic density and determine the optimum path for
navigation. This system can also be utilized to identify the
place signs for newly coming tourists. Microsoft established
a partnership with different automotive manufacturers to
develop a version of the operating system in order to use
in vehicles, and the authors picked Microsoft Windows as
platform [136]. VETRAC is a navigation system for large
campuses such as universities, airports, railway stations, etc.
GPS is inactive for vehicle tracking on a campus or inside
a closed tunnel, and therefore WiFi was used. The Project
was tested with different vehicles including TATA Sumo
cars and motor-cycles in a campus where WiFi devices are
deployed [137].
7.4 ZigBee
In the study using this system, a triangle centroid approx-
imate location algorithm model was proposed due to the
limitation of “distance-loss” in the wireless location model.
When verified in terms of distance errors and location accu-
racy, it was concluded that the compatibility of this method
is available [138]. Using the collected data in low-speed
driving conditions, location accuracy of 2m and 3m resulted.
The position of unknown mobile node in VANET is recog-
nized through the triangle centroid method. In the study, it
was evidenced that low-speed vehicles can meet the active
safety requirements.
7.5 RSSI in Non‑Cooperative Localization
In [139], the velocity of an object was aimed to calculate
using RSSI measurement made only for the localization
without any requirement for another sensor and the time
taken for synchronization. The study used three nodes in
three different roles: mobile node, fixed node, and base sta-
tion. Essential measurements were made between the fixed
13

node and the base station. Firstly for measurement, when a
mobile node sends a package to a fixed node, the latter pre-
pares mobile node ID, arrival time, and the computed RSSI
value related to this package. The mobile object’s velocity
can approximately be calculated based on maximum RSSI
value and the period between two ticketed times as the return
time of the signal is the mobile node. The study was con-
cluded that the lowest error rate in velocity calculation was
0.94%, and the highest rate 14.86%. In total, 120 tests were
conducted. The shortest distance between nodes was 0.3 m
and the longest 1.2 m. These experiments are performed in
the lab environment, and this became a study to confirm the
principles, however far away from real environment condi-
tions. Other real experiment results are provided in Table 6.
7.6 ReCoP
The researchers in [38] propose to make high precision
localization without the necessity for fixed infrastructure
and GPS thanks to the Relative Cooperative Positioning
algorithm. For this, one node should be assigned as head of
each group to fulfill one-hop communication. In the study,
simulations were carried out in the NS2 environment, and
then different results were produced depending on a number
of different parameters. For example, when the coverage area
of the nodes is 50  m, the localization errors became nearly
1 m. Whereas, at the coverage area of 350 m, the errors rose
up to 5 m. Furthermore, in this technique, the number of
Relative Maps declines as the coverage area expands. It was
raised from 50 to 150 m of coverage area, and a decrease
in the number of Relative Maps was observed between 68
and 73%.
7.7 RSU in Non‑Cooperative Localization
Coming to RSU method in Non-Cooperative localization
OBUs and RSUs are used to localize a mobile target or mov-
ing vehicle non-cooperative with VANET vehicles, though
within the coverage area in this paper [140]. However, differ-
ent speed limits and varying traffic congestions on the road
network complicate vehicle tracking. Tracking messages
are transmitted between OBUs and RSUs in potential areas
where the target could be. OBU observations are utilized to
Table 6  Real tests Type of motion Speed (kmph)
Straight, Turn 30,80,100−180
Straight,Turn 20−40
Straight NA
Straight 0.7−3.6
Straight,Turn NA
Straight,Turn NA
13
F. B. Günay et al.
classify the behavioral samples of the target. These behav-
iors are later used to estimate the target’s next positions.
Based on Bayesian estimation, a Dirichlet-Multinomial
model was developed to learn the behavioral patterns of a
moving vehicle on a dynamic metropolitan road network.
An empirical analysis was made by using a real-world city
map, and the results indicated that the proposed method was
successful. Another paper aims to constrain searching cover-
age to limit the quantity of OBUs and RSUs functioning in
the tracking process, and thus the number of tracking mes-
sages is minimized [141]. Cam-equipped OBUs function as
remote movable sensors. Tracking messages are transmitted
between the OBUs and the RSUs. For this purpose, the OBU
observations are used for an action modeling technique and
future path estimation. To obtain higher estimation accuracy,
a new model was proposed to use a non-parametric Bayes-
ian calculation technique with Gaussian prior to the condi-
tional logit system parameters. Also, this method evaluates
with an empirical analysis using a real city map. In the sug-
gested model, the results of each simulation were weighted
based on datasets, and these values were compared to the
previously proposed D-M model [140] using the Bayesian
method.
7.8 DR, ANN and KF
The study aims to learn driver behaviors on the way through
Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) and estimate lane chang-
ing [142]. Kalman filter is used like in the other studies,
which can manage to recursively make the statistically opti-
mal estimate. In addition, it may be linear optimal estimator
in the Non-Gaussian noise. KF, DR and ANN methods were
applied, the best results were got with KF and DR, and NN
produced an undesired outcome with error rates more than
10 m. It is important to engage the ANN method in the stud-
ies and simulate the city of Cologne in real conditions on
the NS-2 simulator. Other simulation results are provided
in Table 7.
7.9 Other Methods
In this section, the related studies to VANET localization
that cannot be directly classified are presented. Of Cellular
Accuracy (m) Landmark density References
0.08– 2.96 Low [104]
6.9 −11.18 Low [107]
14−16 Average [116]
0.04−0.06 Low [139]
1.32 Low [86]
3.41−5.86 Low [138]
Vehicular Ad Hoc Network (VANET) Localization Techniques: A Survey

Table 7  Results of the simulations

Physical location Type of motion Speed (kmph) Road length (km) Accuracy (m) Landmark density References

NA Straight 50–60 5 3–16 High [55]

NA Straight 120 5 3.8–11.04 High [62]
NA Straight 0–50–100 20 NA High [143]
NA Straight 120 12 8.8 Low [19]
Zurich, Switzerland Straight,Turn 54 >10 0 - 10 High [100]
NA Straight,Turn 1–126 23.5 0.12 High [57]
Porto,Portugal Straight,Turn NA 7 1.58-9.8 High [63]
NA Straight,Turn 80 3 2.5–9.2 High [106]
NA Straight 60 5 0.05–1.89 Low [42]
Köln Straight,Turn NA 10.275 0–10 Low [142]
Manhattan,USA Straight,Turn 50.4 25 20 High [124]
Manhattan,USA Straight,Turn NA 2x2 30 Low [129]
Istanbul,Turkey Straight,Turn Max 72 NA 2.07–3.54 Average [70]
NA Straight 110 1.8 0.18 High [69]
Rome,Italy Straight,Turn NA 1.8–6 0.74–6.83 High [117]
NUIM, Ireland Straight,Turn NA NA 4.06 High [108]
Manhattan,USA Straight,Turn 40-80 1 0.5–2.0 High [61]
NA Straight,Turn 40–100 1.4 1 High [38]
NA Straight,Turn 54 5x5 1-4 Average [77]
Bologna,Italy Straight,Turn 50 1.5 0.2 Average [43]

Table 8  Non-cooperative Accuracy (m) Network density Landmark density Kind of localization References
localization
NA High High GeoLV [39]
0.1–0.7 High High MCL [40]
35 Average Average MCL [133]
0.1–9 High High IEEE 802.11p [134]
2–3 Low Low ZigBee [138]
1–5 High Average ReCoP [38]
10 Average Average Neural networks [142]
0–100 Low Low Cellular localization [146]

Localization, Lee Song [144] proposed the Automatic Vehi-
cle Location (AVL) method using signal transmission
to a mobile phone present on a vehicle. In this study, the
localization error rate was found in the range of 0 to 575 m,
based on the simulation activities in the lab environment.
This value was observed when the base stations are 5 km
far from one another and under the assumption of stand-
ard deviation (3 dB) [145]. Using fuzzy logic, a suggestion
was made to reduce this rate to an interval of 0 to 200 m.
An AVL is integrated onto particular vehicles, and signal
transmitters onto traffic signs to share the traffic and road
information through intra-object communication. Further-
more, the road conditions of the vehicles with AVL devices
are recorded into a database to which they are connected in
order to keep records for the traffic congestion. Afterward,
they can be utilized to determine the shortest route to travel
or for blind spot identification (the areas out of the coverage
zone). These systems may also be used for truck/vehicle fleet
control, besides the rationale for this method first became
significant in the issue of autonomous control of today’s
fleet vehicles.
In [146] VANET localization or tracking is based on
GPS-free methods. The major contribution of the study is
to use RSS measurements for the current GPS in localiza-
tion in VANET when GPS services are inactive. The pro-
posed localization technique samples the received signals
from three base stations surrounding the mobile unit in
a very short time. Each of the RSS samples will later be
matched with a distance estimate based on the shading radio
propagation model. The median values of the established
distance clusters are used to make a final location estimate
afterward. Short sampling time eliminates the influence of

13
 F. B. Günay et al.

the movement of mobile vehicle, and the median choice
neutralizes deviations from the time-varying radio channel
characteristics. The algorithm is totally dependent on the
current cellular network signals and thus removes an extra
infrastructure necessity. Furthermore, the updated position is
only known by the mobile unit and thereby location privacy
is also provided. Therefore, a location privacy scheme based
on a safe distance, supporting DSRC, V2V, and V2I wire-
less communication technologies, called SafeAnon has been
proposed to enhance location privacy and security as well
as traffic safety. For driving safety, VANET vehicles should
periodically broadcast the updated locations, speeds, and
directions [147]. Chen explains that “the safety applications
known as Vehicle Safety Communication (VSC) include the
ways of Wrong-Way Driver Warning, Lane Change Warn-
ing, Highway Merge Assistant, and so on” [148]. All of them
have common needs such as periodic broadcasting and low
delay communication. According to another study [149],
exchange of safety messages in VANETs requires merely
vehicular id identification. Nevertheless, there is no require-
ment for encryption to prevent access of foreigners to the
messages. In other words, security messages are transmit-
ted as plain text and signed with the sender’s special elec-
tronic key. This allows for the irrelevant others to block from
access to the security messages and the vehicles to automati-
cally track using the location or id-data. That’s why safety
messages are broadcasted in order to improve driving safety
and traffic efficiency of the vehicles in VANETs. Addition-
ally, the position of the attackers and the information of
the vehicles interested in them can be analyzed. According
to the simulation results, the SafeAnon scheme has better
performance than Fixed Silent Period (FSP) and Random
Silent Period (RSP) schemes in terms of location privacy.
Moreover, it was concluded that the proposed SafeAnon
scheme can improve not only location privacy but also traf-
fic safety and broadcasting efficiency in VANETs [148]. The
techniques pertaining to the aforementioned studies are sum-
marized in Table 9.
8 Future Work
There are various study areas to further the localization
issue. These days, however, security and privacy, reliable
applications, challenges of mobility specifically when the
vehicles are mobile, particularly in intra-vehicular ad hoc
networks become current issues. For sustainable intra-
vehicular communication, all VANET vehicles should be
open to communicate with the others, which in turn causes
them to be exposed to system threats and cyberattacks. It
can be required to investigate protocol congestion struc-
tures for middle and large scale networks and if necessary
include new protocols. Another important issue is that data
transmission speed should be higher in the Ad-hoc networks
having many mobile vehicles. Either bandwidth or data
classification processes may be required. Furthermore, the
authenticity of this data is another issue in terms of safety
and privacy. One of the most important problems for the

Table 9  General comparison Accuracy Network density Landmark density Type of localization References
table
Low Average Small Cellular Loc. [144]
Low Low Small Cellular Loc. [146]
Average Average Average GPS+V2V [97]
Low High Small RSU+DR [19]
High Low Small GPS+V2V [48]
High High High V2V(IEEE 802.15.4) [40]
High High High GPS+V2V+EKF [57]
High High High GPS+V2V+V2R+PF [64]
High Average Average GPS+V2V+EKF+INS [58]
High Low Low GPS+V2V(AOA)+V2I(AOA) [85]
Average Average High GPS+CMM [72]
High Low Low GPS+AOA+TOA+V2V+V2I [60]
Average Low Average GPS+RSSI [116]
High Low Low GPS+T-CP+UWB [86]
Low High High MDS-MAP, DV-HOP, V2V(RSSU) [130]
Low Low Low WL,WLD,V2V(RSSI) [129]
Low High High OWL,V2V (RSSI) [37]
Low High High GeoLV [39]
High High High ReCoP [38]
High High High Monte Carlo [133]

13
Vehicular Ad Hoc Network (VANET) Localization Techniques: A Survey
localization process is the ability to estimate the location
accurately. Therefore, a general study can be conducted for
enhancement of localization accuracy using the right method
in the right zone (e.g. tunnel, inner-city, dense traffic, etc.).
A connection can be made between these techniques and the
areas where they will be used. In addition to these problems,
the broadcast/multicast/unicast and Quality of Service (QoS)
criteria should be reviewed. These have to be re-designed so
that the needs will be satisfied. Finally, power consumption
became another most significant problem, derived from the
vehicular transmitters and all the objects on roadsides to
assist in localization
9 Conclusions
In this study, the current localization techniques applied
in VANET have been analyzed. VANET localization algo-
rithms are primarily divided into three groups: (1) GPS
Based Cooperative, (2) Non-GPS Based Cooperative, and
(3) Non-Cooperative. The GPS based techniques are also
grouped under Filter Usage and Non-Filter Usage situations.
It is observed that the used tables and the applied techniques
in the study have distinctive characteristics and can produce
no perfect solution. It is shown that methods using filter
have higher landmark density, in particular, they are suc-
cessful in terms of accuracy and can manage to get submeter
localization error. Cooperative Localizations made with GPS
generally have better results than those without GPS. Moreo-
ver, the RSU structures do not achieve to enhance localiza-
tion accuracy in the study, in fact, they decrease the number
of mobile anchor nodes that are required in VANETs.
For the obtained results, VANET operation was tested for
both realistic settlements and the speeds approximating to
the real world. However, good and bad results were achieved
for accuracy. More consistent accuracy results were deter-
mined in the smaller number of tests. In the experiments,
the zones having no GPS and cellular communication or
tunnel situations were also considered, and relatively sat-
isfactory outcomes were achieved. Along with traditional
methods, such as TOA and TDOA, more innovative tech-
niques including GeoLV, ReCop, and OWL were used for
VANET localization.
References
1. Amundson I, Koutsoukos XD (2009) A survey on localization
for mobile wireless sensor networks. In: Fuller R, Koutsoukos
XD (eds) Mobile entity localization and tracking in GPS-less
environnments. Springer, Berlin, pp 235–254
2. Al-Sultan S, Al-Doori MM, Al-Bayatti AH, Zedan H (2014) A
comprehensive survey on vehicular ad hoc network. J Netw Com-
put Appl 37:380–392
3. Boukerche A, Oliveira HABF, Nakamura EF, Loureiro AAF
(2008) Vehicular ad hoc networks: a new challenge for locali-
zation-based systems. Comput Commun 31(12):2838–2849
4. Savarese C, Rabaey JM, Beutel J (2001) Location in distrib-
uted ad-hoc wireless sensor networks. In: International confer-
ence on acoustics, speech, and signal processing. Proceedings.
(ICASSP’01), volume 4, pp. 2037–2040. IEEE
5. Raut SB, Malik LG (2014) Survey on vehicle collision pre-
diction in vanet. In: 2014 IEEE International conference on
computational intelligence and computing research, pp 1–5
6. Kuutti S, Fallah S, Katsaros K, Dianati M, Mccullough F, Mou-
zakitis A (2018) A survey of the state-of-the-art localization
techniques and their potentials for autonomous vehicle applica-
tions. IEEE Internet Things J 5(2):829–846
7. White CE, Bernstein D, Kornhauser AL (2000) Some map
matching algorithms for personal navigation assistants. Transp
Res Part C: Emerg Technol 8(1):91–108
8. Kihei B, Copeland JA, Chang Y (2014) Doppler domain
localization for collision avoidance in vanets by using omni-
directional antennas. In: 2014 International conference on con-
nected vehicles and Expo (ICCVE), pp 331–337
9. Zhu W, Gao D, Foh CH, Zhao W, Zhang H (2016) A collision
avoidance mechanism for emergency message broadcast in
urban vanet. In: 2016 IEEE 83rd vehicular technology confer-
ence (VTC Spring), pp. 1–5
10. Ansari AR, Saeed N, Ul Haq MI, Cho S (2018) Accurate 3d
localization method for public safety applications in vehicular
ad-hoc networks. IEEE Access 6:20756–20763
11. Chen R, Jin W, Regan A (2010) Broadcasting safety informa-
tion in vehicular networks: issues and approaches. IEEE Netw
24(1):20–25
12. Deshmuk M, Dinesh D (2014) Challenges in vehicle ad hoc
network (vanet). Int J Eng Technol Manag Appl Sci 2(7):76–88
13. Parkinson BW, Enge P, Axelrad P, Spilker Jr JJ (1996) Global
positioning system: theory and applications, Volume II. Ameri-
can Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
14. Misra P, Enge P (2006) Global positioning system: signals,
measurements and performance, 2nd edn. Ganga-Jamuna
Press, Massachusetts
15. Alkan RM, Karaman H, Sahin M (2005) Gps, galileo and
glonass satellite navigation systems amp;amp; gps moderni-
zation. In: Proceedings of 2nd international conference on
recent advances in space technologies, 2005. RAST 2005., pp
390–394
16. Li X, Ge M, Dai X, Ren X, Fritsche M, Wickert J, Schuh H
(2015) Accuracy and reliability of multi-gnss real-time pre-
cise positioning: gps, glonass, beidou, and galileo. J Geodesy
89(6):607–635
17. Pereira FC, Costa H, Pereira NM (2009) An off-line map-match-
ing algorithm for incomplete map databases. Eur Transp Res Rev
1(3):107–124
18. Nascimento PPLD, Kimura BYL, Guidoni DL, Villas LA (2018)
An integrated dead reckoning with cooperative positioning solu-
tion to assist gps nlos using vehicular communications. Sensors
18(9):2895
19. Sun L, Wu Y, Xu J, Xu Y (2012) An rsu-assisted localization
method in non-gps highway traffic with dead reckoning and v2r
communications. In: 2nd International conference on consumer
electronics, communications and networks (CECNet), 2012 , pp
149–152. IEEE
20. Andrews MR, Mitra PP et al (2001) Tripling the capacity of wire-
less communications using electromagnetic polarization. Nature
409(6818):316
21. Parker R, Valaee S (2007) Vehicular node localization using
received-signal-strength indicator. IEEE Trans Veh Technol
56(6):3371–3380
13

22. Kul G, Özyer T, Tavli B (2014) IEEE 802.11 wlan based real time
indoor positioning: literature survey and experimental investiga-
tions. Procedia Comput Sci 34:157–164 The 9th International
Conference on Future Networks and Communications (FNC’14)
23. Duymaz E, Oguz AE, Temeltas H (2017) Eş zamanlı konum
belirleme ve haritalama probleminde yeni bir durum tah-
min yöntemi olarak parçacık akış filtresi. Gazi Üniversitesi
Mühendislik-Mimarlık Fakültesi Dergisi, 32(4)
24. Akhlaghi S, Zhou N, Huang Z (2017) Adaptive adjustment of
noise covariance in kalman filter for dynamic state estimation.
CoRR, abs/1702.00884
25. Čapkun S, Hamdi M, Hubaux J-P (2002) Gps-free positioning in
mobile ad hoc networks. Clust Comput 5(2):157–167
26. Venkatraman S, Caffery J, You HR (2002) Location using los
range estimation in nlos environments. In: 55th vehicular tech-
nology conference. VTC Spring, volume 2, pp 856–860. IEEE
27. Le BL, Ahmed K, Tsuji H (2003) Mobile location estimator with
nlos mitigation using kalman filtering. In: Wireless communica-
tions and networking. WCNC, volume 3, pp 1969–1973. IEEE
28. Wylie MP, Holtzman J (1996) The non-line of sight problem in
mobile location estimation. In: 5th IEEE international conference
on universal personal communications. Record., volume 2, pp
827–831
29. Caffery JJ, Stuber GL (1998) Overview of radiolocation in cdma
cellular systems. IEEE Commun Mag 36(4):38–45
30. Fox V, Hightower J, Liao L, Schulz D, Borriello G (2003) Bayes-
ian filtering for location estimation. IEEE Pervasive Comput
2(3):24–33
31. Golestan K, Seifzadeh S, Kamel M, Karray F, Sattar F (2012)
Vehicle localization in vanets using data fusion and v2v com-
munication. In: Proceedings of the second ACM international
symposium on Design and analysis of intelligent vehicular net-
works and applications, pp 123–130. ACM
32. Gentile C, Alsindi N, Raulefs R, Teolis C (2013) Cellular locali-
zation, pp 137–159. 11
33. Malik Y, Khaliq KA, Abdulrazak B, Tariq MU (2011) Mobile
node localization in cellular networks. CoRR, abs/1201.2102
34. Chausse F, Laneurit J, Chapuis R (2005) Vehicle localization
on a digital map using particles filtering. In: IEEE Proceedings.
Intelligent vehicles symposium, pp 243–248
35. Fogue M, Sanguesa JA, Martinez FJ, Marquez-Barja JM (2018)
Improving roadside unit deployment in vehicular networks by
exploiting genetic algorithms. Appl Sci 8(1):86
36. Nasr A, Mohamed SAE (2012) Accurate distance estimation for
vanet using nanointegrated devices. Opt Photonics J 2(02):113
37. Altoaimy Lina, Mahgoub Imad (2014) Owl: optimized weighted
localization for vehicular ad hoc networks. In: 2014 International
conference on connected vehicles and expo (ICCVE), pp 699–
704. IEEE
38. Alotaibi MM, Boukerche A, Mouftah H (2014) Distributed rela-
tive cooperative positioning in vehicular ad-hoc networks. In:
Global information infrastructure and networking symposium
(GIIS), 2014, pp 1–8. IEEE
39. Kaiwartya O, Cao Y, Lloret J, Kumar S, Aslam N, Kharel R,
Abdullah AH, Shah RR (2018) Geometry-based localization for
gps outage in vehicular cyber physical systems. IEEE Trans Veh
Technol 67:3800–3812
40. Kumar S, Kislay K, Singh MK, Hegde RM (2014) A range-free
tracking algorithm in vehicular ad-hoc networks. In: 2014 Twen-
tieth national conference on communications (NCC), , pp 1–6.
IEEE
41. Patwari N, Ash JN, Kyperountas S, Hero AO, Moses RL, Correal
NS (2005) Locating the nodes: cooperative localization in wire-
less sensor networks. IEEE Signal Process Mag 22(4):54–69
42. Suryawanshi S, Gupta D, Gupta S, Jain S (2015) On the hybrid
augmentation of inter-vehicular communication assisted
13
F. B. Günay et al.
localization using previous path detection. In: Advance com-
puting conference (IACC), 2015 IEEE International, pp 82–87.
IEEE
43. Soatti G, Nicoli M, Garcia N, Denis B, Raulefs R, Wymeersch
H (2017) Implicit cooperative positioning in vehicular net-
works. arXiv preprint arXiv​:1709.01282​
44. Rezaei S, Sengupta R (2007) Kalman filter-based integration of
dgps and vehicle sensors for localization. IEEE Trans Control
Syst Technol 15(6):1080–1088
45. Drawil N, Basir O (2008) Vehicular collaborative technique for
location estimate correction. In: Vehicular technology confer-
ence, 2008. VTC 2008-Fall. IEEE 68th, pp 1–5. IEEE
46. Drawil N, Basir O (2009) Toward increasing the localization
accuracy of vehicles in vanet. In: International conference on
vehicular electronics and safety (ICVES), pp 13–18. IEEE
47. Mo Y, Dexin Y, Song J, Zheng K, Guo Y (2016) Vehicle
position updating strategy based on kalman filter predic-
tion in vanet environment. Discret Dyn Nat Soc. https​://doi.
org/10.1155/2016/14043​96
48. Rohani M, Gingras D, Vigneron V, Gruyer D (2015) A new
decentralized Bayesian approach for cooperative vehicle locali-
zation based on fusion of gps and vanet based inter-vehicle dis-
tance measurement. IEEE Intell Transp Syst Mag 7(2):85–95
49. Howard A, Mataric MJ, Sukhatme GS (2003) Putting
the’i’in’team’: an ego-centric approach to cooperative locali-
zation. In: IEEE International conference on robotics and auto-
mation. Proceedings. ICRA’03., volume 1, pp 868–874
50. Fox D, Burgard W, Thrun S (1999) Markov localization for
mobile robots in dynamic environments. J Artif Intell Res
11:391–427
51. Howard A, Matark MJ, Sukhatme GS (2002) Localization for
mobile robot teams using maximum likelihood estimation. In:
IEEE/RSJ International conference on intelligent robots and
systems., volume 1, pp 434–439
52. Ghaleb FA, Zainal A, Rassam MA, Abraham A (2017)
Improved vehicle positioning algorithm using enhanced inno-
vation-based adaptive kalman filter. Pervasive Mob Comput
40:139–155
53. Kulkarni PS, Labade RP (2017) Vehicle positioning using
kalman filter for dedicated short range communication. Int J Eng
Technol Sci Res 4(5):608–613
54. Najah Abu Ali and Mervat Abu-Elkheir (2015) Improving locali-
zation accuracy: successive measurements error modeling. Sen-
sors 15(7):15540–15561
55. Nabil Mohamed Drawil and Otman Basir (2010) Intervehicle-
communication-assisted localization. IEEE Trans Intell Transp
Syst 11(3):678–691
56. Jaiswal RK, Jaidhar CD (2017) Location prediction algorithm for
a nonlinear vehicular movement in vanet using extended kalman
filter. Wireless Netw 23:2021–2036
57. Jaiswal RK, Jaidhar CD (2017) Location prediction algorithm for
a nonlinear vehicular movement in vanet using extended kalman
filter. Wireless Netw 23(7):2021–2036
58. Elazab M, Noureldin A, Hassanein HS (2017) Integrated coop-
erative localization for vehicular networks with partial gps access
in urban canyons. Veh Commun 9:242–253
59. Hoang GM, Denis B, Härri J, Slock DTM (2017) Mitigating
unbalanced gdop effects in range-based vehicular cooperative
localization. In: International conference on communications
workshops (ICC Workshops), pp 659–664. IEEE
60. Golestan K, Sattar F, Karray F, Kamel M, Seifzadeh S (2015)
Localization in vehicular ad hoc networks using data fusion and
v2v communication. Comput Commun 71:61–72
61. Mohammadabadi PH, Valaee S (2014) Cooperative node posi-
tioning in vehicular networks using inter-node distance measure-
ments. In: 2014 IEEE 25th annual international symposium on
Vehicular Ad Hoc Network (VANET) Localization Techniques: A Survey
personal, indoor, and mobile radio communication (PIMRC), pp
1448–1452. IEEE
62. Shao Z, Li W, Wu Y, Shen L (2010) Multi-layer and multi-
dimensional information based cooperative vehicle localization
in highway scenarios. In: 2010 12th IEEE international confer-
ence on communication technology (ICCT), pp 567–571. IEEE
63. Cruz SB, Abrudan TE, Xiao Z, Trigoni N, Barros J (2017) Neigh-
bor-aided localization in vehicular networks. IEEE Trans Intell
Transp Syst 18(10):2693–2702
64. Hoang GM, Denis B, Härri J, Slock DT (2017) Robust data
fusion for cooperative vehicular localization in tunnels. In:
Intelligent vehicles symposium (IV), 2017 IEEE, pp 1372–1377.
IEEE
65. Ali Ufuk Peker and Tankut Acarman (2017) Vanet-assisted coop-
erative vehicle mutual positioning: feasibility study. IEICE Trans
Fundam Electron Commun Comput Sci 100(2):448–456
66. Jensfelt P (2001) Approaches for mobile robot localization in
indoor environments. Ph. D. thesis, Royal Institute of Technol-
ogy, Stockholm, Sweden
67. Rekleitis I (2003) Cooperative localization and multi-robot
exploration. Ph. D. thesis, School of Computer Science, McGill
University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
68. Chausse F, Laneurit J, Chapuis R (2005) Vehicle localization
on a digital map using particles filtering. In: Intelligent vehicles
symposium, 2005. Proceedings. IEEE, pp 243–248. IEEE
69. Hoang GM, Denis B, Härri J , Slock DTM (2016) Cooperative
localization in gnss-aided vanets with accurate ir-uwb range
measurements. In: Positioning, navigation and communications
(WPNC), 2016 13th Workshop on, pp 1–6. IEEE
70. Peker AU, Acarman T, Yaman C, Yuksel E (2014) Vehicle locali-
zation enhancement with vanets. In: Intelligent vehicles sympo-
sium proceedings, 2014 IEEE, pp 661–666. IEEE
71. Goli SA, Far BH, Fapojuwo AO (2015) Cooperative multi-sensor
multi-vehicle localization in vehicular adhoc networks. In: 2015
IEEE International conference on information reuse and integra-
tion (IRI), pp 142–149. IEEE
72. Rohani M, Gingras D, Gruyer D (2016) A novel approach for
improved vehicular positioning using cooperative map matching
and dynamic base station dgps concept. IEEE Trans Intell Transp
Syst 17(1):230–239
73. King T, Füßler H, Transier M, Effelsberg W (2006) Dead-reckon-
ing for position-based forwarding on highways. In: International
workshop on intelligent transportation (WIT), pp 199–204
74. Füßler H, Mauve M, Hartenstein H, Käsemann M, Vollmer D
(2002) A comparison of routing strategies for vehicular ad hoc
networks. Technical reports, 2
75. Abumansoor O, Boukerche A (2012) A secure cooperative
approach for nonline-of-sight location verification in vanet. IEEE
Trans Veh Technol 61(1):275–285
76. Parker R, Valaee S (2006) Vehicle localization in vehicular net-
works. In: Vehicular technology conference, 2006. VTC-2006
Fall. 2006 IEEE 64th, pp 1–5. IEEE
77. Salah Abdel Mageid (2016) Self-correcting localization scheme
for vehicle to vehicle communication. Int J Comput Netw Appl
(IJCNA) 3(5):95–107
78. Barani H, Fathy M et al (2010) An algorithm for localization in
vehicular ad-hoc networks. J Comput Sci 6(2):168
79. Xiao B, Yu B, Gao C (2006) Detection and localization of
sybil nodes in vanets. In: Proceedings of the 2006 workshop
on Dependability issues in wireless ad hoc networks and sensor
networks, pp 1–8. ACM
80. Li H, Chen X, Huang L, Yao D (2012) A gps/wi-fi integrated
system for positioning in cooperative vehicle and infrastructure
system. In: IEEE international conference on vehicular electron-
ics and safety (ICVES), pp 285–289
81. Bauer S, Obst M, Streiter R, Wanielik G (2013) Evaluation of
shadow maps for non-line-of-sight detection in urban gnss vehi-
cle localization with vanets-the gain approach. In: IEEE 77th
vehicular technology conference (VTC Spring), pp 1–5
82. Smaili C, El Najjar ME, Charpillet F (2008) A road matching
method for precise vehicle localization using hybrid Bayesian
network. J Intell Transp Syst 12(4):176–188
83. Taylor G, Blewitt G (2000) Road reduction filtering using gps.
In: 3th AGILE conference on geographic information science,
pp 114–120. Citeseer
84. Greenfeld JS (2002) Matching gps observations to locations
on a digital map. In: 81th annual meeting of the transportation
research board, volume 1, pp 164–173
85. Fascista A, Ciccarese G, Coluccia A, Ricci G (2017) Angle of
arrival-based cooperative positioning for smart vehicles. IEEE
Trans Intell Transp Syst 19(9):2880–2892
86. Shen F, Cheong JW, Dempster AG (2015) An ultra-wide band-
width-based range/gps tight integration approach for relative
positioning in vehicular ad hoc networks. Meas Sci Technol
26(4):045003
87. Kalman RE (1960) A new approach to linear filtering and predic-
tion problems. J Basic Eng 82(1):35–45
88. Martínez JL, Molina-Mesa R, Mandow A, Rodríguez-Serrano
CA (2002) Continuous localization via wide-area dgps for out-
door navigation of mobile robots. Integr Comput-Aided Eng
9:1–13
89. Fernandez-Madrigal JA, Cruz-Martin E, Gonzalez J, Galindo C,
Blanco JL (2007) Application of uwb and gps technologies for
vehicle localization in combined indoor-outdoor environments.
In: ISSPA, pp 1–4
90. Zhang P, Zhang Z, Boukerche A (2012) Cooperative location
verification for vehicular ad-hoc networks. In: IEEE International
conference on communications (ICC), pp 37–41
91. Agarwal Y, Jain K, Kumar S, Bhardwaj GN (2016) Tlst: time
of arrival based localization and smart tunnel concept in vanets.
In: 2016 3rd international conference on signal processing and
integrated networks (spin), pp 763–768. IEEE
92. Choudhary D, Yadav D, Joshi J, Deka M, Jha S (2016) A model
based connectivity and localization strategy for vehicular ad hoc
networks. In: 7th International conference on intelligent systems,
modelling and simulation (ISMS), 2016 , pp 331–336. IEEE
93. Gunay FB, Cavdar T (2014) Mobile fleet localization model via
rssi, toa and tdoa in wireless sensor networks. In: Signal process-
ing and communications applications conference (SIU), 2014
22nd, pp 1431–1434. IEEE
94. Altoaimy L, Mahgoub I, Rathod M (2014) Weighted localization
in vehicular ad hoc networks using vehicle-to-vehicle communi-
cation. In: 2014 Global information infrastructure and network-
ing symposium (GIIS), pp 1–5
95. Altoaimy L (2016) Reliable vehicle-to-vehicle weighted localiza-
tion in vehicular networks. Florida Atlantic University
96. Liu K, Lim HB, Frazzoli E, Ji H, Lee VC (2014) Improving
positioning accuracy using gps pseudorange measurements for
cooperative vehicular localization. IEEE Trans Veh Technol
63(6):2544–2556
97. Yan T, Zhang W, Wang G, Zhang Y (2011) Got: grid-based on-
road localization through inter-vehicle collaboration. In: 2011
Eighth IEEE international conference on mobile ad-hoc and sen-
sor systems, pp 13–18. IEEE
98. Savvides A, Park H, Srivastava MB (2002) The bits and flops of
the n-hop multilateration primitive for node localization prob-
lems. In: Proceedings of the 1st ACM international workshop on
Wireless sensor networks and applications, pp 112–121. ACM
99. Benslimane A (2005) Localization in vehicular ad hoc networks.
In: In Proc. IEEE systems communications, pp 19–25
13

100. Yan T, Zhang W, Wang G (2014) A grid-based on-road locali-
zation system in vanet with linear error propagation. IEEE
Trans Wirel Commun 13(2):861–875
101. Lee E-K, Oh SY, Gerla M (2012) Rfid assisted vehicle posi-
tioning in vanets. Pervasive Mob Comput 8(2):167–179
102. Alam N, Balaei AT, Dempster AG (2013) Relative position-
ing enhancement in vanets: a tight integration approach. IEEE
Trans Intell Transp Syst 14(1):47–55
103. Hao Y, Shen F (2015) A low-cost imu/gnss cooperative posi-
tioning method for vanets in the urban environments. Int J
Smart Home 9(12):255–266
104. Speth T, Riebl R, Brandmeier T, Facchi C, Al-Bayatti AH,
Jumar U (2016) Enhanced inter-vehicular relative position-
ing. In: 2016 IEEE 19th international conference on intelligent
transportation systems (ITSC), pp 867–872. IEEE
105. Garip MT, Kim PH, Reiher P, Gerla M (2017) Interloc: an
interference-aware rssi-based localization and sybil attack
detection mechanism for vehicular ad hoc networks. In: 2017
14th IEEE Annual Consumer communications & networking
conference (CCNC), pp 1–6. IEEE
106. Peng X, Shen Q, Li W, Ouyang J (2016) Positioning algorithm
for vehicular ad hoc networks. In: 2016 12th International con-
ference on natural computation, fuzzy systems and knowledge
discovery (ICNC-FSKD), pp 2283–2287. IEEE
107. Tsai M-F, Wang P-C, Shieh C-K, Hwang W-S, Chilam-
kurti N, Rho S, Lee YS (2015) Improving positioning accu-
racy for vanet in real city environments. J Supercomput
71(6):1975–1995
108. Ordóñez-Hurtado RH, Shorten RN (2014) Using stationary vehi-
cles to enhance cooperative positioning in vehicular ad-hoc net-
works. In: 2014 International conference on connected vehicles
and expo (ICCVE), pp 867–868. IEEE
109. Mahmoud A, Noureldin A, Hassanein HS (2016) Distributed
vehicle selection for non-range based cooperative positioning in
urban environments. In: 2016 IEEE international conference on
communications (ICC), pp 1–6. IEEE
110. Luo F, Wang S, Gong Y, Jing X, Zhang L (2018) Geographical
information enhanced cooperative localization in vehicular ad-
hoc networks. IEEE Signal Process Lett 25(4):556–560
111. Fujii S, Fujita A, Umedu T, Kaneda S, Yamaguchi H, Higashino
T, Takai M (2011) Cooperative vehicle positioning via v2v com-
munications and onboard sensors. In: Vehicular technology con-
ference (VTC Fall), 2011 IEEE, pp 1–5. IEEE
112. Chia-Ho O (2014) A roadside unit-based localization scheme for
vehicular ad hoc networks. Int J Commun Syst 27(1):135–150
113. Alimohammadi M, Pouyan AA (2014) Vehicular ad hoc net-
works: Introduction and a proposal for vehicle positioning.
In: 13th International conference on traffic and transportation
engineering
114. Raut YC, Katkar VN, Sarode SM (2014) Early alert system using
relative positioning in vehicular ad-hoc network. In: Annual
international conference on emerging research areas: magnet-
ics, machines and drives (AICERA/iCMMD), pp 1–8. IEEE
115. Hashmi MT, Adnan A, Hadi F, Zubair M (2017) Localized
data fusion model for vanets using gps and non-gps system. In:
2017 International conference on communication technologies
(ComTech), pp 180–185. IEEE
116. Yokoyama RS, Kimura BYL, Villas LA, Moreira EDS (2015)
Measuring distances with rssi from vehicular short-range com-
munications. In: 2015 IEEE International conference on com-
puter and information technology; ubiquitous computing and
communications; dependable, autonomic and secure comput-
ing; pervasive intelligence and computing (CIT/IUCC/DASC/
PICOM), 100–107. IEEE
117. Santos FA, Akabane AT, Yokoyama RS, Loureiro AAF, Vil-
las LA (2016) A roadside unit-based localization scheme to
13
F. B. Günay et al.
improve positioning for vehicular networks. In: Vehicular tech-
nology conference (VTC-Fall), 2016 IEEE 84th, pp 1–5. IEEE
118. LeBlanc HJ, Hassan F, Gomez E, Alsbou N (2016) Poster:
a lightweight localization algorithm using v2v and v2i short
range communication in highly dense reference networks. In:
Vehicular networking conference (VNC), 2016 IEEE, pp 1–2.
IEEE
119. Wahab AA, Khattab A, Fahmy YA (2013) Two-way toa with
limited dead reckoning for gps-free vehicle localization using
single rsu. In: 2013 13th International conference on ITS tel-
ecommunications (ITST), pp 244–249. Citeseer
120. Correa A, Boquet G, Morell A, Lopez Vicario J (2017) Auton-
omous car parking system through a cooperative vehicular
positioning network. Sensors 17(4):848
121. Zhang R, Yan F, Xia W, Xing S, Wu Y, Shen L (2017) An opti-
mal roadside unit placement method for vanet localization. In:
IEEE Global communications conference GLOBECOM 2017-
2017 , pp 1–6. IEEE
122. Al-Ezaly E, Abu-Elkeir M, Riad A (2017) Collaborative
vehicle location management service for enhanced hybrid
reactive and proactive multicast in vanets. Arab J Sci Eng
42(2):691–704
123. Derder A, Moussaoui S, Boualouache A (2015) Target tracking
in vanets using v2v communication with packet load enhance-
ment. In: First international conference on new technologies of
information and communication (NTIC), 2015 , pp 1–6. IEEE
124. Altoaimy L, Mahgoub I (2014) Fuzzy logic based localization
for vehicular ad hoc networks. In: 2014 IEEE symposium on
computational intelligence in vehicles and transportation systems
(CIVTS), pp 121–128. IEEE
125. Elazab M (2015) Integrated cooperative localization in vanets
for gps denied environments. Ph. D. thesis
126. Altoaimy L, Mahgoub I (2016) Mobility data verification for
vehicle localization in vehicular ad hoc networks. In: Wireless
communications and networking conference (WCNC), 2016
IEEE, pp 1–6. IEEE
127. Kihei B, Copeland JA, Chang Y (2014) Doppler domain localiza-
tion for collision avoidance in vanets by using omnidirectional
antennas. In: 2014 International conference on connected vehi-
cles and expo (ICCVE), pp 331–337. IEEE
128. Piran MJ, Murthy GR, Babu GP, Ahvar E (2011) Total gps-free
localization protocol for vehicular ad hoc and sensor networks
(vasnet). In: Third international conference on computational
intelligence, modelling and simulation (CIMSiM), pp 388–393.
IEEE
129. Altoaimy L, Mahgoub I, Rathod M (2014) Weighted localization
in vehicular ad hoc networks using vehicle-to-vehicle commu-
nication. In: Global information infrastructure and networking
symposium (GIIS), 2014, pp 1–5. IEEE
130. Xiong W, Hu X, Wang B, Fang J (2014) Vehicle node localiza-
tion without gps in vanet. In: 2014 International conference on
connected vehicles and expo (ICCVE), pp 1068–1073. IEEE
131. Fascista A, Ciccarese G, Coluccia A, Ricci G (2017) A localiza-
tion algorithm based on v2i communications and aoa estimation.
IEEE Signal Process Lett 24(1):126–130
132. Fang M, Li L, Huang W (2010) Research of hybrid positioning
based vehicle interactive navigation system. In: 2010 Interna-
tional conference on multimedia information networking and
security (MINES), pp 974–978. IEEE
133. Salah Abdel Mageid (2017) Connectivity based positioning sys-
tem for underground vehicular ad hoc networks. Int J Comput
Netw Appl (IJCNA) 4(1):1–14
134. Boukerche A, Rezende C, Pazzi RW (2009) Improving neighbor
localization in vehicular ad hoc networks to avoid overhead from
periodic messages. In: Global telecommunications conference,
2009. GLOBECOM 2009. IEEE, pp 1–6. IEEE
Vehicular Ad Hoc Network (VANET) Localization Techniques: A Survey
135. Montgomery J (2005) A real-time traffic and weather reporting
system for motorists. In: Second IEEE consumer communica-
tions and networking conference. CCNC., pp 580–581
136. Goel S, Imielinski T, Ozbay K (2004) Ascertaining viability of
wifi based vehicle-to-vehicle network for traffic information dis-
semination. In: The 7th international IEEE conference on intel-
ligent transportation systems. Proceedings., pp 1086–1091
137. Thangavelu A, Bhuvaneswari K, Kumar K, SenthilKumar K,
Sivanandam SN (2007) Location identification and vehicle track-
ing using vanet (vetrac). In: 2007 international conference on
signal processing, communications and networking
138. Jiangfeng W, Feng G, Fei Y, Shaoxuan S (2009) Design of wire-
less positioning algorithm of intelligent vehicle based on vanet.
In: Intelligent vehicles symposium, 2009 IEEE, pp 1098–1102.
IEEE
139. Alfandi O, Bochem A, Gurabi MA, Díaz AR, Mehedi MI,
Hogrefe D (2016) Calculating the speed of vehicles using wire-
less sensor networks. In: 2016 federated conference on computer
science and information systems (FedCSIS), pp 1043–1047.
IEEE
140. Reza TA, Barbeau M, Alsubaihi B (2013) Tracking an on the run
vehicle in a metropolitan vanet. In: Intelligent vehicles sympo-
sium (IV), 2013 IEEE, pp 220–227. IEEE
141. Reza TA, Barbeau M, Lamothe G, Alsubaihi B (2013) Non-
cooperating vehicle tracking in vanets using the conditional
logit model. In: 16th International IEEE conference on intelligent
transportation systems-(ITSC), pp 626–633
142. Balico LN, Oliveira HABF, Souza EL, Pazzi RW, Nakamura EF
(2015) On the performance of localization prediction methods
for vehicular ad hoc networks. In: 2015 IEEE symposium on
computers and communication (ISCC), pp 359–364. IEEE
143. Abumansoor O, Boukerche A (2011) A cooperative multi-hop
location verification for non line of sight (nlos) in vanet. In:
Wireless communications and networking conference (WCNC),
2011 IEEE, pp 773–778. IEEE
144. Song H-L (1994) Automatic vehicle location in cellular com-
munications systems. IEEE Trans Veh Technol 43(4):902–908
145. Lee WC (1982) Mobile communications engineering. McGraw-
Hill Professional, New York
146. Ashok VG, Gongjun Y, Olariu S, Gupta A (2010) Privacy aware
localization in vanet. In: 2010 IEEE 7th international conference
on mobile adhoc and sensor systems (MASS), pp 739–744. IEEE
147. CAMP Vehicle Safety Communications Consortium et al (2005)
Vehicle safety communications project: task 3 final report:
identify intelligent vehicle safety applications enabled by dsrc.
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, US Department
of Transportation, Washington DC
148. Chen Y-M, Wei Y-C (2012) Safeanon: a safe location privacy
scheme for vehicular networks. Telecommun Syst 50(4):339–354
149. Raya M, Hubaux J-P (2007) Securing vehicular ad hoc networks.
J Comput Secur 15(1):39–68
Publisher’s Note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to
jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
13