CAR-BRAINet: Sub-6 GHz aided spatial adaptive beam prediction with multi head attention for heterogeneous vehicular networks

Abstract

Heterogeneous Vehicular Networks (HetVNets) play a crucial role by integrating different communication technologies, such as sub-6 GHz, mm-wave, and DSRC, to meet the diverse connectivity requirements of 5G/B5G vehicular networks. HetVNet helps address humongous user demands, but maintaining a steady connection in highly mobile, real-world conditions remains challenging. Though ample studies have been conducted on beam prediction models, a dedicated solution for HetVNets has been sparsely explored. Hence, developing a reliable beam prediction model, specifically for HetVNets, is necessary. This paper introduces a lightweight deep learning-based model termed ‘CAR-BRAINet’, which consists of convolutional neural networks with a powerful multi-head attention (MHA) mechanism. Existing literature on beam prediction is primarily studied under a limited, idealised vehicular scenario, often overlooking the real-time complexities and intricacies of vehicular networks. Therefore, this study aims to mimic the complexities of a real-time driving scenario by incorporating key factors, such as prominent MAC protocols (3GPP-C-V2X and IEEE 802.11BD), the effect of Doppler shifts under high velocity and varying distance, and SNR levels, into three high-quality dynamic data sets for urban, rural, and highway vehicular networks. CAR-BRAINet achieves a steady improvement of 11.6467% in spectral efficiency, with a 93.1638% lighter architecture compared to existing methods, resulting in a 94.7103% reduction in prediction time. Therefore, demonstrating a precise beam prediction across all vehicular scenarios, with minimal beam overhead. Thus, this study justifies the effectiveness of CAR-BRAINet in complex HetVNets, offering promising performance without relying on mobile users’ location, angle, and antenna dimensions, thereby reducing redundant sensor latency. © 2025 IOP Publishing Ltd. All rights, including for text and data mining, AI training, and similar technologies, are reserved.