Menon, A.G.Krishnan, P.Lal, S.2026-02-032025Engineering Research Express, 2025, Vol.7, 4, pp. -https://doi.org/10.1088/2631-8695/ae2dc3https://idr.nitk.ac.in/handle/123456789/19885Heterogeneous 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.AntennasComplex networksConvolutional neural networksData miningDeep learningForecastingHeterogeneous networksIEEE StandardsMobile telecommunication systemsNetwork architectureSubmillimeter wavesBeam predictionCommunicationtechnologyHeterogeneous vehicular networkMm wavesMulti-head attentionPrediction modellingReal- timeUser demandsV2X communicationVehicular networksMillimeter waves