WSN simulators evaluation: an approach focusing on energy awareness

The large number of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) simulators available nowadays, differ in their design, goals, and characteristics. Users who have to decide which simulator is the most appropriate for their particular requirements, are today lost, faced with a panoply of disparate and diverse simulators. Hence, it is obvious the need for establishing guidelines that support users in the tasks of selecting a simulator to suit their preferences and needs. In previous works, we proposed a generic and novel approach to evaluate networks simulators, considering a methodological process and a set of qualitative and quantitative criteria. In particularly, for WSN simulators, the criteria include relevant aspects for this kind of networks, such as energy consumption modelling and scalability capacity. The aims of this work are: (i) describe deeply the criteria related to WSN aspects; (ii) extend and update the state of the art of WSN simulators elaborated in our previous works to identify the most used and cited in scientific articles; and (iii) demonstrate the suitability of our novel methodological approach by evaluating and comparing the three most cited simulators, specially in terms of energy modelling and scalability capacities. Results show that our proposed approach provides researchers with an evaluation tool that can be used to describe and compare WSN simulators in order to select the most appropriate one for a given scenarioComment: 20 Page

Methodology to Evaluate WSN Simulators: Focusing on Energy Consumption Awareness

ISBN: 978-1-925953-09-1International audienceNowadays, there exists a large number of available network simulators, that differ in their design, goals, and characteristics. Users who have to decide which simulator is the most appropriate for their particular requirements, are today lost, faced with a panoply of disparate and diverse simulators. Hence, it is obvious the need for establishing guidelines that support users in the tasks of selecting and customizing a simulator to suit their preferences and needs. In previous works, we proposed a generic and novel methodological approach to evaluate network simulators, considering a set of qualitative and quantitative criteria. However, it lacks criteria related to Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN). Thus, the aim of this work is three fold: (i) extend the previous proposed methodology to include the evaluation of WSN simulators, such as energy consumption modelling and scalability; (ii) elaborate a study of the state of the art of WSN simulators, with the intention of identifying the most used and cited in scientific articles; and (iii) demonstrate the suitability of our novel methodology by evaluating and comparing three of the most cited simulators. Our novel methodology provides researchers with an evaluation tool that can be used to describe and compare WSN simulators in order to select the most appropriate one for a given scenario

Evaluating Network Test Scenarios for Network Simulators Systems

Networks continue to grow as industries use both wired and wireless networks. Creating experiments to test those networks can be very expensive if conducted on production networks; therefore, the evaluation of networks and their performance is usually conducted using emulation. This growing reliance on simulation raises the risk of correctness and validation. Today, many network simulators have widely varying focuses and are employed in different fields of research. The trustworthiness of results produced from simulation models must be investigated. The goal of this work is first to compare and assess the performance of three prominent network simulators—NS-2, NS-3, and OMNet++—by considering the following qualitative characteristics: architectural design, correctness, performance, usability, features, and trends. Second, introduce the concept of mutation testing to design the appropriate network scenarios to be used for protocol evaluation. Many works still doubt if used scenarios can suit well to claim conclusions about protocol performance and effectiveness. A large-scale simulation model was implemented using ad hoc on-demand distance vector and destination-sequenced distance vector routing protocols to compare performance, correctness, and usability. This study addresses an interesting question about the validation process: “Are you building the right simulation model in the right environment?” In conclusion, network simulation alone cannot determine the correctness and usefulness of the implemented protocol. Software testing approaches should be considered to validate the quality of the network model and test scenarios being used

Hybrid performance modelling of opportunistic networks

We demonstrate the modelling of opportunistic networks using the process algebra stochastic HYPE. Network traffic is modelled as continuous flows, contact between nodes in the network is modelled stochastically, and instantaneous decisions are modelled as discrete events. Our model describes a network of stationary video sensors with a mobile ferry which collects data from the sensors and delivers it to the base station. We consider different mobility models and different buffer sizes for the ferries. This case study illustrates the flexibility and expressive power of stochastic HYPE. We also discuss the software that enables us to describe stochastic HYPE models and simulate them.Comment: In Proceedings QAPL 2012, arXiv:1207.055

Experiences on Evaluating Network Simulators: A Methodological Approach

International audienceThere exists a variety of network simulators, used to imitate the protocols, nodes, and connections in data networks. They differ in their design, goals, and characteristics. Thus, comparing simulators requires a clear and standardized methodology. In this paper, based on a set of measurable and comparable criteria, we propose an approach to evaluate them. We validate the suggested approach with two network simulators, namely Packet Tracer and GNS3. In that regard, a test scenario is put forward on the two simulators, both in Linux and Windows environments, and their performance is monitored based on the suggested approach. This paper does not propose a method for selecting the best simulator, but it rather supplies the researchers with an evaluation tool, that can be used to describe, compare, and select the most suitable network simulators for a given scenario

Review of Ad Hoc Networks scenarios and challenges in years 2015-2019

A Mobile Ad-hoc Network (MANET) protocol performance analysis depends on the type of simulation tools, mobility models, and metrics used. These parameters\u27 choice is crucial to researchers because it may produce an inaccurate result if it is not well chosen. The challenges researcher is facing are on the choice of these four parameters. Our survey shows an inclination to used Ad-hoc On-Demand Distance Vector routing (AODV) for performance comparison and enhancement of it by the researcher. Network simulation 2 (NS2) was the most selected tool, but we observe a decline in its utilization in recent years. Random Waypoint Mobility model (RWPM) was the most used mobility model. We have found a high percentage of the published article did not mention the mobility models use; this will make the result difficult for performance comparison with other works. Packet Delivery Ratio (PDR), End to End Delay (E2ED) were the most used metrics. Some authors have self-developed their simulation tools; the authors have also used new metrics and protocols to get a particular result based on their research objective. However, some criteria of choosing a protocol, metrics, mobility model, and simulation tool were not described, decreasing the credibility of their papers\u27 results. Improvement needs to be done in the Ad-hoc network in terms of benchmark, acceptable scenario parameters. This survey will give the best practice to be used and some recommendations to the Ad-hoc network community

Underwater Acoustic Modems

© 2016 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.Due to the growing interest using underwater acoustic networks, there are more and more research papers about underwater communications. These papers are mainly focused on deployments and studies about the constraints of the underwater medium. The underwater acoustic channel is highly variable and the signal transmission can change according to environmental factors such as the temperature, pressure or salinity of the water. For this reason, it is important to know how these devices are developed and the maximum distance and data transfer rates they can achieve. To this end, this paper presents an exhaustive study of existing underwater acoustic modems where their main features are highlighted. We also review the main features of their hardware. All presented proposals in the research literature are compared with commercial underwater acoustic modems. Finally, we analyze different programs and improvements of existing network simulators that are often used to simulate and estimate the behavior of underwater networks.This work was supported by the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion through the Plan Nacional de I+D+i 2008-2011 within the Subprograma de Proyectos de Investigacion Fundamental under Project TEC2011-27516. The associate editor coordinating the review of this paper and approving it for publication was Dr. Lei Shu. (Corresponding author: Jaime Lloret.)Sendra, S.; Lloret, J.; Jimenez, JM.; Parra-Boronat, L. (2015). Underwater Acoustic Modems. IEEE Sensors Journal. 16(11):4063-4071. https://doi.org/10.1109/JSEN.2015.2434890S40634071161