Enabling sensing and mobility on wireless testbeds

The inherent inability of simulation models to adequately express factors such as wireless signal propagation etc., can lead to incomplete evaluation of wireless protocols and applications. Thus, testing of proposed schemes under real-life settings has become the de facto validation process. More specifically, in the context of testing scenarios that include mobility, evaluation in real environments becomes a prerequisite. Networking testbeds have recently extended their capabilities by providing the researchers with the ability to include mobile nodes in their experiments as well. Towards this direction, we have developed a prototype mobile node in NITOS, which features a mounted camera and wireless interfaces that enable remote access and control. The proposed mobility framework is also accompanied by a graphical user interface that allows the experimenter to observe the node's behavior remotely. © 2012 ICST Institute for Computer Science, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering