Group and swarm mobility models for ad hoc network scenarios using virtual tracks

The mobility model is one of the most important factors in the performance evaluation of a mobile ad hoc network (MANET). Traditionally, the random waypoint mobility model has been used to model the node mobility, where the movement of one node is modeled as independent from all others. However, in reality, especially in large scale military scenarios, mobility coherence among nodes is quite common. One typical mobility behavior is group mobility. Thus, to investigate military MANET scenarios, an underlying realistic mobility model is highly desired. In this paper, we propose a "virtual track" based group mobility model (VT model) which closely approximates the mobility patterns in military MANET scenarios. It models various types of node mobility such as group moving nodes, individually moving nodes as well as static nodes. Moreover, the VT model not only models the group mobility, it also models the dynamics of group mobility such as group merge and split. Simulation experiments show that the choice of mobility model has significant impact on network performance.