Castadiva: A Test-Bed Architecture for Mobile AD HOC Networks

Evaluating and deploying all sorts of protocols and applications designed for wireless ad hoc networks in a real environment is an important and urgent task. Traditionally, all the proposals made rely solely on simulator results. However, as different research groups develop different solutions to solve problems related to these new networks, it becomes more and more important to migrate the proposed solutions to a real environment. In this work we present Castadiva, a test-bed architecture that allows validating software solutions for ad hoc networks using low-cost, of the-shelf devices and open source software. Through a friendly user interface, Castadiva offers the possibility to define and test different scenarios and traffic patterns, adding the possibility to export them to the NS-2 format for result comparison. A first evaluation of the tool reveals Castadiva as an efficient tool that offers real-life accuracy, while avoiding having a high number of mobile users available for test-bed experiments.