On the Importance of Realistic Correlated Shadow Fading Modeling for Mobile Ad-Hoc Networks

The simulation of typical network scenarios is essential for the evaluation of design proposals for future mobile adhoc network (MANET) systems. In this paper, we demonstrate the importance of realistic correlated shadow fading modeling for this application. This is done by simulating a basic mobile network scenario and comparing the estimated outage probability values for an uncorrelated link model and a more realistic correlated link model to the results of real world measurements. The simulations show that the use of a shadow fading model, which does not consider the correlation between the links in a network, results in significant estimation errors. The stochastic geometry shadowing model, which incorporates the link correlation, is able to provide a much more realistic estimate. Using this correlated model rather than the models currently in use will help to avoid flawed design decisions which would affect future systems.