Improving MANET Simulation Results - Deploying Realistic Mobility and Radio Wave Propagation Models

Recent research has shown the poor accuracy of widely used simulators in the area of wireless networks. Beside many other parameters two are of particular interest: (i) the mobility model, and (ii) the radio wave propagation model. The first is responsible for the network topology and the latter for the perception of transmitted data. Both have strong impact on the performance of mobile ad-hoc networks, e.g. the performance of routing protocols changes with these models. We developed a framework combining a realistic mobility model and radio wave propagation model. To generate mobility multiple well understood random mobility models are combined in a scenario graph. The graph also includes obstacles which restrict the movement and the radio wave propagation. The radio wave propagation is calculated using a ray-tracing approach. We present an extensive simulation study on the effect of the mobility and radio wave propagation on simulation results.