Experimentation-oriented platform for development and evaluation of MANET cross-layer protocols

We introduce a platform that simplifies the development, performance evaluation, and comparison (DEC) of cross-layer protocols for multi-hop ad hoc networks (MANET). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first platform that provides an integrated API for controlling and assessing, on a per-packet basis, the physical layer and MAC/LLC parameters (e.g. frequency channel, power, rate, coding/modulation, fragmentation, number of retransmissions) for IEEE802.11 network interfaces. Today, performance evaluation of wireless mobile ad hoc networks heavily relies on simulation, which is limited in reflecting real environment scenarios due to the channel modeling approximations. Experimental comparisons of protocols in real-world propagation environment are difficult because of limited reproducibility of the channel propagation, environment, and mobility scenarios. We introduce a DEC platform that provides a network virtualization above the physical/link layers. It runs multiple protocols in TDMA-like timeslots guaranteeing an equitable share of the medium, seamless switching between protocols and synchronization between the nodes, all in a transparent fashion to developers. An extensive experimental evaluation demonstrates the usefulness of the platform.