On theWay to a More Realistic Simulation Environment for Mobile Ad-hoc Networks

Two main steps on the way to more realistic simulations of mobile adhoc networks are the introduction of realistic mobility and sophisticated radio wave propagation models. Both have strong impact on the performance of mobile ad-hoc networks, e.g. the performance of routing protocols changes with these models. In this paper we introduce a framework which combines realistic mobility and radio wave propagation models. Our approach consists of a mobility generator and an obstacle model for the radio wave propagation. It enables researchers to create realistic simulation setups and thus helps to correctly evaluate new algorithms and protocols. For the mobility generation a wide variety of well understood random mobility models is combined with a graph based zone model, where each zone has its own mobility model. To achieve a realistic radio wave propagation model a ray-tracing approach is used. The integration of these two techniques allows to create simulation setups that closely model reality.