How to choose an experimentation platform for wireless sensor networks? A survey on static and mobile wireless sensor network experimentation facilities

With the development of new technologies, these last years have witnessed the emergence of a new paradigm: the Internet of Things (IoT) and of the physical world. We are now able to communicate and interact with our surrounding environment through the use of multiple tiny sensors, RFID technologies or small wireless robots. This allows a set of new applications and usages to be envisioned ranging from logistic and traceability purposes to emergency and rescue operations going through the monitoring of volcanos or forest fires. However, all this comes with several technical and scientific issues like how to ensure the reliability of wireless communications in disturbed environments, how to manage efficiently the low resources (energy, memory, etc.) or how to set a safe and sustainable (both hardware and software) platform maintenance. All these issues are addressed by researchers all around the world but solutions designed for IoT need to face real experimentations to be validated. To ease such experimentations for IoT, several experimental testbeds have been deployed offering diverse and heterogeneous services and tools. In this article, we study the different requirements and features such facilities should offer. We survey the different experimental facilities currently available for the community, describe their characteristics. In particular, we detail the different hardware used for sensor networks and robot platforms and the scope of services the different facilities offer with a specific focus on testbeds which enable experimentations with mobility. We expect this survey assist a potential user to easily choose the one to use regarding his own needs. Finally, we identify existing gaps and difficulties and investigate new directions for such facilities.