A Survey of Simulation in Sensor Networks

Sensor networks face many problems that do not arise in other types of networks. Power constraints, limited hardware, decreased reliability, and a typically higher density and number of nodes than found in conventional networks are just a small portion of the problems that have to be considered when developing protocols for use in sensor networks. Simulation is often used to test new protocols that are being developed, as well as to compare old protocols. However, there is always a danger when using simulation in testing: the results are not necessarily going to be accurate or representative. To help overcome this, it is important to possess knowledge of the simulation tools available, along with their associated strengths and weaknesses. The goal of this paper is to aid developers in the selection of an appropriate simulation tool.

[1]  Jens Palsberg,et al.  Avrora: scalable sensor network simulation with precise timing , 2005, IPSN 2005. Fourth International Symposium on Information Processing in Sensor Networks, 2005..

[2]  Vlado Handziski,et al.  A common wireless sensor network architecture , 2003 .

[3]  M. Gerla,et al.  GloMoSim: a library for parallel simulation of large-scale wireless networks , 1998, Proceedings. Twelfth Workshop on Parallel and Distributed Simulation PADS '98 (Cat. No.98TB100233).

[4]  Jennifer C. Hou,et al.  A Simulation Framework for Sensor Networks in J-Sim , 2003 .

[5]  S. Iyengar,et al.  Simulating Wireless Sensor Networks with OMNeT + + , 2005 .

[6]  Kenneth P. Birman,et al.  Advances in Pervasive Computing and Networking , 2004 .

[7]  Gul A. Agha,et al.  SENS: a sensor, environment and network simulator , 2004, 37th Annual Simulation Symposium, 2004. Proceedings..

[8]  Deborah Estrin,et al.  EmStar: An Environment for Developing Wireless Embedded Systems Software , 2003 .

[9]  John S. Baras,et al.  ATEMU: a fine-grained sensor network simulator , 2004, 2004 First Annual IEEE Communications Society Conference on Sensor and Ad Hoc Communications and Networks, 2004. IEEE SECON 2004..

[10]  David E. Culler,et al.  TOSSIM: accurate and scalable simulation of entire TinyOS applications , 2003, SenSys '03.

[11]  Mani B. Srivastava,et al.  SensorSim: a simulation framework for sensor networks , 2000, MSWIM '00.

[12]  Mani B. Srivastava,et al.  Simulating networks of wireless sensors , 2001, Proceeding of the 2001 Winter Simulation Conference (Cat. No.01CH37304).

[13]  Thomas W. Carley.  Sidh: A Wireless Sensor Network Simulator , 2005 .

[14]  Ian T. Downard,et al.  Simulating Sensor Networks in NS-2 , 2004 .

[15]  Xinjie Chang.  Network simulations with OPNET , 1999, WSC '99.

[16]  Boleslaw K. Szymanski,et al.  SENSE: A SENSOR NETWORK SIMULATOR , 2004 .

[17]  Thomas R. Gross,et al.  Simulation of large ad hoc networks , 2003, MSWIM '03.