MANET Simulation Studies: The Current State and New Simulation Tools

Simulation is the research tool of choice for a majority of the mobile ad hoc network (MANET) community. However, while the use of simulation has increased, the credibility of the simulation results has decreased. To determine the state of MANET simulation studies, we surveyed the 2000-2004 proceedings of the ACM International Symposium on Mobile Ad Hoc Networking and Computing (MobiHoc). From our survey, we found significant shortfalls in credibility. We present the results of our survey in this paper. We then offer two simulation tools that we have developed to aid future MANET simulations (i.e., scenario development, model validation, protocol verification, and results analysis). The first tool is a visualization and animation tool called iNSpect (interactive NS-2 protocol and environment confirmation tool). Due to iNSpect, the credibility of our simulation studies have been drastically improved. The second tool generates characterization data from a simulation’s input parameters. We call this second tool SCORES (SCenariO characteRizEr for Simulation), as it will provide an account (or score) on a given simulation scenario. We offer these tools to the community in the hope to improve the credibility of MANET simulation-based studies. Both of our tools have substantially impacted our own MANET research efforts.