IoTNetSim: A Modelling and Simulation Platform for End-to-End IoT Services and Networking

Abstract

Internet-of-Things (IoT) systems are becoming increasingly complex, heterogeneous and pervasive, integrating a variety of physical devices and virtual services that are spread across architecture layers (cloud, fog, edge) using different connection types. As such, research and design of such systems have proven to be challenging. Despite the influx in IoT research and the significant benefits of simulation-based approaches in supporting research, there is a general lack of appropriate modelling and simulation platforms to create a detailed representation of end-to-end IoT services, i.e. from the underlying IoT nodes to the application layer in the cloud along with the underlying networking infrastructure. To aid researchers and practitioners in overcoming these challenges, we propose IoTNetSim, a novel self-contained extendable platform for modelling and simulation of end-to-end IoT services. The platform supports modelling heterogeneous IoT nodes (sensors, actuators, gateways, etc.) with their fine-grained details (mobility, energy profile, etc.), as well as different models of application logic and network connectivity. The proposed work is distinct from the current literature, being an all-in-one tool for end-to-end IoT services with a multi-layered architecture that allows modelling IoT systems with different structures. We experimentally validate and evaluate our IoTNetSim implementation using two very large-scale real-world cases from the natural environment and disaster monitoring IoT domains.