Comparative Study of Wireless Network Simulators

Abstract

In order to evaluate the behavior and performance of protocols for wireless networks, simulations are a good compromise between cost and complexity, on the one hand, and accuracy of the results, on the other hand. Since there are many simulators for wireless networks, it is often difficult to decide which simulator to choose. To help shed light on this issue, we present a case study in which four popular wireless network simulators were used to evaluate a well-known topology control protocol (SPAN). Within the case study, we describe outstanding and desirable but missing features of the simulators, outlining their strengths and weaknesses. Further, we compare the amount of effort needed for installation, familiarization, implementation (needed lines of code and lines for configuration) and visualization. As opposed to other simulator comparisons, we do not focus on the correlation of the individual simulation results, but try to compare the simulators from feature and usability point of view. This paper can help other researchers to quickly identify which simulator is most suitable for their needs.