Extending the Functionality of Pymote: Low Level Protocols and Simulation Result Analysis

Abstract

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are utilized in various applications and are providing the backbone for the new pervasive Internet, or Internet of Things. The development of a reliable and robust large-scale WSN system requires that the design concepts are checked and optimized before they are implemented and tested for a specific hardware platform. Simulation provides a cost effective and feasible method of examining the correctness and scalability of the system before deployment. In this work, we study the performance of Pymote, a high level Python library for event based simulation of distributed algorithms in wireless ad-hoc networks. We extended the Pymote framework allowing it to simulate packet level performance. The extension includes radio propagation, energy consumption, mobility and other models. The extended framework also provides interactive plotting, data collection and logging facilities for improved analysis and evaluation of the simulated system.