Realism in Design and Evaluation of Wireless Routing Protocols

Abstract

In this paper we consider the problem of reliable communication in wireless routing protocols. Many routing protocols for wireless networks use assumptions that are known to be invalid in this special kind of networks. These shortcomings are not detected in the protocol evaluation because common simulation tools are also based on these assumptions. In this paper we present a more realistic simulation model and a simple way of enabling existing protocols to handle real conditions of wireless propagation. A proof-of-concept implementation is presented and evaluated using simulation and measurements in a real and emulated network.