Monday, 19.07.2010, 14:00 to 15:00, Rheinsaal, B-IT (Dahlmannstraße 2)

Prof. Tracy Camp (Colorado School of Mines): "MANET Simulation Studies: The Incredibles"

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 proceedings of a top conference in
the MANET area: the ACM International Symposium on Mobile Ad Hoc Networking and
Computing (MobiHoc). From our survey, we found significant shortfalls.

Choosing an appropriate simulation scenario to study the performance of a MANET
routing protocol is an important process. For example, routing will not be
properly evaluated when a simulation scenario with a low average hop count or a
large degree of network partitioning is used. To ensure that a simulation
scenario provides an effective platform for testing a MANET routing  protocol,
we recommend that researchers use two metrics to characterize their simulation
scenarios: the average shortest-path hop count and the average amount of network
partitioning.

In this talk, I will (1) present the results of our MobiHoc survey, (2)
summarize common simulation study pitfalls found in our survey, and (3) discuss
tools that we have created to aid the development of more rigorous simulation
studies. While this work focuses on the MANET field, the takeaway message in
regards to credible simulation is applicable to other computing fields.

Everybody is cordially invited to attend.   (How to get to B-IT)