Investigation on effectiveness of simulation results for wireless sensor networks

Abstract

For research experiments, simulators can be used to get easier access to fine grained results than corresponding real world experiments. One problem with simulators is that it is hard to show that a simulation experiment corresponds well with a similar real world experiment. The objective of this contribution is to investigate the effectiveness of simulation results for Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs). For such purpose, a detail survey on simulators has been made and it has been found that there are 44 different simulators or simulation frameworks in existence, they are either adjusted or developed specifically for wireless sensor networks. Secondly, with the help of experimental results it is to highlighted, that there is an impact of operating system architectures on simulation results of routing mechanism used in WSNs. And finally our focus is on some factors that influences simulation results for WSNs. © 2010 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.