STGT: SUMO-Based Traffic Mobility Generation Tool for Evaluation of Vehicular Networks

Abstract

An approach to evaluate vehicular networks is to make use of simulators. A simulation engine allows the vehicular network to control the traffic simulation on run time. In this regard, researchers can assess their vehicular network models under realistic scenarios (e.g., highway, urban, rural). However, setting up these traffic mobility scenarios may result in a time-consuming task requiring the definition of several elements: (i) the road map, (ii) the traffic elements (e.g., traffic lights), (iii) the type of vehicles, and (iv) vehicle traces/routes. This paper focuses on facilitating this process, taking advantage of a well-known open-source traffic simulator called SUMO (Simulation of Urban MObility). Even though the SUMO simulator builds in several facilities to generate traffic mobility scenarios, it requires a considerable learning time. This paper proposes an open-source traffic simulator SUMO extension that encapsulates most SUMO facilities in an easy-to-use traffic generation tool called SUMO-based Traffic Mobility Generation Tool (STGT). The STGT tool facilities the scenario generation avoiding the learning curve of the SUMO framework, and provides performance statistics of the generated vehicular movements. The STGT tool copes with the whole traffic simulation process, including a graphical user interface for novice users and a command-line interface for advanced users.