Modeling and Simulation Framework for Assessing Interference in Multi-Hop Wireless Ad Hoc Networks

Abstract

In this paper, we propose an empirical framework for modeling and emulating interference in multi-hop wireless ad-hoc networks. Wireless interference causes wide variation in the frame delivery rate at a link, and thus we cannot represent the state of the link with only two states, connected state and disconnected state, as in wired networks. We first investigate wireless interference in detail, in order to accurately calibrate the interference and identify its underlying attributes, and then we simulate the diverse occurrences and effects of interference, after incorporating the scheme into a simulation tool. Based on these observations, we devise a modeling and simulation framework with several control parameters, and perform an extensive set of simulation studies. The simulation results indicate that the proposed framework enables us to examine various attributes of wireless interferences and their effects on wireless network protocols and systems.