Oscar Gama, Paulo Carvalho, P.M.Mendes*
Centro ALGORITMITel.: +351 253 604432
Fax.: +351 253 604471
e-mail: pmc at di.uminho.pt
Network Simulators are often used to study multiple aspects of data
communications in distinct scenarios, including wireless sensor
networks (WSN). However, the performance of the software components
running in the network nodes is normally neglected by the simulators.
This aspect is particularly important in WSNs, as nodes have very
limited computing resources. In order to study the impact of software
components on WSN performance, a simulated WSN and a physical WSN were
setup in the IEEE 802.15.4 domain. Tests revealed that the simulator
must take into account the software components of the WSN to produce
realistic results. To achieve this, new parameters are proposed to
model the impact of the software components on a physical WSN. Tests
measuring the packet round-trip delay, delivery error ratio, and
duplicated packet ratio showed that the inclusion of this model in a
simulator improves significantly the accuracy of the results when
compared with those obtained in a physical WSN.
1st Portuguese Conference on Wireless Sensor Networks. March 4th, 2011, Coimbra, Portugal.