Impact of Simulation Results on Ad-Hoc Routing Networks

Abstract

A large amount of research has been done in ad-hoc networks. Most of the research uses simulation as a means of protocol evaluation., The credibility of the published simulation results is very important for productive contribution to research community. Despite of all the analysis and suggestions done in previous studies, repeatability and credibility of simulation based research still not reached the acceptable level of reliability. Most of the simulation studies published are unrealistic, non-reproducible and show statistically invalid results. These pitfalls directly damage the overall integrity of research involving simulation for testing and validation of results. We have conducted a survey to evaluate the current state of simulation studies for these pitfalls particularly in ad-hoc routing protocols. To make the analysis more rigorous, our survey adds mentioned three factors to evaluation criteria. We have also developed a tool for NS2 which helps in repeatability and credibility of simulations.