UDel Models

UDel Models
For Simulation
of Urban Mobile Wireless Networks
 
Home | Stephan Bohacek's Homepage | U of Delaware | EECIS
 
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Features

The UDelModels is a suite of tools for simulating urban mesh networks and includes
  • a simulator of realistic propagation (ns-2 and QualNet compatible)
  • a simulator of realistic urban mobility (ns-2 and QualNet compatible)
  • a tool to build city maps
  • several tools for file manipulation and visualization (Matlab compatible)

Overview

While there are many parts to the UDelModels, the two main parts are the propagation simulator and the mobility simulator. The propagation simulator is based on ray-tracing and determines realistic propagation between any two nodes within the modeled city. The propagation simulator accounts for reflections off of the ground and buildings, transmissions through walls, transmission indoors, and diffraction over and around buildings. See the propagation page and report on urban propagation for more details.

The mobility simulator is based on surveys from a number of research areas including time-use studies performed by the US Department of Labor and Statistics, time-use studies by the business research community, pedestrians and vehicle mobility studies by the urban planning and traffic engineering communities. Based on these works, the mobility simulator simulates arrival times at work, lunch time, breaks/errands, pedestrian dynamics (e.g., realistic speed-distance relationship and passing dynamics), and workday time-use such as meeting size, frequency, and duration. Vehicle traffic is derived from vehicle traffic data collected by state and local governments and models vehicle dynamics and diurnal street usage.

Usage

There are several ways that the UDelModels can be used. In any case, the first step is to slightly modify the protocol simulator (i.e., QualNet or ns-2). Files and instructions for this can be found in the download area. Once the protocol simulator is modified, the UDelModels can be used as follows (the links below require login).

  • The simplest way to use the UDelModels is to use a precomputed trace. A single trace includes a mobility trace file and a propagation trace file. The mobility trace file specifies the location of each node at each second. The propagation file specifies the channel between all node pairs at all times. It is possible to manipulate the set of nodes represented in the trace files by using the extract tool. Specifically, while the trace file specifies a large set of nodes over a long time duration, a random set of nodes over a specific time interval can be extracted. The extraction tool also allows the infrastructure to be manipulated (e.g., turning off an infrastructure node, or switching an infrastructure node from being a wired base station to a fixed wireless relay). See the quick start manuals for more details.
  • If a new set of trace files is required, then the following steps are taken.
    1. Download a Processed Map of the city to be simulated.
    2. Run the mobility simulator with this Processed Map file to generate a mobility trace file.
    3. Download the Propagation Matrix file for the city corresponding to the Processed City file.
    4. Use the generated mobility trace file, the Propagation File, and the propagation simulator to generate a propagation trace file.
    5. Use the mobility and propagation trace files as described above (See the manuals for more details).
  • If a new city is desired, then the following steps are taken
    1. Download the MapBuilder.
    2. Load a GIS map into the MapBuilder or design a map from scratch.
    3. Generate the Processed Map file of the designed city.
    4. Generate the propagation matrix file of the city (a very computationally intensive process, a cluster and tools to support parallelization should be used).
    5. Follow the steps above for using a Processed Map and Propagation Matrix files to generate trace files (See the manuals for more details).

Status and Objectives

The UDelModels version 1.0 is available. One goal is to make the UDelModels support the wide range of simulations the networking research community desires and to speed the development of protocols for large-scale mesh networks. Please use the feedback form or email at udelmodeATeecis.udel.edu to let us know what features are desired and how to improve usability.