Towards more realistic simulations of Ad-hoc Networks - Challenges and opportunities

Vehicular Ad-hoc Networks are a very interesting self-organizing communication system that can make the traffic on our roads much safer. A lot of aspects of the behavior of these systems are studied using network simulation frameworks. While the upper communication layers of Vehicular Ad-hoc Networks are mainly simulated according to their specifications, in this paper we will highlight weak points in these simulations. They occur due the fact that the layers below the link layer are considered very rarely and are also almost neglected by the commonly used network simulation frameworks. This can potentially lead to inaccurate simulation results which can be fatal when studying safety relevant applications or application with real-time constraints. In this work in progress paper we are going to propose an approach to get this under control.