A survey on real world and emulation testbeds for mobile ad hoc networks

Mobile ad hoc networks allow for the spontaneous formation of communication networks without dedicated infrastructure. Ad hoc networks are not yet ready for large-scale deployment, because several unsolved research challenges persist. Evaluation methods such as analytical modeling, simulation, emulation, and real world experiments aid in addressing these challenges. There is a strong need for tools to support the task of modeling and evaluation to allow for protocol validation, performance analysis, or proof-of-concept implementations. The choosing of appropriate tools is a time-consuming process, which is often unnecessarily repeated, due to limited knowledge-transfer. We contribute an extensive survey covering real world and emulation testbeds to simplify the choice of appropriate research tools and methodologies in the domain of mobile ad hoc networks. In particular, we identify the key attributes of the aforementioned classes of testbeds and thoroughly discuss the state-of-the-art in literature to form a comprehensive classification of available testbeds