Towards MANET Simulators Massive Comparison and Validation

The comparison and validation of MANET (mobile ad-hoc network) simulators is a difficult and little covered research area because the internal of these tools are complex. The lack of work and visibility in the domain often arouse users´ negative feelings about simulation. In this article, we propose a framework dedicated to the validation, the comprehension and the analysis of MANET simulators. The system can process trace files generated by different versions of a simulator or different simulators. The solution is based on software instrumentation and the use of a standard trace format. It proposes three types of analysis: the representation of the network activity with timelines, the plotting of network metrics and the validation against the 802.11 standard specifications.