Comparison of the Propagation Loss of a Real-Life Wireless Sensor Network and Its Complimentary Simulation Model

A hypothesis test based methodology for comparing propagation loss as reported by Modeling and Simulation (M&S) and a real life Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) platform is proposed. The methodology is based on hypothesis testing and statistical evaluation of experimental and simulation data. A software tool for verification of the simulation results is developed in order to automate the process. The comparison tool demonstrates the need for simulation verification by showing cases where simulation and experimental measurements do not agree, hence the simulation model is not representative of actual system being modeled. Experimentation with the platform establishes an empirical path loss model, to be used in simulations.