On Real-World Experiments with Wireless Multihop Networks

In wireless multihop networks (WMNs), nodes cooperate§to forward data packets for each other. This§principle has a number of interesting applications,§from disaster recovery scenarios over wireless sensor§networks to car-to-car communication. The systematic§evaluation of such networks under real-world§conditions is difficult due to the distributed nature§of such a network in combination with the complex§effects of electromagnetic wave propagation. In this§book, we tackle the fundamental problems of the§control and analysis of such experiments. The book§contains a guidebook of existing wireless multihop§network experimentation techniques and introduces the§EXC testbed that allows researchers to create their§own testbed installation. Furthermore, it presents§solutions to the time synchronisation problem that§occurs both during the runtime of an experiment as§well as during its analysis and explains how the§repeatability of experimental runs can be examined.§The book addresses readers that want to§experimentally evaluate a wireless multihop network§under real-world conditions. It is a handbook for the§design, realization, and analysis of such experiments.