MiXiM, PAWiS, and STEAM-Sim Integration - Combining Channel Models, Energy Awareness, and Real-life Application Code

TL;DR

This paper presents an integrated simulation framework combining MiXiM, PAWiS, and STEAM-Sim to enhance the evaluation of wireless sensor networks by incorporating realistic models and real-life application code.

Contribution

The integration of three specialized WSN simulation frameworks into a unified environment with validated functionality and energy consumption results.

Findings

The combined framework matches the 'golden model' in functionality.

Energy consumption results are consistent with expectations.

The integrated environment supports static and mobile scenarios.

Abstract

After a decade of research in the field of wireless sensor networks (WSNs) there are still open issues. WSNs impose several severe requirements regarding energy consumption, processing capabilities, mobility, and robustness of wireless transmissions. Simulation has shown to be the most cost-efficient approach for evaluation of WSNs, thus a number of simulators are available. Unfortunately, these simulation environments typically consider WSNs from a special point of view. In this work we present the integration of three such specialized frameworks, namely MiXiM, PAWiS, and STEAM-Sim. This integration combines the strengths of the single frameworks such as realistic channel models, mobility patterns, accurate energy models, and inclusion of real-life application code. The result is a new simulation environment which enables a more general consideration of WSNs. We implemented and verified our proposed concept by means of static and mobile scenarios. As the presented results show, the combined framework gives the same results regarding the functionality and energy consumption as our "golden model". Therefore the system integration was successful and the framework is ready to be used by the community.