Simulating MANETS: A study using satellites with AODV and AntHocNet

SatSim was developed to provide a low cost, easy to learn, network simulator for simulating satellite networks. SatSim is unique in that it accurately accounts for orbital movement of satellites on a discrete per packet basis that heavily affects communication link quality. SatSim can be seen as a special case of a typical network simulator, developed for networks that require physical node movement modelling and the associated dynamic link budget calculations. A satellite constellation can be thought of as an extreme example of a Mobile Ad Hoc Network(MANET) scenario. The simulation of routing protocols Ad hoc On-Demand Distance Vector Routing(AODV) and AntHocNet were demonstrated and their performance evaluated in an example satellite network scenario. Packet delay overhead and route discovery times were evaluated, analysed and compared to independent research results. SatSim is presented as an easy to learn, modular and re-usable tool which can accurately simulate MANET communication, including the complex algorithms needed for routing.