A Comprehensive Performance Study of OPNET Modeler for ZigBee Wireless Sensor Networks

OPNET has been widely used as a network simulator, but not much emphasis has been given on the performance of this simulator for ZigBee wireless sensor networks (WSN). Simulation of WSNs is a challenging task due to the nature of hardware design, energy limitations, and deployment of a vast number of nodes. An inclusive study and analysis of the QoS performance evaluation of the ZigBee protocol within the OPNET simulator for different WSN topologies and routing schemes is presented here. Based on simulation and analysis of results this paper can be considered as a guide for researchers in evaluating OPNET modeler as a WSN simulator for Zigbee networks. Some enhancements needed in OPNET Modeler to be more suitable for the simulation of ZigBee WSNs are discussed.