Comparison of routing protocols performance using wireless mesh network simulation and testbed

Wireless Mesh Network (WMN) has received considerable attention as a means to achieve connectivity in community and commercial networks. Protocols at different stack layers have varying effects both on the energy consumption and the general performance of WMN backbone nodes. Previous studies have shown that, simulations have often been used to obtain protocol performance data, but simulation results are at best an abstraction of the real world network performance. Thus, simulations often provide an unrealistic measure of protocol performance and testbed-based studies are proving more realistic. This paper analyses the performance of AODV and OLSR routing protocols in WMN using both simulation and indoor testbed. Although, the simulation and testbed results aligned with each other for Packet delivery ratio and average throughput, but the magnitude of the difference between the two results is wide. However, the simulation result contradicts that of the testbed for the lifetime. Based on the results of this study, we argue that simulation results only give a rough estimate of the real world network performance. Hence, whenever it is feasible, validating simulation results using a testbed is highly recommended in order to improve our understanding of protocol performance.