MobiTools: An Integrated Toolchain for Mobile Ad Hoc Networks

The problem of synthesizing models capable of realistically reproducing mobility in Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks (VANETs) is critical for the construction of such type of infrastructure. Factors such as vehicle mobility, signal propagation, geological and urban conformation can heavily affect protocol performance and communication QoS. A correct integration of these effects can benefit routing schemes by allowing designers to take advantage of these factors rather than blindly react to them. A number of tools exist to create mobility patterns. Some of them define very abstract mobility behaviors and some attempt to reassemble real traffic behavior. None of these provide a simple way to characterize mobility on real maps and jointly provide an integrated environment which investigates both the effects of mobility and propagation. We here present MobiTools, a tool suite which integrates: (a) the use of real maps in mobility traces creation; (b) a real map viewer; (c) flexible inputs for mobility, and; (d) the effects of propagation.