Kraaier, J: Modeling User Mobility for the Simulation

Simulation of wireless networks is often the only available means for investigation and analysis of the network's properties. In order for these simulations to produce meaningful results, not only the network infrastructure but also the wireless network users have to be modeled describing their relevant behavior. This thesis deals with mobility modeling for wireless ad hoc access network simulations. For these networks, mobility of users can be identified as one major factor influencing the performance of wireless networks. Properties of mobility models are analyzed and an assessment of their impact on network evaluation is made. The investigated models are analyzed in detailed computer simulations, and general properties are derived by analytical evaluation. Simulations of different models with different ad hoc access networks show the large impact of mobility models and their parameters Finally, suggestions are made concerning the required detail in mobility modelling for the analyzed networks and applications. From the results, conclusions can be drawn on what kind of mobility model must be selected for which network simulation task. This is a decision that has to be made for every investigation using wireless network simulation.