Comparison of simulators for assessing the ability to sustain wireless sensor networks using dynamic network reconfiguration

• Commonly used open-source WSN simulator features are compared.
• Simulators are used under various realistic scenarios.
• Results from out-of-the-box performance show fundamental differences.

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) can be used for a variety of tasks. The goal is to sustain such networks for as long as possible while still maintaining acceptable performance on the task. Evaluating WSNs for such diverse tasks precludes actual deployment and thus requires simulation. In this work, we compare simulators that can model power consumption and allow dynamic reconfiguration of network parameters based on feedback from the end application. The simulation results demonstrate some fundamental differences in out-of-the-box performance in terms of the way the simulators behave and calculate power consumption. With modifications to parameters and behavior, however the simulators’ outputs become more closely aligned. Overall, based on our selection criteria, ns-3 was the best WSN simulator of those evaluated for assessing the sustainability of a WSN in a variety of settings.