TopCoF: NS2-based Topology Control Framework for Wireless Ad hoc Networks

Abstract

Topology Control (TC) is the most well known technique used in wireless ad hoc and sensor networks to reduce energy consumption and radio interferences. This technique coordinates the decisions of network nodes about their transmission power to save energy, prolong network lifetime, and mitigate MAC-level medium contention, while maintaining network connectivity. In order to ease the implementation and the study in systematic way of proposed TC protocols and algorithms, in terms of energy usage and network graph properties, we propose a new framework based on NS-2 simulator. The framework is named TopCoF and composed of two main parts. The first one consists of a set of NS-2 extensions to support TC, while the second is a graphical user interface for statistical analysis and visualization of simulation results traced by the first part. TopCoF is modular and generic since it implements a set of basic components used by TC protocols. We illustrate, by an example, how TopCoF facilitates the implementation and performance evaluation of TC