Benchmarking data dissemination protocols for opportunistic networks

Abstract

Opportunistic networks rely on intermittent direct contacts between devices to exchange and disseminate information. While the development of data dissemination protocols is still ongoing, their evaluation is particularly challenging and complex. An evaluation usually relies on simulation scenarios and no consensus exists in the community about their setup and parameters. In this paper, we aim to improve the reproducibility and cross-comparability of OppNets data dissemination protocols by defining a benchmark suite with realistic mobility and traffic scenarios, mostly based on real traces. It currently includes 11 scenarios and together with a simulation-as-a-service platform offers a unique tool to foster and ease research in OppNets. First results with sample data dissemination protocols show that no protocol is better than all others in all scenarios, demonstrating the importance of a benchmark.