TRAILS - A Trace-Based Probabilistic Mobility Model

Abstract

Modeling mobility is a key aspect when simulating different types of networks. To cater to this requirement, a large number of models has emerged in the last years. They are typically (a) trace-based, where GPS recordings are re-run in simulation, (b) synthetic models, which describe mobility with formal methods, or (c) hybrid models, which are synthetic models based on statistically evaluated traces. All these families of models have advantages and disadvantages. For example, trace-based models are very inflexible in terms of simulation scenarios, but have realistic behaviour, while synthetic models are very flexible, but lack realism. In this paper, we propose a new mobility model, called TRAILS (TRAce-based ProbabILiStic Mobility Model), which bridges the gap between these families and combines their advantages into a single model. The main idea is to extract a mobility graph from real traces and to use it in simulation to create scalable, flexible simulation scenarios. We show that TRAILS is more realistic than synthetic models, while achieving full scalability and flexibility. We have implemented and evaluated TRAILS in the OMNeT++ simulation framework.