MobiLab: A Testbed for Evaluating Mobility Management Protocols in Wireless Sensor Networks

Wireless sensor networks that support the mobility of nodes are finding applications in different areas such as healthcare, elderly care, and rehabilitation from total knee and hip replacement. However, these application areas also require reliable and high throughput networks. Considering the high fluctuation of link quality during mobility, protocols supporting mobile wireless sensor nodes should be rigorously tested to ensure that they produce predictable outcomes. In this paper we present a wireless sensor network testbed for carrying out repeated and reproducible experiments, independent of the application or protocol types which should be tested. The testbed consists of, among others, a server side control station and a client side traffic flow controller which coordinate inter- and intra-experiment activities. We fully implemented the testbed for the TinyOS and TelosB platforms. We employed Diddyborg robots for emulating different types of movement in indoor and outdoor environments. The paper includes also an extensive evaluation of the testbed and the performance of two mobility-aware MAC protocols.