Simulating Frame-Level Bursty Links in Wireless Networks

In this paper, we propose a stochastic bursty-link model to simulate bursty behavior observed in wireless communications. Our stochastic bursty-link model works at the frame level where the probability of correctly receiving a frame is dependent on the results of previous transmissions. To accomplish this, our model uses a bursty probability adjustment function to adjust the probability of correctly receiving a frame based on the history of the link. When an appropriate trace file is available, our model can directly derive a bursty probability adjustment function from the trace file. When a trace file is not available, our model can simulate different bursty characteristics by selecting a function from a set of ideal bursty probability adjustment functions. We show that our model can simulate different bursty behaviors observed in real wireless links, using both trace file analyses and ideal bursty probability adjustment functions. In addition to studying the ability to simulate bursty behaviors observed in real wireless links, we also study the effect of incorporating bursty behavior into wireless simulations. We show that incorporating bursty behavior into wireless simulation has a significant impact on the performance of a wireless routing protocol.