Trace-Based Mobile Network Emulation

Subjecting a mobile computing system to wireless network conditions that are realistic yet reproducible is a challenging problem. In this paper, we describe a technique called trace modulation that re-creates the observed end-to-end characteristics of a real wireless network in a controlled and repeatable manner. Trace modulation is transparent to applications and accounts for all network traffic sent or received by the system under test. We present results that show that it is indeed capable of reproducing wireless network performance faithfully. 1 Introduction How does one subject a mobile computing system to realistic yet reproducible wireless networking conditions? Reproducible behavior is important for three reasons. First, it is essential for thorough evaluation of the performance of a mobile computing system. Second, it is necessary for comparative evaluations of alternative system designs. Third, it is valuable in debugging mobile systems because it enables the re-creation of..