An Evaluation of the Impact of Models for Radio Propagation on the Simulation of 802.11b Wireless Networks

Working with an existing wireless network simulator, we describe the addition of both a method for modeling arbitrary terrain, and for calculating signal attenuation with the Irregular Terrain Model (ITM). We also investigate ITM\u27s effects on upper protocol layer in comparison to the Two-Ray Ground Reflection model. Upon examination, it was found that aside from the terrain between the transmitter and receiver, ITM\u27s various parameters are of little significance in the computed signal attenuation. Further, examination of the behavior of the upper protocol layers revealed that at high traffic levels, choice of propagation model can have significant effects on the results of the simulation