[Paper Review] Internet of Drones Simulator: Design, Implementation, and Performance Evaluation

G. M. Grieco, Giovanni Iacovelli+2 more|arXiv (Cornell University)|Mar 25, 2022

UAV Applications and Optimization28 references24 citations

TL;DR

This paper presents IoD-Sim, an open-source, ns-3-based simulator for the Internet of Drones (IoD) that enables comprehensive modeling of drone mobility, wireless networking, and application-level interactions. It features a 3-layer architecture—Underlying Platform, Core, and Simulation Development Platform—supporting multi-protocol communication, trajectory planning, and realistic channel models, with performance evaluation showing up to 5x simulation speedup and low packet loss in complex scenarios with relay drones.

ABSTRACT

The Internet of Drones (IoD) is a networking architecture that stems from the interplay between Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and wireless communication technologies. Networked drones can unleash disruptive scenarios in many application domains. At the same time, to really capitalize their potential, accurate modeling techniques are required to catch the fine details that characterize the features and limitations of UAVs, wireless communications, and networking protocols. To this end, the present contribution proposes the Internet of Drones Simulator (IoD-Sim), a comprehensive and versatile open source tool that addresses the many facets of the IoD. IoD-Sim is a Network Simulator 3 (ns-3)-based simulator organized in a 3-layer stack, composed by (i) the Underlying Platform, which provides the telecommunication primitives for different standardized protocol stacks, (ii) the Core, that implements all the fundamental features of an IoD scenario, and (iii) the Simulation Development Platform, mainly composed by a set of tools that speeds up the graphical design for every possible use-case. In order to prove the huge potential of this proposal, three different scenarios are presented and analyzed from both a software perspective and a telecommunication standpoint. The peculiarities of this open-source tool are of interest for researchers in academia, as they will be able to extend to model upcoming specifications, including, but not limited to, mobile networks and satellite communications. Still, it will certainly be of relevance in industry to accelerate the design phase, thus improving the time-to-market of IoD-based services.

Motivation & Objective

• To address the lack of comprehensive, extensible, and open-source simulation tools for modeling complex IoD systems with realistic networking and mobility features.
• To enable researchers and engineers to simulate diverse IoD applications, including swarm coordination, relay communication, and hybrid 5G/Wi-Fi networking.
• To support the design and evaluation of future IoD services by providing a modular, extensible, and user-friendly simulation framework.
• To accelerate time-to-market for industrial IoD applications through accurate, scalable, and reproducible simulation.

Proposed method

• IoD-Sim is built on ns-3 and organized into a 3-layer architecture: the Underlying Platform for numerical computation, the Core for IoD-specific features, and the Simulation Development Platform for high-level scenario design.
• The Core implements drone mobility models, energy consumption models, and support for multiple wireless standards including Wi-Fi, LTE, and 5G-NR via protocol stack integration.
• A visual programming editor enables graphical mission design, trajectory planning, and real-time simulation monitoring with human- and machine-readable output.
• The simulator supports hybrid communication scenarios with both terrestrial (ZSP) and aerial (drone) relays, using realistic path loss and shadowing models.
• It integrates application-level models such as drone-to-ground user (GU) data transmission, with custom applications for remote control and data logging.
• Performance evaluation uses event-based metrics and simulation speedup ratios to assess scalability and efficiency across diverse IoD scenarios.

Experimental results

Research questions

• RQ1 How can a modular, open-source simulator be designed to support the full stack of IoD system modeling, from mobility and communication to application logic?
• RQ2 What is the performance impact of using drone relays in hybrid Wi-Fi/LTE networks on key performance indicators like PLR, latency, and throughput?
• RQ3 How does the choice of wireless technology (e.g., Wi-Fi vs. LTE) affect simulation complexity and execution efficiency in large-scale IoD scenarios?
• RQ4 To what extent can the simulator support future IoD standards such as 5G-NR, satellite communications, and MAVlink-based control?
• RQ5 How effective is the visual simulation development platform in improving usability and reducing development time for complex IoD mission design?

Key findings

• In a relay-based LTE scenario, the average end-to-end latency was reduced to approximately 25ms, significantly improving QoS compared to non-relay configurations.
• The use of drone relays reduced the average Packet Loss Ratio (PLR) from 100% for distant ground users to around 10% in cluster #2 and #3, demonstrating effective network coverage extension.
• The simulation of Scenario #3 with both Wi-Fi and LTE achieved a simulation speedup of 0.35x, with 28.9 million events processed in 2,858 seconds of real time.
• The number of events per second was higher in the Wi-Fi-only scenario (104 events/sec) than in LTE-only (103 events/sec), but the overall simulation complexity was lower in LTE-based scenarios due to fewer generated events.
• The simulator demonstrated scalability, handling up to 37 million events in a single simulation (Scenario #3 with LTE), with a real-time execution time of 4,620 seconds.
• The visual simulation development platform enabled efficient mission configuration and result analysis, significantly improving user experience and reducing development overhead.