BETA random waypoint mobility model for wireless network simulation

It is widely known that the instantaneous average node speed for the random waypoint (RWP) mobility model may not reach a steady state regime due to velocity gradual decaying which can cause inaccurate results in simulations and communication protocol validations for wireless networks. This paper presents a modification to the RWP model, in which we propose to choose node speeds from a BETA(alpha, beta) distribution, demonstrating analytically and by simulations that depending on the values of alpha and beta parameters the instantaneous average node speed and consequently other important network metrics, like control overhead and number of dropped data packets may reach (or not) a steady state regime. Therefore, by allowing alpha and beta to vary, a multitude of probability distributions for speed choice is obtained and the resulting limiting state behavior for the mobility model can straightforwardly be determined, offering to the research community a generalized BETA random waypoint mobility model. Accordingly, the generic analytical closed form for the instantaneous average node velocity (V) over bar as V-min -> 0 is obtained as a function of alpha and beta to be given by lim(Vmin -> 0) (V) over bar = V-max alpha-1/beta+alpha-1 in which V-min and V-max are the minimum and maximum velocities, respectively, that a node can select. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.