Low-cost wireless testbed for Internet of Things ad hoc networks prototyping and evaluation

There is a distinct gap in IoT research between simulation and implementation of new networking protocols. While simulations allow fast validation of new ideas, it is not until implemented into a real system that a novel protocol gains tracking. We build an ad hoc network system to enable energy aware protocol testing in real devices with reusable code. We demonstrate how to use low-cost components with open-source libraries to implement the system. We implemented models to allow the energy-awareness using a network simulator, and experiments to compare different routing protocols through indoor and outdoor experiments, showing the feasibility of the system.