Study of OLSR for Real-time Media Streaming over 802.11 Wireless Network in Software Emulation Environment

Abstract

In this paper we present a setup to study the real-time traffic carrying performance of optimized Link State Routing (OLSR) protocol using software emulation. We emulate the IEEE 802.11 MAC/PHY using the EMANE software emulator, on a cluster of machines, for different multi-hop wireless scenarios. As an instance of real-world usage scenario, we study the performance of real-time streaming media over a mesh network supported by OLSR. In particular, we study the effect of mobility and background traffic on carried load and jitter. We propose to extend this emulation setup to test the real-time performance of prototype routing protocols such as Stable Path Topology Control (SPTC) and other real-time applications.