A Survey of LoRaWAN Simulation Tools in ns-3

Abstract

The Internet of Things (IoT) paradigm gains more importance each day, as the number and variety of connected devices grows. To answer the specific needs of IoT, many wireless network standards have been developed. An example is the LoRaWide Area Network (LoRaWAN), which has gained popularity thanks to the affordable costs of its devices and gateways, as well as wide range, low energy consumption and flexibility. Considering the challenges that exist with testing and researching on real LoRaWAN systems, the development of accurate network simulators is invaluable. Therefore, this work presents a survey of the available tools for simulating LoRa networks in ns-3 network simulator. We present how those simulators were implemented and their main features and limitations. We also showcase how those simulators are being used in the literature to evaluate the performance of LoRA networks. Finally, we compare the module so highlight what scenarios each of them is more suited for.