System and Method for Visually Creating, Editing, Manipulating, Verifying, and/or Animating Desired Topologies of a Mobile Ad Hoc Network and/or for Generating Mobility-Pattern Data

A method for creating topologies for a mobile network comprising:

• generating at least two nodes representing transmitters and/or receivers in the network;
• each of said at least two nodes having parameters including a location, and whether or not the node is capable of receiving or transmitting;
• generating a bidirectional link for connection between two nodes when both nodes are capable of receiving and transmitting;
• generating a unidirectional link for connection between first and second nodes when there exists the capability for the first node to transmit and the second node to receive, but there is no capability to communicate from the second node to the first;
• storing the topology of the network in memory;
• generating at least a second topology by changing the number of nodes and/or locations of the nodes within the network;
• repeating the steps of generating bidirectional and unidirectional links for the at least one new topology;
• storing the at least one new topology in memory;
• whereby the stored topologies are adapted to be inputted into a system capable of emulating a mobile ad-hoc network.

A program storage device readable by computer comprising a program of instructions executable by said computer to perform a method of visually designing a desired topology of a mobile ad-hoc network from which a desired mobility-pattern is derived, said method comprising:

• graphically designing a dynamic topology of said ad-hoc network comprising node components, wherein the graphical design of said dynamic topology comprises producing iconographic animation that is generated and displayed on a graphical user input (GUI) display upon creation, wherein said node components comprise positional data;
• generating concurrent mobility-pattern data corresponding to the designed dynamic topology;
• and
• manipulating said mobility-pattern data using said iconographic animation by interacting directly with said GUI display.

A method for creating topologies for a virtual mobile network comprising:

• inputting location information for at least two nodes representing transmitters and/or receivers in the network;
• each of said at least two nodes having parameters including a location, a receiving range if the node is capable of receiving;
• and a transmission range if the node is capable of transmitting;
• determining the distance between the nodes based upon the locations of each node;
• generating a bidirectional link for connection between two nodes when the distance between the nodes is within the transmission and receiving ranges of both nodes;
• generating a unidirectional link for connection between the nodes when the distance between the nodes is only within the transmission range of a first node and the receiving range of a second node but when there is no capability to communicate from the second node to the first;
• storing the topology of the network in memory.