TACSim: An Extendable Simulator for Task Allocation Mechanisms in CrowdSensing
Christine Bassem · 2023
In participatory Mobile CrowdSensing, tasks are allocated to participants via some allocation mechanism, which are challenging in terms of their evaluation due to the lack of general-purpose, modular, and extendable simulators. Thus, forcing researchers to either launch their own testbeds or develop single-purpose simulators.In this paper, we present our design and implementation of an extendable simulator, namely TACSim, for the evaluation of task allocation mechanisms in a participatory MCS setting over realistic urban environments. TACSim is designed to accommodate realistic urban road networks, as well as spatio-temporal traces of sensing tasks and participant mobility. It includes built-in autonomous task allocation mechanisms, and can be extended by researchers to accommodate their own algorithms with minimal effort. We discuss the components and architecture of the simulator, and present a use-case of integrating existing autonomous task allocation mechanisms that further exemplifies the usability and extendability of the simulator.