Understanding user mobility is critical for simulations of mobile devices in a wireless network, but current mobility models often do not reflect real user movements. In this paper, we provide a foundation for such work by exploring mobility characteristics in traces of mobile users. We present a method to estimate the physical location of users from a large trace of mobile devices associating with access points in a wireless network. Using this method, we extracted tracks of always-on Wi-Fi devices from a 13-month trace. We discovered that the speed and pause time each follow a log-normal distribution and that the direction of movements closely reflects the direction of roads and walkways. Based on the extracted mobility characteristics, we developed a mobility model, focusing on movements among popular regions. Our validation shows that synthetic tracks match real tracks with a median relative error of 17\%.
%0 Conference Paper
%1 kim2006extracting
%A Kim, Minkyong
%A Kotz, David
%A Kim, Songkuk
%B IEEE International Conference on Computer Communications
%D 2006
%I IEEE
%K diss estimate geo inthesis mobility model spatial traces wlan
%R 10.1109/infocom.2006.173
%T Extracting a Mobility Model from Real User Traces
%U http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/infocom.2006.173
%X Understanding user mobility is critical for simulations of mobile devices in a wireless network, but current mobility models often do not reflect real user movements. In this paper, we provide a foundation for such work by exploring mobility characteristics in traces of mobile users. We present a method to estimate the physical location of users from a large trace of mobile devices associating with access points in a wireless network. Using this method, we extracted tracks of always-on Wi-Fi devices from a 13-month trace. We discovered that the speed and pause time each follow a log-normal distribution and that the direction of movements closely reflects the direction of roads and walkways. Based on the extracted mobility characteristics, we developed a mobility model, focusing on movements among popular regions. Our validation shows that synthetic tracks match real tracks with a median relative error of 17\%.
%@ 1-4244-0221-2
@inproceedings{kim2006extracting,
abstract = {Understanding user mobility is critical for simulations of mobile devices in a wireless network, but current mobility models often do not reflect real user movements. In this paper, we provide a foundation for such work by exploring mobility characteristics in traces of mobile users. We present a method to estimate the physical location of users from a large trace of mobile devices associating with access points in a wireless network. Using this method, we extracted tracks of always-on {Wi-Fi} devices from a 13-month trace. We discovered that the speed and pause time each follow a log-normal distribution and that the direction of movements closely reflects the direction of roads and walkways. Based on the extracted mobility characteristics, we developed a mobility model, focusing on movements among popular regions. Our validation shows that synthetic tracks match real tracks with a median relative error of 17\%.},
added-at = {2017-02-03T11:48:47.000+0100},
author = {Kim, Minkyong and Kotz, David and Kim, Songkuk},
biburl = {https://www.bibsonomy.org/bibtex/251667d58efca6b32c228b980e1771dfe/becker},
booktitle = {IEEE International Conference on Computer Communications},
citeulike-article-id = {2362321},
citeulike-linkout-0 = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/infocom.2006.173},
citeulike-linkout-1 = {http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpls/abs\_all.jsp?arnumber=4146826},
doi = {10.1109/infocom.2006.173},
interhash = {b578c6b2289c82746317c954996f4fef},
intrahash = {51667d58efca6b32c228b980e1771dfe},
isbn = {1-4244-0221-2},
keywords = {diss estimate geo inthesis mobility model spatial traces wlan},
location = {Barcelona, Spain},
month = apr,
posted-at = {2012-04-03 19:56:32},
priority = {2},
publisher = {IEEE},
timestamp = {2017-12-20T18:17:17.000+0100},
title = {Extracting a Mobility Model from Real User Traces},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/infocom.2006.173},
year = 2006
}