Testing agent-based mobile computing applications using distributed simulations

The attractiveness of computing services that are available anywhere and anytime has given rise to an intense research and development of mobile computing applications. However, there is a great pressure over providers of wireless data services to be the first in providing a new service. This leads to the need of a mechanism that allows developers to test their prototypes in a timely and non-expensive fashion, what excludes the possibility of performing real tests. In this paper we present a simulation framework for evaluating data services designed for wireless environments. Our approach, based on mobile agents, allows to perform distributed simulations of mobile networks composed of moving objects and proxies. We focus on the problems that arise to simulate moving objects that execute multiagent applications. Finally, we show the usefulness of our solution by testing a sample application.