Abstract: As a good network simulation platform coming into vogue, OMNET++ lacks the consideration for video characteristics at application layer. Therefore,it can not evaluate the performance of protocols of wireless Ad hoc networks well under multimedia application requirements. In order to overcome this disadvantage, a new hybrid simulation method based on the combination of OMNET++and H. 264 codec was proposed in the paper. In the proposed simulation method, H. 264 encoder is used as the data source for OMNET++，and H. 264 decoder serves as the evaluator for video transmission quality. Based on the proposed method, we simulated the video transmission over wireless Ad hoc networks, and evaluated the performance of IEEE802. 11 MAC protocol. Simulations show that the proposed hybrid simulation method can provide good evaluation for the design and improvement of protocols and algorithms in wireless Ad hoc networks.

Key words: Wireless Ad hoc network, Video codec, Hybrid simulation, Network protocol