  The Internet of Drones (IoD) is a networking architecture that stems from the
interplay between Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and wireless communication
technologies. Networked drones can unleash disruptive scenarios in many
application domains. At the same time, to really capitalize their potential,
accurate modeling techniques are required to catch the fine details that
characterize the features and limitations of UAVs, wireless communications, and
networking protocols. To this end, the present contribution proposes the
Internet of Drones Simulator (IoD-Sim), a comprehensive and versatile open
source tool that addresses the many facets of the IoD. IoD-Sim is a Network
Simulator 3 (ns-3)-based simulator organized in a 3-layer stack, composed by
(i) the Underlying Platform, which provides the telecommunication primitives
for different standardized protocol stacks, (ii) the Core, that implements all
the fundamental features of an IoD scenario, and (iii) the Simulation
Development Platform, mainly composed by a set of tools that speeds up the
graphical design for every possible use-case. In order to prove the huge
potential of this proposal, three different scenarios are presented and
analyzed from both a software perspective and a telecommunication standpoint.
The peculiarities of this open-source tool are of interest for researchers in
academia, as they will be able to extend to model upcoming specifications,
including, but not limited to, mobile networks and satellite communications.
Still, it will certainly be of relevance in industry to accelerate the design
phase, thus improving the time-to-market of IoD-based services.
