TACSim: An Extendable Simulator for Task Allocation Mechanisms in CrowdSensing

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.