# Network Diffusion Algorithms and Simulators in IoT and Space IoT: A Systematic Review
## 4 Analysis  
Analysis of Research Question 2 and Research Question 6: Network Simulators in IoT and Space IoT Configurations and Their Performance Evaluation  
Through a comprehensive review of the selected literature from 2013 to 2024, several network simulators were identified as prevalent tools for simulating and studying network diffusion in IoT and Space IoT environments. These simulators vary in terms of capabilities, scalability, extensibility, and suitability for different IoT scenarios. Additionally, their performance was evaluated based on key metrics such as scalability, energy consumption, latency, and packet delivery ratio (PDR). Tables 2 and 3 present an overview of the network simulators, emulators, and extensions used in various studies. These tables categorize the simulators based on the following:  
* The year of publication--Identifying trends in network simulation research. * Simulator or extension name--Listing either the standalone simulator or a new module/extension built upon an existing tool. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c c c} \hline \hline
**N** & **Year** & **Q1** & **Q2** & **Q3** & **Q4** & **Q5** & **Q6** \\ \hline
[9] & 2013 & ✗ & ✓ & ✓ & ✓ & ✗ & ✗ \\
[10] & 2014 & ✓ & ✗ & ✗ & ✓ & ✗ & ✓ \\
[11] & 2014 & ✗ & ✗ & ✓ & ✓ & ✗ & ✓ \\
[12] & 2015 & ✗ & ✗ & ✗ & ✗ & ✗ & ✗ \\
[13] & 2016 & ✗ & ✓ & ✗ & ✓ & ✗ & ✗ \\
[14] & 2017 & ✓ & ✓ & ✓ & ✓ & ✗ & ✓ \\
[15] & 2017 & ✗ & ✓ & ✓ & ✓ & ✗ & ✓ \\
[16] & 2019 & ✓ & ✗ & ✗ & ✗ & ✗ & ✓ \\
[17] & 2020 & ✓ & ✗ & ✗ & ✗ & ✗ & ✓ \\
[18] & 2022 & ✓ & ✗ & ✗ & ✗ & ✗ & ✓ \\
[19] & 2023 & ✓ & ✗ & ✗ & ✓ & ✓ & ✓ \\
[20] & 2024 & ✓ & ✗ & ✗ & ✓ & ✓ & ✓ \\ This paper & 2025 & ✓ & ✓ & ✓ & ✓ & ✓ & ✓ \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 1: Comparison of surveys on diffusion algorithms and simulators. * Base simulation platform--Showing whether a simulator is standalone or built as an extension of existing tools such as NS-3, OMNeT++, or Cooja. The inclusion of these tables provides insight into the evolution of IoT network simulation, helping researchers select the most suitable simulation tools based on their specific research requirements. The wide range of simulators listed demonstrates the growing need for customizable, scalable, and domain-specific network modeling solutions in both traditional IoT and Space IoT configurations. The most commonly employed network simulators include the following:  
* NS-3;
* Cooja (with Contiki OS);
* OMNeT++. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c} \hline \hline
**N** & **Year** & **New: Emulator, Simulator, or Module** & **Base Simulator** \\ \hline \hline
[21] & 2013 & High-level sensor simulator \\ \hline
[22] & 2013 & IoT-LAB \\ \hline
[23] & 2013 & SMSim \\ \hline
[24] & 2013 & New RFID module & NS-2 \\ \hline
[25] & 2013 & EstiNet \\ \hline
[26] & 2013 & Nano-Sim & NS-3 \\ \hline
[27] & 2013 & NS-3 \\ \hline
[28] & 2014 & Extension & DEUS, NS-3, Cooja \\ \hline
[29] & 2014 & Extension & Cooja, Contiki \\ \hline
[30] & 2014 & Extension & NS-3 \\ \hline
[31] & 2014 & Extension & Qualnet simulation platform \\ \hline
[32] & 2014 & SimuLTE & OMNeT++ \\ \hline
[9] & 2014 & Multi \\ \hline
[33] & 2015 & Semantic Sensor Simulator \\ \hline
[34] & 2015 & NetSim \\ \hline
[6] & 2015 & & Cooja, Contiki \\ \hline
[35] & 2015 & MmWave Module & NS-3 \\ \hline
[36] & 2015 & & SenseSim \\ \hline
[37] & 2016 & CupCarbon \\ \hline
[38] & 2016 & MobloTSim \\ \hline
[4] & 2016 & Extension & NS-3 \\ \hline
[39] & 2016 & ASSIST \\ \hline
[40] & 2017 & iFogSim \\ \hline
[41] & 2017 & Simulation Engine \\ \hline
[42] & 2017 & Algo Extension & Cytoscape \\ \hline
[14] & 2017 & Multi \\ \hline
[43] & 2017 & IOTSim & Cloudsim \\ \hline
[44] & 2017 & LoRaSIM \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 2: Simulators, emulators, and extensions used in IoT and Space IoT (Part 1).