How to implement group mobilityin ns-3 using python

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Esra Zeynep Şenel

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Dec 21, 2025, 9:18:28 AM (3 days ago) Dec 21

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Hello everyone,

I am currently working on FANET (UAV ad hoc network) simulations in ns-3 using the Python bindings, and I am facing some difficulties regarding group mobility modeling.

From the official ns-3 documentation, I could only find one reference example for group mobility, which uses Reference Point Group Mobility (RPGM) via GroupMobilityHelper and a parent–child mobility setup (leader with WaypointMobilityModel, members with RandomWalk2dMobilityModel). Apart from this example, I could not find many Python-based examples or best practices for implementing group mobility.

My questions are:

Is RPGM the only officially supported group mobility approach in ns-3, or are there other recommended ways to model group/formation mobility (e.g., nomadic community, column/line formations, pursue-like behavior) using the Python bindings?
In practice, do most users approximate different group mobility models by parameterizing RPGM (e.g., changing member bounds, fixed offsets, leader trajectories), or is there another mechanism I may be missing?
Are there any Python examples, tutorials, or user-contributed code for group mobility beyond the single C++ example in the documentation?

My goal is to simulate coordinated UAV group movement (multiple groups, leader–follower behavior) while keeping the setup simple and reproducible in Python. Any guidance on recommended patterns or references would be greatly appreciated.