[Avrora] Link between RF output power level and transmission range

[Vincent Gay]

Hi all,

when trying to get familiar with Avrora, I have found something confusing
with respect to the transmitting power which does not seem to impact on the
receiving range.

Here is what I have tested:
- RadioCountToLeds application from TOS2.1 compiled with minimum and maximum
power levels (I've modified the Makefile to add this line: *CFLAGS +=
-DCC2420_DEF_RFPOWER=3 or 31*)

- I run Avrora with 2 nodes and the binary renamed as .elf file
*java -jar ./jars/avrora-1.7.111.jar -config-file=./config.txt rctl.elf *

where config.txt is as follows and includes the line.top from the CVS:
* colors=true
 banner=false
 platform=micaz
 update-node-id=true
 topology=static
 topology-file=./topology/line.top
 monitors=packet,energy
 report-seconds
 seconds-precision=2
 seconds=10.0
 simulation=sensor-network
 nodecount=2*

In the topology file, I have tuned the position of the 2nd node (i.e.,
node1) trying to increase the x coordinate. From the packet monitoring
output, I'm surprised to have exactly the same number of received packets
when increasing the distance between the nodes, no matter what is the power
level. Actually, above 15m distance, all packets are lost. And below 15m,
all are received, regardless of the power level.

Of course, I would have expected to have some threshold spacing distances
that depend on the transmitting power.
Can someone tell me what I have missed?

Thanks and regards,
Vincent
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