What are emulate and the macfilter used for?
emulate and macfilter are for use in emulating the connection patterns of a physical ad hoc network. We use it for in-lab debugging and regression testing of our implementation of DSR. In order to use it you need real machines with real interfaces running a kernel with a real implementation of the ad hoc routing protocol. As described in the ad-hockey docs, it allows you to draw a movement pattern on the screen with ad-hockey, and then cause the machines to behave as though they had radio connectivity as you drew on the screen, even though they are all in physical radio range of each other. There is some more information in the ad-hockey User’s Guide.
