Ns3-Models

ns-3 is a open source network simulator used in education and research communities. In this respect, we, ResiliNets group have been contributing to ns-3 project. The internal ns-3 documentation is here.

Mobility Models

We have developed 3-D Gauss-Markov Mobility Model for ns-3. The code is merged into the ns-3.8 standard release.

Link Layer Models

We have developed TDMA MAC Model for ns-3. The code is currently under review.

MANET Routing Protocols

Mobile ad hoc networks (MANET) are self-configuring wireless networks. We have been modelling and contributing to the ns-3 code base for MANET routing protocols.

DSDV

Destination-Sequenced Distance Vector (DSDV) is a MANET routing protocol. DSDV code has been developed and merged into the ns-3.10 standard release in early January 2011.

DSR

Dynamic Source Routing (DSR) is another MANET routing protocol that is development. It has been merged in ns-3.15.

Application Protocols

HTTP

We are working on modelling Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) for ns-3. The HTTP Code is currently under review.

Transport Protocols

TCP Westwood(+)

TCP Westwood and Westwood+ are the two modifications of TCP Reno that employ the AIAD (Additive Increase/Adaptive Decrease) congestion control paradigm. They try to estimate the network's bandwidth using the received ACKs and use the estimated bandwidth value to adjust the congestion window after a loss occurs. The difference between Westwood and Westwood+ is their bandwidth sampling interval. Westwood samples the bandwidth every ACK reception while Westwood+ performs the sampling every RTT. The Westwood Code is currently under review.

TCP SACK

Under development

TCP Vegas

Under development

SCPS-TP

Under development

Topology Framework

We developed an ns-3 script to read external adjacency matrix and node coordinates files, and set-up the network accordingly. The sample code is under review by the developers. Merged into the development tree on 20 October 2010.

Simulation Tools

Developed a mobility analyser Mobilyzer for GUI support in MATLAB to be used in ns-3.

Cross-Layer Framework for the ns-2 Simulator

Old modifications of ns-2 to support cross-layer optimisations.

Presentations and Publications

Papers

Siddharth Gangadhar, Nguyễn Ngọc Trúc Anh, Greeshma Umapathi, and James P.G. Sterbenz,
“TCP Westwood Protocol Implementation in ns-3”,
ICST SIMUTools Workshop on ns-3 (WNS3),
Cannes, France, March 2013.
BibTeX

Keywords: TCP Westwood implementation; TCP; transport protocols; ns-3; TCP Tahoe; TCP Reno; TCP NewReno; performance evaluation

Abstract: “The poor performance of conventional TCP protocols in error prone channels is a well studied issue. Numerous optimizations to the conventional TCP protocol to address this problem have been proposed. TCP Westwood is one such protocol engineered for use in wireless networks and employs a novel bandwidth estimation algorithm to determine the amount of data sent into the network in the presence of packet drops. In this paper, we present the implementation of the TCP Westwood and Westwood+ protocols in ns-3 and compare them against other existing ns-3 TCP implementations, TCP Tahoe, TCP Reno, and TCP NewReno. We validate our implementation by comparing performance of our implementation to the original work that introduced the Westwood protocols. In addition to validation, this paper also contributes as a performance evaluation of all existing ns-3 TCP protocols over selected network conditions.”

Yufei Cheng, Egemen K. Çetinkaya, and James P.G. Sterbenz,
“Transactional Traffic Generator Implementation in ns-3”,
ICST SIMUTools Workshop on ns-3 (WNS3),
Cannes, France, March 2013.
BibTeX

Keywords: HTTP implementation; traffic distributions; simulation; ns-3; Internet traffic

Abstract: “Traffic generators have been essential for representing real-world traffic in network simulation studies. Furthermore, Internet-like traffic is a necessity when analysing the impact of different kinds of traffic on the network. In this paper, we present the implementation detail of our HTTP traffic generator in the ns-3 network simulator. It is able to generate Internet-like as well as user-defined HTTP traffic. We further verify the correctness of traffic distribution function generation module as well as the transaction handling mechanisms in this model. Based on different network characteristics from previous work, we are able to generate similar simulation results and carry out more detailed HTTP simulations. ”

Yufei Cheng 成宇飞, Egemen K. Çetinkaya, and James P.G. Sterbenz,
“Dynamic Source Routing (DSR) Protocol Implementation in ns-3”,
ICST SIMUTools Workshop on ns-3 (WNS3),
Sirmione, Italy, March 2012.
BibTeX

Keywords: DSR implementation, MANET, mobile ad hoc routing protocol, ns-3, AODV, DSDV, OLSR

Abstract: “Routing protocols are essential to the performance of wireless networks especially in mobile ad-hoc scenarios. The development of new routing protocols requires comparing them against well-known protocols in various simulation environments. In this paper, we present an overview of the well-known MANET routing protocols and the implementation details of the DSR routing protocol in the ns-3 network simulator. We verify DSR routing performance under various scenarios and compare its performance against other protocols implemented in ns-3: AODV, DSDV, and OLSR. Our results show that the performance of DSR shares similar characteristics with AODV yet has slightly higher overall performance results in terms of the routing metrics we use.”

Hemanth Narra, Yufei Cheng 成宇飞, Egemen K. Çetinkaya, Justin P. Rohrer, and James P.G. Sterbenz,
“Destination-Sequenced Distance Vector (DSDV) Routing Protocol Implementation in ns-3”,
ICST SIMUTools Workshop on ns-3 (WNS3),
Barcelona, Spain, March 2011, pp. 439–446.
BibTeX

Keywords: DSDV, ns-3, DSDV model implementation, MANET routing protocol, ns-3 simulation methodology, AODV, OLSR

Abstract: “Routing protocols are a critical aspect to performance in mobile wireless networks. The development of new protocols requires testing against well-known protocols in various simulation environments. In this paper we present an overview of several well-known MANET routing protocols and the implementation details of the DSDV routing protocol in the ns-3 network simulator. We analyse DSDV routing performance under various scenarios and compare its performance with the other protocols implemented in ns-3, AODV and OLSR. Our results verify the implementation of DSDV and show performance comparable to that of OLSR.”

Dan Broyles, Abdul Jabbar, and James P.G. Sterbenz,
“Design and Analysis of a 3-D Gauss-Markov Mobility Model for Highly Dynamic Airborne Networks”,
International Telemetering Conference (ITC) 2010,
San Diego, CA October 2010.
BibTeX

Keywords: mobile wireless airborne telemetry communication network, 3-D Gauss-Markov Mobility Model

Abstract: “Accurate mobility models are needed to simulate the physical movement of nodes in a highly-dynamic aeronautical network. The fundamental problem with many synthetic mobility models is their random, memoryless behavior. Airborne ad hoc networks require a flexible memory-based 3-dimensional mobility model. We present a new 3-dimensional implementation of the Gauss-Markov mobility model for airborne telemetry network simulations, and compare its behavior to memoryless models such as random waypoint and random walk using the ns-3 simulator.”

Kevin Peters, Egemen K. Çetinkaya, Abdul Jabbar, and James P.G. Sterbenz,
“Analysis of a Geolocation-Assisted Routing Protocol for Airborne Telemetry Networks”,
International Telemetering Conference (ITC) 2010,
San Diego, CA October 2010.
BibTeX

Keywords: mobile wireless airborne telemetry communication network, delay-tolerant routing

Abstract: “Emerging networked telemetry systems require domain-specific routing protocols, such as AeroRP, to cope with the challenges faced by the aeronautical environment. We present an ns-3 based performance analysis of the geolocation-based forwarding and store-and-haul mechanisms used by AeroRP. The analysis of the simulations shows AeroRP has several advantages over other MANET routing protocols and offers tradeoffs for different performance metrics in the form of different AeroRP modes.”

Kamakshi Sirisha Pathapati, Justin P. Rohrer, and James P.G. Sterbenz,
“End-to-End ARQ: Transport-Layer Reliability for Airborne Telemetry Networks”,
International Telemetering Conference (ITC) 2010,
San Diego, CA October 2010.
BibTeX

Keywords: mobile wireless airborne telemetry communication network, AeroTP disruption-tolerant E2E end-to-end transport protocol, resilient, survivable

Abstract: “Due to the mission-critical nature of command-and-control traffic in the telemetry environment, it is imperative that reliable transfer be supported. The AeroTP disruption-tolerant transport protocol is intended for this environment. The mechanism for reliable transfer is ARQ with end-to-end acknowledgments. This has significant performance limitations resulting from the highly-dynamic nature of airborne telemetry networks, since end-to-end paths may not persist long enough for retransmissions to be received. We use ns-3 to analyze the AeroTP ARQ mechanism, along with tunable parameters that may improve performance in reliable transfer mode.”

Egemen K. Çetinkaya, Dan Broyles, Amit Dandekar, Sripriya Srinivasan, and James P.G. Sterbenz Джеймс Ф.Г. Штербэнз,
“Modelling Communication Network Challenges for Future Internet Resilience, Survivability, and Disruption Tolerance: A Simulation-Based Approach”,
Springer Telecommunication Systems Journal,
(online September 2011)
BibTeX

Keywords: Internet resilience, survivability, disruption tolerance, dependability and performability, reliability and availability; ns-3 simulation; failure analysis; challenge modeling; threats and vulnerabilities; network logical and physical topology; correlated failures

Abstract: “Communication networks play a vital role in our daily lives and they have become a critical infrastructure. However, networks in general, and the Internet in particular face a number of challenges to normal operation, including attacks and large-scale disasters, as well as due to mobility and the characteristics of wireless communication channels. Understanding network challenges and their impact can help us to optimise existing networks and improve the design of future networks; therefore it is imperative to have a framework and methodology to study them. In this paper, we present a framework to evaluate network dependability and performability in the face of challenges. We use a simulation-based approach to analyse the effects of perturbations to normal operation of networks. We analyse Sprint logical and physical topologies, synthetically generated topologies, and present a wireless example to demonstrate a wide spectrum of challenges. This framework can simulate challenges on logical or physical topologies with realistic node coordinates using the ns-3 discrete event simulator. The framework models failures, which can be static or dynamic that can temporally and spatially evolve. We show that the impact of network challenges depends on the duration, the number of network elements in a challenge area, and the importance of the nodes in a challenge area. We also show the differences between modelling the logical router-level and physical topologies. Finally, we discuss mitigation strategies to alleviate the impact of challenges.”

Egemen K. Çetinkaya, Dan Broyles, Amit Dandekar, Sripriya Srinivasan, and James P.G. Sterbenz Джеймс Ф.Г. Стербэнз,
“A Comprehensive Framework to Simulate Network Attacks and Challenges”,
IEEE Second International Workshop on Reliable Networks Design and Modeling (RNDM'10),
Moscow, Russia, October 2010, pp. 538–544.
BibTeX

Keywords: Internet resilience, survivability, dependability, performability; challenge, attack, disaster, correlated failure; network topology, critical infrastructure; ns-3 simulation, modelling

Abstract: “Communication networks have evolved tremendously over the past several decades, offering a multitude of services while becoming an essential critical infrastructure in our daily lives. Networks in general, and the Internet in particular face a number of challenges to normal operation, including attacks and large-scale disasters, as well as due to the characteristics of the mobile wireless communication environment. It is therefore vital to have a framework and methodology for understanding the impact of challenges to harden current networks and improve the design of future networks. In this paper, we present a framework to evaluate network dependability and performability in the face of challenges. This framework uses ns-3 simulation as the methodology for analysis of the effects of perturbations to normal operation of the networks, with a challenge specification applied to the network topology. This framework can simulate both static and dynamic challenges based on the failure or wireless-impairment of individual components, as well as modelling geographically-correlated failures. We demonstrate this framework with the Sprint Rocketfuel and synthetically generated topologies as well as a wireless example, to show that this framework can provide valuable insight for the analysis and design of resilient networks.”

Presentations

Dan Broyles, Abdul Jabbar, Egemen K. Çetinkaya, and James P.G. Sterbenz,
3-D Gauss Markov Mobility Model for Mobile Airborne Networks,
ITTC IAB poster, The University of Kansas, June 2010.

Justin P. Rohrer, Kamakshi Sirisha Pathapati, and James P.G. Sterbenz,
AeroTP: Disruption-Tolerant Airborne Transport Protocol,
ITTC IAB poster, The University of Kansas, June 2010.

Kevin Peters, Abdul Jabbar, Egemen K. Çetinkaya, Justin P. Rohrer, and James P.G. Sterbenz,
Geographic Routing in a Highly-Mobile Airborne Network,
ITTC IAB poster, The University of Kansas, June 2010.

Egemen K. Çetinkaya, Dan Broyles, Amit Dandekar, Sripriya Srinivasan, and James P.G. Sterbenz,
Challenge Simulation Module for Evaluating Resilience,
ITTC IAB poster, The University of Kansas, June 2010.

Yufei Cheng, Hemanth Narra, Abdul Jabbar, and James P.G. Sterbenz,
“Implementation of MANET Routing Protocols for ns-3”,
ITTC IAB poster, The University of Kansas, June 2010.

People

Graduate Research Assistants

Justin P. Rohrer*: Technical lead for ns-3 models
Egemen K. Çetinkaya*: Topology framework for ns-3 development
Abdul Jabbar*: Mobility animator development
Dan Broyles*: 3-D Gaus-Markov Mobility Model development
Kevin Peters*: Routing protocol development
Hemanth Narra*: DSDV and TDMA MAC protocol development
Yufei Cheng*: DSR and HTTP protocol development
Kamakshi Sirisha Pathapati*: Error-correction for transport layer
Steven Simpson^†: Cross-layering in ns-3

Principal Investigators

James P.G. Sterbenz* (PI)

 *The University of Kansas – ^†Lancaster University

Sponsors

This work funded in part by NSF FIND program