Simulation Models

The INET Framework is the best place to begin when you want to simulate any of the protocols, technologies and applications used on the Internet and other WANs.

It consists of cleanly programmed and well-commented models that lend themselves to experimentation with protocols and various architectures. Existing protocol models can be freely combined to form hosts and network devices. INET also has support for emulation, real-time (RT) and hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) simulation.

The INET Framework contains models for network layer protocols (IPv4, IPv6 and their families), transport protocols (TCP, UDP, SCTP, RTP), LANs and other wired networks (Ethernet, PPP), wireless protocols (IEEE 802.11a/b/g and extensions), mobility support, applications (file transfer, web, voice, CBR/VBR source, etc.), static network configuration, routing (RIP, OSPF, BGP, etc.), multicast (IGMP), mobile IPv6 (MIPv6), ad-hoc routing protocols (AODV, BATMAN, DSDV, DSR, OLSR, DYMO, BATMAN, etc.), differential services (aka DiffServ), label switching (MPLS, RSVP/TE, LDP, etc.), and more. See the Protocol Matrix on the INET Framework web site for details.

Several simulation frameworks take INET as a base, and extend it into various directions:

• OverSim is an overlay and peer-to-peer network simulation framework. The simulator contains several models for structured (e.g. Chord, Kademlia, Pastry) and unstructured (e.g. GIA) P2P systems and overlay protocols.
• DenaCast is a framework for the simulation of peer-to-peer video streaming, itself based on OverSim
• ANSA is a project for automated analysis of security properties of networks. They have implemented several protocols for INET: IS-IS, OSPFv3, RIPng, PIM-DM, MLDv1, MLDv2, TRILL, VLAN, STP and possibly others
• ReaSE is a framework for creating realistic network simulation environments. ReaSE covers topology generation (AS-level as well as router-level), generation of self-similar background traffic, and generation of attack traffic (e.g. DDoS)
• HIPSim++ is a Host Identity Protocol (HIP) simulation framework, developed for the testing and validation of HIP and its extensions
• mCoA++ (github) extends the Mobile IPv6 implementation in INET with Multiple Care-of Addresses support (RFC 5648)
• EBitSim is an enhanced BitTorrent simulation with multiple concurrent swarms, multiple trackers and a timeslice processing model
• Quagga is a port of the Quagga open-source routing suite into the INET Framework
• many of the models listed in further sections are also INET-based
• etc. (search github or the web)

Several packages, e.g. xMIPv6, VoIPTool and HTTPTools, used to be separate projects but have been integrated into INET since.

The best choice for simulating LANs with OMNEST is the INET Framework. The INET Framework contains models for Ethernet (including Fast Ethernet, Gigabit Ethernet, 40 and 100 Gigabit Ethernet, duplex and half-duplex), IEEE 802.11 as well as network devices built from them (switch, access point, etc.)

More support for switched networks, including VLAN, Spanning-Tree Protocol (STP) and Rapid Spanning-Tree Protocol (RSTP), is available from INETMANET (see below).

A WiMAX model is available as part of the Numbat project. However, one drawback of Numbat is its limited interoperability with the INET Framework.

The best choice for simulating mobile ad-hoc networks (MANETs) with OMNEST is the INET Framework.

An alternative is MiXiM (old site), which contains a much more detailed physical layer model but has no models for the upper layers of the protocol stack. If you need both a detailed physical model and detailed upper layers, you can use INET and MiXiM together. As for the future, we plan to integrate MiXiM into the INET Framework; the result of this work can be expected to be released before the end of 2013.

The INET Framework also has a fork called INETMANET, which is a superset of INET with many experimental (sometimes very experimental) MANET-related additions.

If you need to simulate Personal Area Networks (PANs), Body Area Networks (BANs), or other networks of low-power embedded devices, Castalia may also be suitable for you. Castalia includes realistic wireless channel and radio models, with a realistic node behaviour especially relating to access of the radio.

Other models, including the Mobility Framework (MF), should be considered obsolete.

There are currently three good choices for the simulation of wireless sensor networks (WSNs) with OMNEST: The INET Framework, MiXiM (see above) and Castalia (see above). The INET Framework is currently missing a battery model, which may or may not be a problem for your project.

Other frameworks like PAWiS or LSU Sensor Simulator (SenSim) should be considered obsolete.

If your work involves TinyOS, the tool called NesCT might be of interest to you. NesCT is a programming language translator that uses NesC programming language as an input, and produces OMNeT++ simulation code from it.

The recommended framework for simulating vehicular (i.e. inter-vehicle) networks is Veins, which combines a MiXiM-based network simulator with the SUMO road traffic simulator.

An alternative to Veins is VNS (Vehicular Networks Simulator).

However, vehicular networks are essentially mobile ad-hoc networks, so you may also make use of other model frameworks capable of simulating MANETs (see above).

Protocols used in cars (automotive networks: CAN, LIN, DC-Bus, FlexRay, MOST, TTEthernet, etc.) and in aircraft (avionics networks like AFDX) belong here. Currently a TTEthernet model named TT4INET is available; it is based on the INET Framework.

The release of other protocol models, including Ethernet Audio-Video Bridging (AVB) can also be expected.

There are currently two model frameworks for next-generation cellular networks (3GPP/4G/LTE): SimuLTE and 4Gsim, both based on the INET Framework. On the long term, we would like the two LTE frameworks to converge.

For the simulation of satellite communication systems, you can make use of OS³, the Open Source Satellite Simulator. The goal of the OS³ project was to make evaluating satellite communication protocols as easy as possible. OS³ can also automatically import real satellite tracks and weather data to simulate conditions at a certain point in the past or in the future, and offers powerful visualization. OS³ extends the INET Framework.

INET-HNRL provides models for network systems, components, and protocols in both optical and wireless networking and their hybrid. Currently, the following models and research frameworks have been implemented: models for the hybrid TDM/WDM-PON under the SUCCESS-HPON architecture; framework for the equivalent circuit rate (ECR)-based study of next-generation optical access (NGOA) architectures.

EPON is a simulation model for Ethernet Passive Optical Networks. OLT and ONU modules are defined and they both suport one or multiple LLIDs. MPCP protocol has been implemented on OLT and ONU models to assign LLIDs dynamically.

OBSModules (github) provides models for Optical Burst Switching (OBS), a new optical switching technology capable of supporting a high demand for bandwidth in optical backbones with Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM). OBSModules allows one to study nodes, edge nodes and core nodes, and link the OBS network with other data networks like IPv4.

PhoenixSim (see below.) may also be of interest.

An open-source InfiniBand simulation model is available from Mellanox as ib_flit_sim. It models the data-path of hosts and switches at the flit transfer level, and can be used to estimate network performance under configurable hardware capabilities, timing and topologies.

Although not an open-source model, Venus is a simulation tool developed at IBM Research for performance evaluation high-performance computing systems and large-scale data center networks. It includes models of various networking technologies, including 10G Ethernet, InfiniBand, and Myrinet. Venus provides very high flexibility in terms of network topologies and routing schemes, including built-in support for arbitrary mesh, torus, hypercube, and fat tree topologies, as well as the possibility to import topology description files of arbitrary regular and irregular topologies.

Frameworks developed for Network-on-Chip simulations, e.g. HNoCS and PhoenixSim, may also be useful in the simulation of interconnection networks (see below.)

There are two model frameworks specifically designed for the simulation of NoCs. One is HNoCS, a modular simulator for heterogeneous NoCs. HNoCs modules available today implement wormhole switching, with round-robin or winner-takes-all arbitration.

The other model framework is PhoenixSim(Photonic and Electronic Network Integration and Execution Simulator), used for the design of a on- and off-chip photonic communications for multi-processor systems, and the design of nanophotonic optical broadband switches (NOBS).

When simulating NoCs or SoCs (Systems-on-Chip), OMNEST's SystemC extension may also come handy. It allows for mixing OMNEST and SystemC (or SystemC/TLM) models in the same simulation, without incurring the severe performance loss that is typical with co-simulations.

There are several frameworks for the performance simulation of various classes of data center infrastructure: iCanCloud (for clouds), SIMCAN (for HPC architectures), SimSANs (for storage area networks), HECIOS (for distributed file systems) and OMPCM (for software architectures including network effects), as discussed below. The cloud simulation paper from IBM Research may also be useful.

SIMCAN is a simulation framework for modeling a wide range of high-performance computing (HPC) architectures. The main characteristics of SIMCAN are the flexibility to model different architectures easily, and the ability to scale those models keeping a good level of performance and accuracy. SIMCAN includes a set of configurable modules that allow to simulate from simple elements (like disk drives, file systems, etc) to complete components of the architecture (like nodes, switches, etc). SIMCAN is based on the INET Framework.

SimSANs, on the other hand, is tool for detailed simulation of Storage Area Networks (SANs) in data centers. SimSANs is capable of simulating real-world Fibre Channel (FC) and FC over Ethernet (FCoE) SAN environments and SCSI IO applications. Implemented protocol levels include: FC: FC-FS, FC-LS, FC-GS, FC-SW; FC-BB-5 (FIP and FCoE); and SCSI: SAM, SPC, SBC, FCP. It also allows simulations of daily SAN administration tasks, provides protocol analyzer functionality (e.g. Finisar and Xgig), and much more. It is especially useful in infrastructure design and performance analysis of data center storage networks. SimSANs is neither open source (please contact the author for source) nor based on INET.

HECIOS (High-End Computing I/O Simulator), is a trace-driven parallel file system simulator, developed for simulating PVFS (Parallel Virtual File System). HECIOS is based on the INET Framework. (Details)

OMPCM is an implementation of the Palladio Component Model based on the OMNeT++ simulation framework. As OMNeT++ offers full network simulation support, the influence of network effects on a modeled system can be investigated. It uses a specialised representation for description of RD-SEFF behavior called SimCore. By applying a series of model-transformations, a Palladio model can be transformed fully automatically to a OMNeT++ network definition file (NED) that uses the developed OMPCM modules.