trickle-timer.h

Go to the documentation of this file.

/*
 * Copyright (c) 2020 Universita' di Firenze, Italy
 *
 * This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
 * it under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2 as
 * published by the Free Software Foundation;
 *
 * This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
 * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
 * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
 * GNU General Public License for more details.
 *
 * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
 * along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
 * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA  02111-1307  USA
 *
 * Author: Tommaso Pecorella <tommaso.pecorella@unifi.it>
 */
 
#ifndef TRICKLE_TIMER_H
#define TRICKLE_TIMER_H
 
#include "event-id.h"
#include "nstime.h"
#include "random-variable-stream.h"
 
/**
 * \file
 * \ingroup timer
 * ns3::TrickleTimer timer class declaration.
 */
 
namespace ns3
{
 
namespace internal
{
 
class TimerImpl;
 
} // namespace internal
 
/**
 * \ingroup timer
 * \brief A Trickle Timer following \RFC{6206}.
 *
 * A Trickle Timer is a timer that varies its frequency between a minimum
 * and a maximum, depending on events. It is typically used to exchange
 * information in a highly robust, energy efficient, simple, and scalable manner.
 *
 * The Trickle Timer has three parameters:
 *   - minInterval Minimum interval.
 *   - doublings Number of doublings to reach the maximum interval.
 *   - redundancy Redundancy constant.
 *
 * The timer *period* is variable. It starts at minInterval, and it doubles
 * the period length up to maxInterval = std::exp2 (doublings) * minInterval.
 *
 * The period is reset to minInterval when an *inconsistent* event is detected
 * (see `TrickleTimer::InconsistentEvent`).
 *
 * The actual function fired by the timer is *not* called when a period expires.
 * Rather, it is called in random moment between half of the actual period,
 * and the end of actual the period.
 * Moreover, the function is *not* fired if the timer did detect in the actual
 * period a number of *consistent* events (see `TrickleTimer::ConsistentEvent`)
 * greater than the redundancy constant. Setting the redundancy constant to zero
 * disables this feature.
 *
 * The Trickle Timer is mainly used to self-regulate the transmission of periodic
 * information (e.g., Router Advertisements) in wireless networks - and
 * particularly in LLNs. In these contexts the frequency of the timer is adjusted
 * according to, e.g., RS multicast messages. Moreover, the redundancy constant
 * can be used to avoid congestion in high density networks.
 *
 * Please refer to \RFC{6206} for a full description and discussion of the Trickle Timer.
 */
class TrickleTimer
{
  public:
    /** Constructor. */
    TrickleTimer();
 
    /**
     * Constructor.
     *
     * The maximum interval is set to std::exp2 (doublings) * minInterval.
     *
     * \param minInterval Minimum interval.
     * \param doublings Number of doublings to reach the maximum interval.
     * \param redundancy Redundancy constant.
     *
     * A zero value in the redundancy constant means that the suppression
     * algorithm is disabled.
     *
     */
    TrickleTimer(Time minInterval, uint8_t doublings, uint16_t redundancy);
 
    /** Destructor. */
    ~TrickleTimer();
 
    /**
     * Assigns the stream number for the uniform random number generator to use
     *
     * \param streamNum first stream index to use
     * \return the number of stream indices assigned by this helper
     */
    int64_t AssignStreams(int64_t streamNum);
 
    /**
     * \brief Set the timer parameters.
     *
     * The maximum interval is set to std::exp2 (doublings) * minInterval.
     *
     * \param minInterval Minimum interval.
     * \param doublings Number of doublings to reach the maximum interval.
     * \param redundancy Redundancy constant.
     *
     * A zero value in the redundancy constant means that the suppression
     * algorithm is disabled.
     *
     */
    void SetParameters(Time minInterval, uint8_t doublings, uint16_t redundancy);
 
    /**
     * \brief Get the MinInterval of the timer.
     * \return The MinInterval
     */
    Time GetMinInterval() const;
 
    /**
     * \brief Get the MaxInterval of the timer.
     *
     * The timer MaxInterval is always std::exp2 (doublings) * minInterval
     * \return The MaxInterval
     */
    Time GetMaxInterval() const;
 
    /**
     * \brief Get the doublings of the timer.
     * \return The doublings
     */
    uint8_t GetDoublings() const;
 
    /**
     * \brief Get the Redundancy constant of the timer.
     * \return The Redundancy
     */
    uint16_t GetRedundancy() const;
 
    /**
     * \returns The amount of time left until this timer expires.
     *
     * This method returns zero if the timer has never been started.
     */
    Time GetDelayLeft() const;
 
    /**
     * \returns The amount of time left until this timer interval expires.
     *
     * This method returns zero if the timer has never been started.
     */
    Time GetIntervalLeft() const;
 
    /**
     * \brief Enable the timer.
     */
    void Enable();
 
    /**
     * \brief Records a consistent event.
     */
    void ConsistentEvent();
 
    /**
     * \brief Records an inconsistent event.
     */
    void InconsistentEvent();
 
    /**
     * \brief Reset the timer.
     */
    void Reset();
 
    /**
     * \brief Stop the timer.
     *
     * This will reset the timer and cancel all the pending events.
     */
    void Stop();
 
    /**
     * Set the function to execute when the timer expires.
     *
     * \tparam FN \deduced The type of the function.
     * \param [in] fn The function
     *
     * Store this function in this Timer for later use by Timer::Schedule.
     */
    template <typename FN>
    void SetFunction(FN fn);
 
    /**
     * Set the function to execute when the timer expires.
     *
     * \tparam MEM_PTR \deduced Class method function type.
     * \tparam OBJ_PTR \deduced Class type containing the function.
     * \param [in] memPtr The member function pointer
     * \param [in] objPtr The pointer to object
     *
     * Store this function and object in this Timer for later use by Timer::Schedule.
     */
    template <typename MEM_PTR, typename OBJ_PTR>
    void SetFunction(MEM_PTR memPtr, OBJ_PTR objPtr);
 
    /**
     * Set the arguments to be used when invoking the expire function.
     */
    /**@{*/
    /**
     * \tparam Ts \deduced Argument types.
     * \param [in] args arguments
     */
    template <typename... Ts>
    void SetArguments(Ts&&... args);
    /**@}*/
 
  private:
    /** Internal callback invoked when the timer expires. */
    void TimerExpire();
    /** Internal callback invoked when the interval expires. */
    void IntervalExpire();
 
    /**
     * The timer implementation, which contains the bound callback
     * function and arguments.
     */
    internal::TimerImpl* m_impl;
 
    /** The future event scheduled to expire the timer. */
    EventId m_timerExpiration;
 
    /** The future event scheduled to expire the interval. */
    EventId m_intervalExpiration;
 
    Time m_minInterval;    //!< Minimum interval
    Time m_maxInterval;    //!< Maximum interval
    uint16_t m_redundancy; //!< Redundancy constant.
 
    uint64_t m_ticks;       //!< Interval span (i.e., exp2(doublings)).
    Time m_currentInterval; //!< Current interval.
    uint16_t m_counter;     //!< Event counter.
 
    Ptr<UniformRandomVariable> m_uniRand; //!< Object to generate uniform random numbers
};
 
} // namespace ns3
 
/********************************************************************
 *  Implementation of the templates declared above.
 ********************************************************************/
 
#include "timer-impl.h"
 
namespace ns3
{
 
template <typename FN>
void
TrickleTimer::SetFunction(FN fn)
{
    delete m_impl;
    m_impl = internal::MakeTimerImpl(fn);
}
 
template <typename MEM_PTR, typename OBJ_PTR>
void
TrickleTimer::SetFunction(MEM_PTR memPtr, OBJ_PTR objPtr)
{
    delete m_impl;
    m_impl = internal::MakeTimerImpl(memPtr, objPtr);
}
 
template <typename... Ts>
void
TrickleTimer::SetArguments(Ts&&... args)
{
    if (m_impl == nullptr)
    {
        NS_FATAL_ERROR(
            "You cannot set the arguments of a TrickleTimer before setting its function.");
        return;
    }
    m_impl->SetArgs(std::forward<Ts>(args)...);
}
 
} // namespace ns3
 
#endif /* TRICKLE_TIMER_H */