ns-3 project monthly report

January 2008

Prepared by: Tom Henderson

This document is available at http://www.nsnam.org

Table of Contents


1.   Introduction

This monthly report summarizes the ns-3 project, a collaborative project funded under the following grants:

  • NSF CNS-0551686 (University of Washington);   PIs: Tom Henderson and Sumit Roy
  • NSF CNS-0551378 (Georgia Institute of Technology);   PI: George Riley
  • NSF CNS-0551706 (International Computer Science Institute);  PI: Sally Floyd
The project is chartered to develop a new discrete-event network simulator (ns-3) to eventually replace the ns-2 simulator, and to maintain ns-2 in the interim. For more information and to participate in the project, see http://www.nsnam.org.

1.1 News and Highlights

  • The project made a regular monthly development release of ns-3 on January 15. After January 15, the project merged a TCP model, changes to the ns-3 object model, and is preparing for the start of Python bindings around the simulator API. Other discussions focused on the use of the default value system, and on topology and scenario APIs.
  • Two ns-3 tutorials are upcoming: Simutools conference and SpringSim '08 conference
  • Work continues on preparing for an ns-2 release, planned for early February. We merged 802.11 infrastructure mode extensions contributed by Ilango Purushothaman.

1.2 Contributions and Collaborations

  • The University of Washington and the Planete research group at INRIA Sophia Antipolis have established an Associated Team collaboration to develop prototype evaluation environments for wireless experiments. Mathieu Lacage is the lead developer and is visiting the University of Washington starting in February.
  • Gustavo Carneiro has developed Python bindings that are scheduled to be merged in February, is maintaining the waf build system, and is contributing to overall maintenance and development of the simulator.
  • Ilango Purushothaman contributed ns-2 802.11 infrastructure mode extensions.
  • Joe Kopena of Drexel University has begun development of MANET protocols and higher-level topology APIs for ns-3.

1.3 Statistics

2.   ns-3 Development

ns-3 is in a pre-alpha state, with core elements of the simulator still being provided, and has adopted a regular monthly development release schedule: Roadmap.

2.1 Release Schedule

We plan the following for the ns-3.0.11 release in February:

  • native TCP model ported from GTNetS
  • ns-3 object model changes
  • python bindings

2.2 Technical Progress

The development team is focused on finishing the core low-level APIs of the simulator, as well as on network emulation, Python bindings, and topology APIs.

2.3 Actions and Open Issues

ns-3 bugs and issues are discussed on the developers mailing list and maintained in the tracker

3.   ns-2 Maintenance

The project is maintaining ns-2, nam-1, otcl, and tclcl while ns-3 is being developed.

3.1 Release Schedule

This wiki page describes the release plans for ns-2: roadmap for ns-2 The next release is scheduled for February 2008.

3.2 Technical Progress

  • Ilango Purushothaman finalized the 802.11 infrastructure models, which were merged to ns-2 in January. We plan to import the Karlsruhe/Mercedes-Benz 802.11 model and the ns-2 dynamics libraries patch before issuing the ns-2.33 release.

3.3 Actions and Open Issues