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* [http://sophia.estec.esa.int/socis/ ESA Summer of Code in Space 2016 (SOCIS)]
* [http://sophia.estec.esa.int/socis/?q=faq SOCIS Frequently Asked Questions]
* [https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/esa-socis ESA-SOCIS google mailing list]
* ''Get in contact with the ns-3 team'': [http://mailman.isi.edu/mailman/listinfo/ns-developers ns-developers mailing list] | ''IRC'' #ns-3 on freenode.net

== SOCIS 2016 Ideas ==

This webpage highlights project ideas for ns-3's ESA Summer of Code in Space 2016 effort.

SOCIS 2016 Timeline is:
* March 2016: program starts, mentoring organizations can start applying.
* 10/04/16: mentoring organizations application deadline (11pm UTC).
* Until 15 may 2016: Students apply
* June-August 2016: 3-months coding period
Full timeline is here:http://sophia.estec.esa.int/socis/?q=timeline

While discussions about ideas can be done earlier, please note that ns-3 will not receive an answer to its SOCIS application before May. 

=== About the ns-3 project ===

ns-3 is a discrete-event network simulator, with a particular emphasis on network research and education.
 
Users of ns-3 can construct simulations of computer networks using models of traffic generators, protocols such as TCP/IP, and devices and channels such as WiFi, and analyze or visualize the results.  Simulation plays a vital role in the research and education process, because of the ability for simulations to obtain reproducible results (particularly for wireless protocol design), scale to large networks, and study systems that have not yet been implemented.  A particular emphasis in ns-3 is the high degree of realism in the models (including frameworks for real application and kernel code) and integration of the tool with virtual machine environments and testbeds; we view that researchers need to move more effortlessly between simulation, testbeds, and live experiments, and ns-3 is designed to facilitate that.

ns-3 has been in development since 2005 and has been making quarterly releases since June 2008 (our last release was ns-3.10 in January 2011).  ns-3 is replacing the popular ns-2 tool which was developed in the 1997-2000 timeframe but became out of date and unmaintained.  The tool is coming into wide use; our web server logged almost 51,000 successful downloads of our released software between January 2011 and January 2012, and we have a users mailing list of about 2392 members now averaging 574 posts per month. The code base has a total of 113 authors and 25 maintainers.

Our SOCIS organizational admin is [mailto:tommaso.pecorella Tommaso Pecorella] and our backup org admin is '''To be Defined'''.  The project has participated in GSoCs during 2008-10, 2012-13, and 2013-14 and to SOCIS in 2013 and 2014.

Mentors will be paired with students based on the projects that are selected.  Mentors from companies are welcome, if the employer will permit the mentor sufficient time to perform the mentoring.  Prospective mentors should notify Tommaso Pecorella of interest.  Mentors familiar with ns-3 development practices will be preferred, to improve the chances of student code merge.

=== Getting started ===

For students interested in applying to ns-3 for SOCIS, go through the following list to get started:
* Read the official [http://sophia.estec.esa.int/socis/?q=student_agreement SOCIS Student Participant Agreement].
* Read [http://sophia.estec.esa.int/socis/?q=faq SOCS FAQ]. In particular:
** '''Double check if you can participate:''' [http://sophia.estec.esa.int/socis/?q=faq#socis_eligibility Eligibility]. 
* Look through our ideas list below to see if you find a project that interests you.
* Review the [http://www.nsnam.org/docs/tutorial/html/index.html ns-3 tutorial] thoroughly, if you have not already done so.
* Look through the [[GSOC2014StudentApplicationTemplate |GSoC2014 Student application template]] to start preparing your proposal. The actual SOCIS student application form is not yet available, but we assume they'll be quite smilar. 
* Next, proceed to get in touch with the developers on the mailing list and refine your proposal.
* In parallel, make sure you prepare a patch as per the [[GSOC2014PatchRequirement | Patch Requirement Guidelines (from GSoC2014)]]. Your application to ns-3 will not be considered if you do not fulfill this requirement.

=== Project Ideas ===

The following are a list of project proposals from the ns-3 team for ESA Summer of Code in Space 2016.  Applicants are however free to propose their own ideas.  In addition, please note that these ideas are not limited to SOCIS, anyone is welcome to work on them. Please email the [http://mailman.isi.edu/mailman/listinfo/ns-developers ns-developers list] if you have an idea that you'd like to work on.  Applicants are encouraged to look over this list, pick one that especially interests them, think about it, and discuss potential approaches on the [http://mailman.isi.edu/mailman/listinfo/ns-developers ns-developers list]. Previous experience with the Google Summer of Code programmes suggest that the more you discuss and refine your proposal on the mailing list beforehand, the more stronger a proposal it will develop into, and the higher your chances of being accepted into the programme.

Due to the SOCIS focus, only space-related ideas can be considered.

<blockquote>
Each project idea within a particular priority has been tagged with the following properties:
* ''Required Experience:'' Languages, concepts, or packages with which applicants must be familiar.
* ''Bonus Experience:'' Other experience or familiarity which would be greatly helpful to applicants for this project.
* ''Interests:'' Areas of particular relevance to this project, and an indicator of where successful students might apply their experiences coming out of this project.
* ''Difficulty:'' easy, medium or difficult
* ''Recommended reading:'' pointers to documentation, papers, specific bugs, etc.

Note that all of the projects require some experience and comfort with C++.  Project ideas for which C++ is noted as a required experience will require more and deeper familiarity with the language.  A similar notion applies to  computer networking, BSD sockets, etc: Familiarity is strongly preferred, but is not required except where explicitly noted due to the topic being more advanced in that regard.
</blockquote>

== Guidelines for project ideas ==

For mentors who're adding project ideas to the list below, please ensure that:

* The projects are sized such that there can be a code merge by the end of the coding period. The scope of the project should be such that it is very difficult to not have a code merge by the end of the summer.
* The proposed projects are not too open-ended. That is, if the deliverables or a clear path to the same are not well understood, it is better kept outside GSOC.
* There should be a clear merge path to one of the main project code repositories (ns-3-dev, ns-3-dce, bake) by the end of the summer, either because the patches directly apply or they directly apply to an ns-3 module that is in the process of merging with ns-3-dev.
* The projects are related to Space applications and technologies.

== Project Ideas ==

=== Satellite Mobility Model ===

Mentors: [mailto:tommaso.pecorella@unifi.it Tommaso Pecorella] [mailto:luca.ronga@cnit.it Luca Ronga]

'''ns-3-SatMobility''' Satellite communications are affected by satellite and user's mobility. In order to simulate a channel, it is of paramount importance to know the satellite(s) mobility (orbits) and user's mobility (mostly statistical properties to simulate the sky's portions seen by the user). The goal of the idea is to provide a framework to easily define a single satellite or a constellation movement pattern and the user's properties according to a predefined scenario (e.g., urban, hills, mountain, etc.). The framework should come with pre-defined well-known satellite constellations, e.g., GALILEO, GPS, Inmarsat, etc.). The model should also provide an easy way to define the satellite footprints (Satellite-fixed and Earth-fixed footprints is a plus). The model should extend the ns-3 mobility model, and should also be able to provide triggers to enable/disable satellite links (e.g., Inter-satellite links).
* ''Required Experience:'' C++
* ''Bonus Experience:'' Satellite constellations
* ''Interests:'' Satellite visibility, satellite networking
* ''Difficulty:'' easy / medium
* ''Recommended reading:''
** [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satellite_constellation Satellite constellation]
** [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Footprint_(satellite) Satellite Footprint]

=== Satellite Channel Model ===

Mentors: [mailto:tommaso.pecorella@unifi.it Tommaso Pecorella] [mailto:luca.ronga@cnit.it Luca Ronga]

'''ns-3-SatChannel''' Satellite communications are affected by atmospheric conditions (e.g., clear sky, rain, etc), not to mention the space weather phenomena (e.g., solar flares). It has been demonstrated that the satellite channels exhibit very different patterns with respect to the terrestrial one.
In particular satellite channels are spatially correlated (rain conditions affect large areas), and temporally correlated. Moreover, even for a single user the error model may be very different than the usual ones.
The goal of the idea is to study the satellite channel models available in the literature and provide a satellite-specific set of channel models.
* ''Required Experience:'' C++
* ''Bonus Experience:'' Satellite constellations
* ''Interests:'' Satellite visibility, satellite networking
* ''Difficulty:'' easy / medium
* ''Recommended reading:''
** [http://cdn.intechopen.com/pdfs-wm/11697.pdf Characterisation and Channel Modelling for Satellite Communication Systems]
** [http://www.atlantis-press.com/php/download_paper.php?id=3165 Analysis of Channel Model for GEO Satellite Mobile Communication System]
** [http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/articleDetails.jsp?tp=&arnumber=5067947 Overview of activities carried out within satnex on land mobile satellite and satellite-to-indoor channel modeling]

=== TCP Performance Enhancement Proxies (PEPs) ===

Mentors:  [mailto:tomh@tomh.org Tom Henderson], [mailto:tommaso.pecorella@unifi.it Tommaso Pecorella]

Performance Enhancement Proxies (PEPs) are network agents designed to improve the end-to-end performance of some communications protocol. E.g. Split-TCP is typically used to solve TCP problems with large Round Trip Times (RTTs), e.g. in case of a geostationary satellite link. Split TCP functions by breaking the end-to-end connection into multiple connections. The objective of this idea is to implement a TCP PEP protocol on top of ns-3. There exists also a TCP PEP implementation for ns-2, so porting to ns-3 may be also considered. 
* ''Required Experience:'' C++
* ''Bonus Experience:'' ns-3, Transport Control Protocol (TCP), (ns-2)
* ''Interests:'' Satellite networking, communication protocols
* ''Difficulty:'' medium/hard
* ''Recommended reading:''
** D. Velenis, D. Kalogeras, B. Maglaris, SaTPEP: a TCP Performance Enhancing Proxy for Satellite Links, in PROC 2nd International IFIP-TC6 Networking Conference, Pisa Italy, May 2002.
** C. Caini, R. Firrincieli, and D. Lacamera, “PEPsal: A Performance Enhancing Proxy for TCP Satellite Connections”, IEEE Aerospace and Electronic Systems Magazine, Volume:22, Issue: 8, 2006.
** Mineweaser, J.L.; Stadler, J.S.; Tsao, S.; Flanagan, M., "Improving TCP/IP performance for the land mobile satellite channel," Military Communications Conference, 2001. MILCOM 2001. Communications for Network-Centric Operations: Creating the Information Force. IEEE , vol.1, no., pp.711,718 vol.1, 2001 doi: 10.1109/MILCOM.2001.985927