GSOC2025Projects

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This page contains 2025 Google Summer of Code project ideas for ns-3.

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 participated in past GSoCs during 2008-10, 2012-15, and 2017-24. We seek contributors interested in the intersection of wireless and computer networking, performance analysis, and open source software.

Org admins

Google Summer of Code organizational admins for ns-3 are Tommaso Pecorella, Mohit P. Tahiliani, and Tom Henderson; contact them with any questions. They also hang out on Zulip.

Mentors

Mentors will be paired with contributors 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 Mohit P. Tahiliani or Tommaso Pecorella of interest. Mentors familiar with ns-3 development practices will be preferred, to improve the chances of code merge. We are going to be seeking two-person or multiple-person mentoring teams for projects, to help with the mentoring workload and bring more expertise.

The current list of prospective mentors can be found among the ideas listed below.

How to apply

For students or contributors interested in applying to ns-3 for GSoC, please go through the following list to get started:

  • Read the official GSoC contributor guide.
  • Read ns-3's GSoC contributor guide
  • Look through our #Project Ideas below to see if you find a project that interests you.
  • Review the tutorial and contributing guide thoroughly, if you have not already done so.
  • Once it is posted, look through the GSoC application template to start preparing your proposal. We will wait to see whether we are actually part of GSoC before updating the above link for 2024, but it will be similar to last year's application.
  • Next, proceed to get in touch with the developers on the mailing list or Zulip chat room and refine your proposal.
  • In parallel, make sure you prepare a patch as per the patch requirement guidelines. Your application to ns-3 will not be considered if you do not fulfill this requirement.

Below is a list of #Project Ideas proposed by the ns-3 team for Google Summer of Code 2024. Please note that these ideas are not limited to GSoC; anyone is welcome to work on them. Please email the ns-developers list if you have a different idea that you'd like to work on, to see if a mentor may be interested. Applicants are encouraged to look over this list, pick one that especially interests them, think about it, and discuss potential approaches on the ns-developers list. Previous experience with the Google Summer of Code programs suggest that the more you discuss and refine your proposal on the mailing list beforehand, the stronger the proposal it will develop into, and the higher your chances of being accepted into the program.

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 contributors 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. A few projects are more Python-centric.

Patch requirement guidelines

Each project idea has either a suggested task, or a link to a generic task, that a contributor must do to demonstrate some ability to carry out a GSoC project successfully. Performing one task is necessary for a successful application, and performing more than one task is not necessary.

Contributors that already contributed to the ns-3 codebase with non-trivial bug fixing or features additions might be exempted from performing a task. If you have doubts about if your contributions made you eligible for the task exemption contact the mentors.

Mentors: how to participate

The ns-3 project is open to the proposal of new project ideas by developers interested in being a GSoC mentor. 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 to these repositories, or because they apply to an ns-3 module that is in the process of being merged with ns-3-dev.

Project Ideas

Note to contributors: These ideas are not listed in any priority order. The projects can be grouped depending on their scope and/or their size. Below they are organized according to their scope. Please check each idea for details about its foreseen difficulty level.

Internet models enhancements

IoT models enhancements

5G NR models enhancements

The general idea is to improve the usability of the 5G NR module by adding new examples that help users start building scenario scripts, such as an example for the NTN use case. Another way is to create new helpers that simplify the creation of new simulation scripts. Also, an interesting improvement could be integration with other modules, like those for AI or visualizations. Here are some project ideas. Depending on the contributor's interest and skills we can adjust these projects' definitions.

Small sized projects (90 hours)

NTN example for 5G NR

Mentors: Gabriel Ferreira, Amir Ashtari Gargari, Biljana Bojovic and Katerina Koutlia

The objective of this project is the creation of a 5G NR example for the NTN use case. The example should provide a typical NTN topology, with a set of cells served by Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites (e.g. Starlink, Kuiper), hence maybe an NTN topology helper could be created as a part of this project. The example should use the ns-3 3GPP NTN channel model. If handover is already functional, satellites should move at orbital speeds in their orbital planes, handing off users to the upcoming cell with LOS. We could explore scenarios (dense urban and urban).

For starters, we would suggest adding the CTTC 5G-LENA (nr module) to ns-3, in the typical way (as a module in the contrib/ directory), and building and running the examples. Documentation is available from here: https://5g-lena.cttc.es/. There is an overview tutorial video available here: https://acmse.net/2021/tutorials-offered/#tut-work03. That is the background information.

  • Required Experience: C++ programming, understanding of 5G NR, LTE, and wireless networks
  • Interests: 5G NR simulations
  • Difficulty: Medium.
  • Patch requirement: See the description. You can also consider some of the nr good to start issues. Or, you can start writing some APIs for the selected project proposal. Also, if you have some previous MRs to ns-3 or the nr module, you can contact us to check whether it is enough for the patch requirement.

Medium sized projects (175 hours)

ICMP socket and generate/handle ICMP messages (host/net unreachable)

Mentors: Tommaso Pecorella, Manoj K. Rana.

The current IP stack in ns-3 does not provide an ICMP socket, and in order to send or receive ICMP packets (either IPV4 or IPv6) it is necessary to use a "RAW" socket. This approach works, but has a severe limitation: it does not work if the packet has been fragmented. Moreover, using a RAW socket is far more complex than a normal socket, as the receiver application must filter the incoming packets according to specific rules.

The goal of the idea is to create, test, and document an ICMP socket that works both for IPv4 and IPv6, mimicking the Linux sockets socket(AF_INET, SOCK_DGRAM, IPPROTO_ICMP) and socket(AF_INET6, SOCK_DGRAM, IPPROTO_ICMPV6). Note that the choice of SOCK_DGRAM or SOCK_RAW (i.e., with or without the IP header) is totally left to the proposal.

The most important point of the implementation should be code duplicate minimization, in order to have the minimize maintenance efforts.

Once the sockets are in place, beside the "normal" tests, it will be necessary to modify the code that is actually made obsolete by the new sockets, e.g.:

  • IPv6 ICMP messages (RA, RS, NA, NS, etc.),
  • IPv4 ICMP messages,
  • ICMP Echo and ICMPv6 Echo messages.

and to handle properly ICMP error messages like Destination Unreachable in the Ping application.

Possible tasks to fulfill the patch requirement:


6LoWPAN mesh-under routing enhancements

Mentors: Tommaso Pecorella, [TBD].

The 6LoWPAN module offers a simple option to implement a multi-hop topology by using a contolled flooding. However, the implemented controlled flooding is very simple, and is not efficient in complex networks. This is mainly due to the lack of congestion control, or rather its naive implementation. A better approach would be to borrow some concepts and ideas from RFC 7731 Multicast Protocol for Low-Power and Lossy Networks (MPL), so that messages do not generate network congestions when the network is large.

The candidate should outline what parts of code are going to be affected, and how they can be enhanced thanks to RFC 7731.

Possible tasks to fulfill the patch requirement:

  • TBD

6LoWPAN neighbor discovery protocol

Mentors: Tommaso Pecorella, [TBD].

The 6LoWPAN-ND (RFCs 4944, 6775, and 8505) is a replacement for IPv6 DAD and NDP for 6LoWPAN networks, and it is important to ensure address uniquness across a network that can potentially use different MAC/PHY layers.

There is a model for 6LoWPAN-ND, but it still not merged in the main ns-3 branch. The goal is to cleanup the implementation, remove an actual limitation due to a questionble assumption, and to add the support for multi-hop operations (EDAR and EDAC messages).

The candidate should outline in the proposal the parts of the code should be modified, and how. The repository for 6LoWPAN-ND is necessary, and the link will be shared upon request.

  • Required Experience: Fundamentals of IPv6 addressing, C++ programming.
  • Bonus Experience: Familiarity with 6LoWPAN and 6LoWPAN-ND
  • Interests: IPv6 and IoT networks
  • Difficulty: Easy.
  • Patch requirement: GSOC2024PatchRequirement
  • Recommended reading:

Possible tasks to fulfil the patch requirement:

  • Patch the actual 6LoWPAN-ND to remove the limitation about concurrent address registrations.

Improving 5G NR module usability through helpers

Mentors: Biljana Bojovic,Gabriel Ferreira, Katerina Koutlia and Amir Ashtari Gargari

This project would be focused on improving the usability of the 5G nr module by enabling new helper support. The implementation of new helpers and the improvement of existing ones, with the final goal of easing the usage of the 5G nr module. The helpers would allow simplifying the setup of NR applications, XR applications, scenarios, the management of the configuration of many parameters of the scenario, etc. All the NR examples should be updated to make use of these new helpers.

For starters, we would suggest adding the CTTC 5G-LENA (nr module) to ns-3, in the typical way (as a module in the contrib/ directory), and building and running the examples. Documentation is available from here: https://5g-lena.cttc.es/. There is an overview tutorial video available here: https://acmse.net/2021/tutorials-offered/#tut-work03. That is the background information.

  • Required Experience: C++ programming, understanding of 5G NR, LTE, and wireless networks
  • Interests: 5G NR simulations
  • Difficulty: Medium.
  • Patch requirement: See the description. You can also consider some of the nr good to start issues. Or, you can start writing some APIs for the selected project proposal. Also, if you have some previous MRs to ns-3 or the nr module, you can contact us to check whether it is enough for the patch requirement.

Enabling 5G NR examples visualization

Mentors: Amir Ashtari Gargari, Gabriel Ferreira, Biljana Bojovic and Katerina Koutlia

The main idea of this project is to allow easier visualization of 5G NR examples by integrating the NR module with some ns-3 visualization tools like NetAnim, or by implementing a kind of web-based visualization, e.g., through Jupyter notebook. The new feature should allow the visualisation of already existing traces, visualization of topology, or even some new relevant simulation aspects that could be considered. The idea is that users better understand how the metrics collection works, and how changing parameters can affect simulation results. In this project, we are open for other ideas on how to implement visualizations.

For starters, we would suggest adding the CTTC 5G-LENA (nr module) to ns-3, in the typical way (as a module in the contrib/ directory), then building and running the examples. After getting used to C++, then proceed to use the Python bindings, as described by the documentation: https://www.nsnam.org/docs/manual/html/python.html#using-the-bindings-from-the-ns-3-source. Documentation is available here: https://5g-lena.cttc.es/. There is an overview tutorial video available here: https://acmse.net/2021/tutorials-offered/#tut-work03. That is the background information. For more specific guidelines, please view this Google document.

  • Required Experience: C++ and Python programming, understanding of 5G NR, LTE, and wireless networks
  • Interests: 5G NR simulations
  • Difficulty: Medium.
  • Patch requirement: See the description. You can also consider some of the nr good to start issues. Or, you can start writing some APIs for the selected project proposal. Also, if you have some previous MRs to ns-3 or the nr module, you can contact us to check whether it is enough for the patch requirement.

Large projects (350 hours)

IPv6 global routing

Mentors: Tommaso Pecorella, [TBD].

Creating a complex topology can be a problem, and sometimes the user do not want to be (also) concerned about setting up dynamic routing protocols (e.g., RIP, RIPng). For IPv4, ns-3 provides two alternatives: GlobalRouting, and NixRouting, which just "do the trick" - they simply fill the routing tables in intermediate nodes, GlobalRouting using an approach similar to OSPF, NixRouting by leveraging the "abstract" knowledge of the network. Neither actually use any message between the nodes, so they also reduce the network overhead - something that is useful in many cases.

The problem is that GlobalRouting don't work for IPv6 (NixRouting was migrated to IPv6 recently), and that's a huge limitation. The goal of the project is to fix that limitation. Note that the project must cope with different IPv6 address kinds (link-local, global, scoped multicast, etc.).

The most important point of the implementation should be code duplicate minimization, in order to have the minimize maintenance efforts. The proposer is advised to check the approach used for NixRouting, as it might be a starting point.

Possible tasks to fulfill the patch requirement:

  • Add a function to print the path that a packet will use (according to Ipv4GlobalRouting), i.e., given source and destination IP print the IP addresses of the nodes that Ipv4GlobalRouting will use.

AODVv2 Protocol enhancements

Mentors: Tommaso Pecorella, [TBD].

ns-3 contains models for proactive (DSDV and OLSR) and reactive (AODV and DSR) ad hoc routing protocols. AODVv2 is currently an IETF draft, and its implementation in ns-3 is ongoing. This project aims at enhancing the AODVv2 model for ns-3.

In particular the project should address the following points: 1) AODVv2 performances, 2) AODV address compression, 3) "external" network routing support, 4) general model validation against the latest draft. Collaboration with the draft authors is also highly suggested.

Possible tasks to fulfill the patch requirement:

  • Issue #368 - aodv: aodv parameters can be set to "impossible" values

Mesh Link Establishment (MLE) protocol

Mentors: Tommaso Pecorella, TBD.

The Mesh Link Establishment (MLE) is a proposed IETF protocol for establishing and configuring secure radio links in IoT networks. It was originally proposed for IEEE 802.15.4, and the IETF draft seems to be not progressing. However, MLE is being used in Thread, and it can be useful to implement it.

The goal of the project is to study the differences between the IETF version of MLE and the one being used in Thread, and propose an implementation that complies with either, or both.

Possible tasks to fulfill the patch requirement:

Lr-WPAN (IEEE 802.15.4) preamble detection support

Mentors: Tommaso Pecorella, Alberto Gallegos Ramonet.

A preamble is a series of defined bits that signal the data transmission between two or more devices. The current Lr-WPAN module takes into consideration the preamble transmission time but it does not support preamble detection (hence there is no chance of detection failure). Implementing preamble detection would have the added benefit of adding RSSI support to the Lr-WPAN module which itself has many added benefits.

This project touches on some core PHY functions of the Lr-WPAN module (the detection of packets). Unlike similar ns-3 modules, Lr-WPAN is relatively simple, therefore, it is a good opportunity to learn about Lr-WPAN and how PHYs are handled in ns-3.

As usual, reduction of code duplicity and a flexible scalable design is desired (e.g. Allow the inclusion of different preambles in the future).

Possible tasks to fulfill the patch requirement:

5G NR module integration with ns-3-ai

Mentors: Katerina Koutlia, Gabriel Ferreira, Amir Ashtari Gargari and Biljana Bojovic

The objective of this project is to integrate the ns-3 5G NR module with ns-3-ai. In GSoC 2024 we had a project in which 5G NR was integrated with ns-3 gym. While ns-3 gym is a popular ns-3 module for AI, it is limited to the application of reinforcement learning machine learning techniques in networking research. On the other hand, ns-3-ai module provides a more general solution that enables the data interaction between ns-3 and other Python-based AI frameworks, like Tensorflow C++ APIs and PyTorch C++ APIs, which opens the door to the use different machine learning-based techniques in 5G NR models. The correct functioning of the integration should be tested, and documented, and a fully working example using ns-3-ai should be provided. The contributor can propose a use-case scenario for matching learning. One option is to use it for MAC scheduling, but it could be used for other research problems, and the contributor is encouraged to propose the use case of his/her interest.

For starters, we would suggest adding the CTTC 5G-LENA (nr module) to ns-3, in the typical way (as a module in the contrib/ directory), and building and running the examples. Documentation is available from here: https://5g-lena.cttc.es/. There is an overview tutorial video available here: https://acmse.net/2021/tutorials-offered/#tut-work03. That is the background information. For more specific guidelines, please view this Google document.

  • Required Experience: C++ programming, understanding of 5G NR, LTE, and wireless networks
  • Interests: 5G NR simulations
  • Difficulty: Medium.
  • Patch requirement: See the description. See the description. You can also consider some of the nr good to start issues. Or, you can start writing some APIs for the selected project proposal. Also, if you have some previous MRs to ns-3 or the nr module, you can contact us to check whether it is enough for the patch requirement.
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