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<title>Network simulation</title>

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<span id="openzim-page-title" class="mw-page-title-main"><span class="mw-page-title-main">Network simulation</span></span>

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<p>In <a href="Computer_network" title="Computer network">computer network</a> research, <b>network simulation</b> is a technique whereby a software program replicates the behavior of a real network. This is achieved by calculating the interactions between the different network entities such as routers, switches, nodes, access points, links, etc.<sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-1"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>1<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Most simulators use discrete event simulation in which the modeling of systems in which state variables change at discrete points in time. The behavior of the network and the various applications and services it supports can then be observed in a test lab; various attributes of the environment can also be modified in a controlled manner to assess how the network/protocols would behave under different conditions.

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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Network_simulator">Network simulator</h2></div>

<p>A <b>network simulator</b> is a <a href="Software" title="Software">software</a> program that can predict the performance of a computer network or a wireless communication network. Since communication networks have become too complex for traditional analytical methods to provide an accurate understanding of system behavior, network simulators are used. In simulators, the computer network is modeled with devices, links, applications, etc., and the network performance is reported. Simulators come with support for the most popular technologies and networks in use today such as <a href="5G" title="5G">5G</a>, <a href="Internet_of_Things" class="mw-redirect" title="Internet of Things">Internet of Things</a> (IoT), <a href="Wireless_LAN" title="Wireless LAN">Wireless LANs</a>, <a href="Mobile_ad_hoc_network" class="mw-redirect" title="Mobile ad hoc network">mobile ad hoc networks</a>, <a href="Wireless_sensor_network" title="Wireless sensor network">wireless sensor networks</a>, <a href="Vehicular_ad_hoc_network" title="Vehicular ad hoc network">vehicular ad hoc networks</a>, <a href="Cognitive_Radio_Networks" class="mw-redirect" title="Cognitive Radio Networks">cognitive radio networks</a>, <a href="LTE_(telecommunication)" title="LTE (telecommunication)">LTE</a>

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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Simulations">Simulations</h2></div>

<p>Most of the commercial <a href="Simulation" title="Simulation">simulators</a> are <a href="GUI" class="mw-redirect" title="GUI">GUI</a> driven, while some network simulators are <a href="Command-line_interface" title="Command-line interface">CLI</a> driven. The network model/configuration describes the network (nodes, routers, switches, links) and the events (data transmissions, packet error, etc.). Output results would include network-level metrics, link metrics, device metrics etc. Further, drill down in terms of simulations <a href="Tracing_(software)" title="Tracing (software)">trace</a> files would also be available. Trace files log every packet, every event that occurred in the simulation and is used for analysis. Most network simulators use <a href="Discrete_event_simulation" class="mw-redirect" title="Discrete event simulation">discrete event simulation</a>, in which a list of pending "events" is stored, and those events are processed in order, with some events triggering future events—such as the event of the arrival of a packet at one node triggering the event the arrival of that packet at a <a href="Downstream_(networking)" title="Downstream (networking)">downstream</a> node.

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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Network_emulation">Network emulation</h2></div>

<p><a href="Network_emulation" title="Network emulation">Network emulation</a> allows users to introduce real devices and applications into a test network (simulated) that alters packet flow in such a way as to mimic the behavior of a live network. Live traffic can pass through the simulator and be affected by objects within the simulation.

</p><p>The typical methodology is that real packets from a live application are sent to the emulation server (where the virtual network is simulated). The real packet gets 'modulated' into a simulation packet. The simulation packet gets demodulated into a real packet after experiencing effects of loss, errors, delay, <a href="Jitter" title="Jitter">jitter</a> etc., thereby transferring these network effects into the real packet. Thus it is as-if the real packet flowed through a real network but in reality it flowed through the simulated network.

</p><p>Emulation is widely used in the design stage for validating communication networks prior to deployment.

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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="List_of_network_simulators">List of network simulators</h2></div>

<p>There are both free/open-source and proprietary network simulators available. Examples of notable open source network simulators / emulators include:

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<ul><li><a href="Ns_(simulator)" title="Ns (simulator)">ns Simulator</a></li>

<li><a href="GloMoSim" title="GloMoSim">GloMoSim</a></li>

<li><a href="SimGrid" title="SimGrid">SimGrid</a></li></ul>

<p>There are also some notable commercial network simulators.

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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Uses_of_network_simulators">Uses of network simulators</h2></div>

<p>Network simulators provide a cost-effective method for

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<ul><li>5G, 6G coverage, capacity, throughput and latency analysis</li>

<li>Network R & D (More than 70% of all Network <a href="Academic_paper" class="mw-redirect" title="Academic paper">Research paper</a> reference a network simulator)</li>

<li>Defense applications such as <a href="UHF" class="mw-redirect" title="UHF">UHF</a>/<a href="VHF" class="mw-redirect" title="VHF">VHF</a>/L-Band Radio based <a href="MANET" class="mw-redirect" title="MANET">MANET</a> Radios, Dynamic TDMA MAC, PHY Waveforms etc.</li>

<li><a href="Internet_of_things" title="Internet of things">IOT</a>, <a href="VANET" class="mw-redirect" title="VANET">VANET</a> simulations</li>

<li><a href="Unmanned_aerial_vehicle" title="Unmanned aerial vehicle">UAV</a> network/<a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/drone" class="extiw external" title="wikt:drone">drone</a> swarm communication simulation</li>

<li><a href="Machine_Learning" class="mw-redirect" title="Machine Learning">Machine Learning</a> for communication networks</li>

<li>Education: Online courses, Lab experimentation, and R & D. Most universities use a network simulator for teaching / R & D since it is too expensive to buy hardware equipment</li></ul>

<p>There are a wide variety of network simulators, ranging from the very simple to the very complex. Minimally, a network simulator must enable a user to

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<ul><li>Model the <a href="Network_topology" title="Network topology">network topology</a> specifying the nodes on the network and the links between those nodes</li>

<li>Model the application flow (traffic) between the nodes</li>

<li>Providing network performance metrics such as throughput, latency, error, etc., as output</li>

<li>Evaluate protocol and device designs</li>

<li>Log radio measurements, packet and events for drill-down analyses and debugging</li></ul>

<ul><li><a href="Network_emulation" title="Network emulation">Network emulation</a></li>

<li><a href="Traffic_generation_model" title="Traffic generation model">Traffic generation model</a></li></ul>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="References">References</h2></div>

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</style><cite id="CITEREFWehrleGünesGross2010" class="citation book cs1">Wehrle, Klaus; Günes, Mesut; Gross, James (2010-09-22). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=CvUvxpSe8NoC&dq=%22Network+simulation%22&pg=PA49"><i>Modeling and Tools for Network Simulation</i></a>. Springer Science & Business Media. <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>978-3-642-12331-3</bdi>.</cite></span>

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This article is issued from <a class="external text" title="Last edited on 2025-06-19" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/?title=Network_simulation&oldid=1296334686">Wikipedia</a>. The text is available under <a class="external text" href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en">Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0</a> unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

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