Steps for conducting the experiment

General Instructions

Follow are the steps to be followed in general to perform the experiments in Advanced Network Technologies Virtual Lab.

1. Read the theory about the experiment
2. View the simulation provided for a chosen, related problem
3. Take the self evaluation to judge your understanding (optional, but recommended)
4. Go to the exercises section, choose a problem, and carefully read the problem description
5. Write a script (or make necessary changes) to simulate the desired scenario in the code editor just below the problem statement
6. Click on the 'Run' button to execute the simulation script
7. Simulation with ns2: If the simulation was successful, and was instructed to create a trace file, contents of the trace file would be displayed in the area below the 'Run' button
8. Simulation with ns3: If the simulation was successful, output of the program would be displayed in the area below the 'Run' button
9. A trace file generated as a result of simulation with ns2 could be used for certain kind of analysis, which would be discussed in a later section

Experiment Specific Instructions

1. The problem statement is presented on the 'Exercises' page, which you have to simulate with ns2.
2. Set the global configuration parameter.
3. Set application time for different traffic movement as shown below:

set appTime1            7.0 ;# in seconds

4. Create an instance of simulator for required simulation and generate a trace file for the analysis of simulation.
5. Run simulation in verbose mode as shown below:

Mac/802_15_4 wpanCmd verbose on

6. Set carrier sensing threshold and reception threshold as shown below:

set dist(15m) 8.54570e-07
Phy/WirelessPhy set CSThresh_ $dist(15m)
Phy/WirelessPhy set RXThresh_ $dist(15m)

If the received signal strength is greater than RXThresh_ threshold, the packet can be successfully received.If received signal strength is greater than CSThresh_ threshold, the packet transmission can be sensed.

7. Set the topography object by defining the grid on x and y axix.
8. Create God and channel.
9. Configure the node by including routing protocol , link layer, ifq , MAC layer,energy model, initial energy etc. as shown below:

$ns_ node-config -adhocRouting $val(rp) \
        -llType $val(ll) \
        -macType $val(mac) \
        -ifqType $val(ifq) \
        -ifqLen $val(ifqlen) \
        -antType $val(ant) \
        -propType $val(prop) \
        -phyType $val(netif) \
        -topoInstance $topo \
        -agentTrace OFF \
        -routerTrace OFF \
        -macTrace ON \
                -movementTrace OFF \
                -energyModel "EnergyModel" \
                -initialEnergy 1 \
                -rxPower 0.3 \
                -txPower 0.3 \
                -channel $chan_1_ 

10. The node position are defined by x,y and z coordinates as follows:

$node_(0) set X_ 25
$node_(0) set Y_ 25
$node_(0) set Z_ 0

11. Start a new PAN coordinator and activate it as a PAN coordinator as shown below:

$ns_ at 0.0 "$node_(0) NodeLabel PAN Coor"
$ns_ at 0.0 "$node_(0) sscs startPANCoord 1 6 0"        ;# startPANCoord <txBeacon> <BO> <SO> 

12. Similarly set up and start device as shown below for different nodes:

$ns_ at 0.5 "$node_(1) sscs startDevice 1 0 0 6 0"  ;# startDevice <FFD> <assoPermit> <txBeacon> <BO> <SO>
$ns_ at 1.5 "$node_(2) sscs startDevice 1 0 0 6 0"
$ns_ at 2.5 "$node_(3) sscs startDevice 1 0 0 6 0"
$ns_ at 3.5 "$node_(4) sscs startDevice 1 0 0 6 0"
$ns_ at 4.5 "$node_(5) sscs startDevice 1 0 0 6 0"
$ns_ at 5.5 "$node_(6) sscs startDevice 1 0 0 6 0"

13. Assign traffic pattern for the network.
14. Define a finish procedure.
15. Set the start and stop time for the simulator
16. Check the trace file and find the average energy consumption of nodes excluding coordinator.(See the exercise for calculating the average energy consumption of each node.) for beacon order(BO)= 6,7,8,9,10 and superframe order(SO)=0,1,2.
17. Plot the data for average energy consumption by taking beacon order in x-axis and average energy in y-axis for SO=0,1,2 .

Trace File Analysis

A simple tool has been provided as part of this lab to analyze the trace files generated after simulation with ns2. A summary of the available options, and usage guide is given below.

Features List

Following is a list of functionalities provided by the Trace Analysis tool:

• Trace file formats: Following trace file formats are being supported:
  • Wired
  • Wireless (new format)
  • Satellite -- currently redirects to wired mode
  • Mixed -- when both wired and wireless connections are present in the simulation
• General Statistics: To provide some common statistics about the simulation being run. Currently displays only the simulation duration.
  • Inputs: None
  • Output: Text
• Average Throughput: Computes total # of bytes received by a node over the entire simulation duration
  
  • Inputs: Node #
  • Output: Number
• Bytes Received: Plots cumulative count of bytes received by a node over the entire simulation duration
  
  • Inputs: Node #; for wireless scenario, trace levels (AGT, MAC, RTR)
  • Output: Graph
• End-to-end Delay: Plots the end-to-end delay delay encountered by packets while moving from a source node to the destination node
  
  • Inputs: Source node #, destination node #, scaling factor [optional] -- scaling factor helps to amplify the y-axis values
  • Output: Graph
• Packet Retransmissions: Plots # of retransmission(s) of a given packet occurs between the source and destination nodes
  
  • Inputs: Source node #, destination node #
  • Output: Graph
• Hop Count: Plots the # of hops traveled by a packet to reach the destination node from the source node. It counts the destination node as well.
  
  • Inputs: Source node #, source port #, destination node #, destination port #
  • Output: Graph

Limitations