Hybrid Simulated-Emulated Platform for Heterogeneous Access Networks Performance Investigations

A communication network composed of heterogeneous access technologies can assure some benefits to mobile users. To exploit these benefits it is crucial to implement control techniques and algorithms to assure a proper level of Quality of Service (QoS). Performance studies are necessary to validate the proposed solutions before implementing them in real networks. Network simulators and emulators are useful tools. The main contribution of this paper is the description of a tool developed by the authors and called Hybrid Simulated and Emulated Platform (HySEP). HySEP is used to analyse the performance of different wireless networks such as Long Term Evolution (LTE) and Wi-Fi, simulated by using Network Simulator 3 (ns-3), connected to a transport network which implements the Differentiated Service (DiffServ) protocol, emulated through a group of virtual PCs. HySEP enables the creation of a simulated mobile node which implements heterogeneous network interfaces and can execute vertical handover while it is communicating with a real node. HySEP validation tests represent a further contribution of this paper.