A TCP/IP Network Emulator

Abstract

In this paper a Linux based framework of a TCP/IP emulator is introduced. Several advantages can be noted. Firstly, the maintenance of large numbers of processors is unnecessary. Secondly, compared with simulators constructed with conceptual codes, our emulator framework makes it possible to test the interaction and behaviour of TCP/IP in real Linux network environments. Thirdly, the wired network is fully controlled by a single processor enabling us to separate TCP/IP behaviour over the wireless network, which helps distinguish performance functions that occur due to noisy wireless links. The framework was tested on two Linux processors over an IEEE802.11b wireless link. The simulations show that the complex topology of the heterogeneous network was "realistically" constructed