Efficient DSDV routing module for network simulator ns-3

This repository accompanies the bachelor thesis Improving Table-Driven Mobile Ad Hoc Networks through Demand-Driven Features: A comparative simulation of DSDV and Eff-DSDV Routing Protocols. It contains a C++ implementation of the Efficient Destination-Sequenced Distance Vector (Eff-DSDV) Routing Protocol, written for the ns-3 network simulator.

What is this about?

Finding an optimal (e.g. shortest) path between two devices remains one of the main challenges in Mobile Ad Hoc Networks (MANETs). In such, each device acts both as a router and a network host and thereby connects devices that are not in each other’s service range. The Destination-Sequenced Distance Vector (DSDV) protocol was one of the first routing protocols designed for the special properties of MANETs. With the Efficient Destination-Sequenced Distance Vector (Eff-DSDV) protocol, an allegedly more efficient version of the table-driven DSDV has been proposed. In particular, Eff-DSDV claims to increase the low Packet Delivery Ratio (PDR) of DSDV. My thesis investigates the proposed changes by discussing the (dis-) advantages of the different routing approaches. I further implemented Eff-DSDV to conduct a comparative simulation study in the network simulator suite ns-3. My thesis shows that Eff-DSDV cannot live up to its name and offers no significant advantage over DSDV.

Building the module

In order to make use of this implementation, you'll need to install ns-3 in version 3.28 (more recent version might work but are untested). Then, copy the content of src/ into your local ns-3/src/ directory. Afterwards, you can build the module from the project root using waf:

./waf configure --disable-python --enable-examples --enable-tests

Running tests or examples

This project does not use the pytest framework for running tests. Instead, one can run tests using:

./waf --run "test-runner --suite=eff-dsdv"

This command will run the test contained in eff-dsdv/test.

Running Eff-DSDV simulations

The file manet-routing-compare.cc contains a simulation manager allowing to run configuration-based simulation scenarios. Copy manet-routing-compare.cc into the project root's scratch/ folder and run the following command from terminal:

./waf --run="scratch/manet-routing-compare"

However, this will only execute the standard scenario. Alternatively, one can provide a configuration file

./waf --run="scratch/manet-routing-compare --configFile=someConfig.csv"

or pass arguments directly:

./waf --run="scratch/manet-routing-compare --nWifis=10 --nSinks=10 --protocol=5 --totalTime=400"

To retrieve a list of all possible commands, execute

./waf --run="scratch/manet-routing-compare --PrintAttributes"

Simulation results will be stored in the projects root as a .csv file.

Debugging / Logging

The programm makes heavy use of ns-3 logging capabilities. First, define for which component logging should be enabled, e.g. Eff-DSDV Protocol:

export NS_LOG=EffDsdvRoutingProtocol=level_debug

Furthermore, one can retrieve additional output from the Simulation Manager by enabling the extensiveOutput flag. It is recommended to print the output to a log file

./waf --run="scratch/manet-routing-compare --extensiveOutput=1" > log.out 2>&1

Author

Thorben Hellweg