End-to-end protocol stack for 5G mmWave simulationSimulation is an essential tool that enables the performance analysis and the design of end-to-end networks. It indeed provides insights on complex behaviors that are hard to model analytically. Moreover, using an end-to-end simulator, a researcher can study in detail the interaction among the different elements of the network, at different layers in the protocol stack.

Therefore, our team at the University of Padova and NYU WIRELESS have developed an end-to-end simulation framework for 5G mmWave networks. It is based on ns-3, a popular and open-source network simulator. As a results, this simulator allowed us to perform the studies described in the Transport Protocols and Mobility sections. For example, it features:

  • multiple channel models, including the implementation of the latest 3GPP model for frequencies above 6 GHz and the possibility of plugging traces from ray tracing softwares;
  • detailed PHY and MAC layers, with customizable parameters that can also simulate different numerologies;
  • Carrier Aggregation;
  • 3GPP-like RLC, PDCP, RRC and core network elements, that extend the LTE implementation of ns-3;
  • support for mobility via Dual Connectivity;
  • ns-3 full TCP/IP stack and possible integration with the Linux TCP/IP stack.

This paper (link) provides a complete description of the ns-3 mmWave module.

Download the end-to-end mmWave simulator

Recently, we published an extension which supports the simulation of wireless relays through Integrated Access and Backhaul. This page describes our research effort in the IAB area.

Download the Integrated Access and Backhaul (IAB) simulator

LIST OF RELATED PUBLICATIONS

Title DateArea
F. Chiariotti, A. A. Deshpande, M. Giordani, K. Antonakoglou, A. Zanella, T. Mahmoodi, “QUIC-EST: QUIC-Enabled Scheduling and Transmission Scheme for Time-Sensitive and Correlated Data Flows”, IEEE Communications Magazine, 2021.
arXiv
2021/04Simulation
Matteo Drago, Michele Polese, Stepan Kucera, Dmitry Kozlov, Vitalii Kirillov, Michele Zorzi, QoS Provisioning in 60 GHz Communications by Physical and Transport Layer Coordination, IEEE 16th International Conference on Mobile Ad Hoc and Sensor Systems (MASS), Monterey, CA, USA, 2019
arXiv
2019/11Transport, Simulation
Michele Polese, Francesco Restuccia, Abhimanyu Gosain, Josep Jornet, Shubhendu Bhardwaj, Viduneth Ariyarathna, Soumyajit Mandal, Kai Zheng, Aditya Dhananjay, Marco Mezzavilla, James Buckwalter, Mark Rodwell, Xin Wang, Michele Zorzi, Arjuna Madanayake, Tommaso Melodia, "MillimeTera: Toward A Large-Scale Open-Source mmWave and Terahertz Experimental Testbed", in Proceedings of the 3rd ACM Workshop on Millimeter-Wave Networks and Sensing Systems 2019 (co-located with Mobicom 2019)
ACM

2019/10Testbed, Mobility, Simulation, 6G
Tommaso Zugno, Matteo Drago, Marco Giordani, Michele Polese, Michele Zorzi, "Towards Standardization of Millimeter Wave Vehicle-to-Vehicle Networks: Open Challenges and Performance Evaluation", IEEE Communications Magazine, vol. 58, no. 9, pp. 79-85, September 2020.
arXiv

IEEE Xplore
2020/09Vehicular, Simulation
Tommaso Zugno, Michele Polese, Mattia Lecci, Michele Zorzi, "Simulation of Next-generation Cellular Networks with ns-3: Open Challenges and New Directions", Proceedings of the 2019 Workshop on Next-Generation Wireless with ns-3, Florence, Italy, 2019
ACM
2019/06Simulation
M. Mezzavilla, M.Zhang, M. Polese, R. Ford, S. Dutta, S. Rangan, and M. Zorzi, “End-to-End Simulation of 5G mmWave Networks”, to appear on IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials
IEEE Xplore
2018/09Simulation
M. Polese, M. Giordani, A. Roy, S. Goyal, D. Castor, M. Zorzi, " End-to-End Simulation of Integrated Access and Backhaul at mmWaves", in IEEE CAMAD, Barcelona, Spain, 2018
arXiv

IEEE Xplore
2018/09Integrated Access and Backhaul, Simulation
M. Rebato, M. Polese, and M. Zorzi, "Multi-Sector and Multi-Panel Performance in 5G mmWave Cellular Networks", in IEEE Global Communications Conference: Communication QoS, Reliability and Modeling (Globecom2018 CQRM), Abu Dhabi, UAE, Dec 2018
arXiv
2018/08Interference, Simulation, Antenna Modeling
T. Zugno, M. Polese, M. Zorzi, " Integration of Carrier Aggregation and Dual Connectivity for the ns-3 mmWave Module", to be presented at WNS3 2018
arXiv
2018/06Simulation, Mobility
M. Polese, M. Zorzi, "Impact of Channel Models on the End-to-End Performance of mmWave Cellular Networks", IEEE SPAWC 2018, Kalamata, Greece
arXiv
2018/06Simulation, Mobility
M. Polese, M. Giordani, M. Mezzavilla, S. Rangan, and M. Zorzi, “Improved Handover Through Dual Connectivity in 5G mmWave Mobile Networks”, to appear on IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications (JSAC)
IEEE Xplore

arXiv
2017/09Mobility, Transport, Simulation
M. Zhang, M. Polese, M. Mezzavilla, S. Rangan and M. Zorzi, “ns-3 Implementation of the 3GPP MIMO Channel Model for Frequency Spectrum above 6 GHz,” to be presented at WNS-3 2017
arXiv
2017/06Simulation
M. Polese, M. Mezzavilla, and M. Zorzi, “Performance Comparison of Dual Connectivity and Hard Handover for LTE-5G Tight Integration,” in SIMUTools 2016
ACM

arXiv
2016/08Simulation, Mobility
R. Ford, M. Zhang, S. Dutta, M. Mezzavilla, S. Rangan and M. Zorzi, “A Framework for End-to-End Evaluation of 5G mmWave Cellular Networks in ns-3” in WNS-3 2016
ACM

arXiv
2016/06Simulation