Today I gave the final completion presentation for my diploma thesis. The talk showcased a selection of results published in the thesis. Results and experiments are only sketched, as all further detailed information can be found in the thesis PDF itself.

The talk contains side-by-side comparison plots of feature enhancements made to ns-3 and verifications thereof using ns-2. Furthermore, the EDCA extensions implemented in ns-3 are tested against analytically calculated reference values. In the end, a speed test comparison is done between ns-2 and ns-3, which uses the implemented classes to run an experiment scenario identically on both simulators.

The slides are available as PDFs in following two variants:

Here the table of contents:

1. Thesis Objectives
2. Enhancements
   1. Propagation Loss Models
   2. Reception Criteria
   3. Frame Capture Effect
   4. EDCA Implementation
3. Speed Comparison
4. Conclusion
5. Appendix
   1. Enlarged Plots and Figures
      1. Propagation Loss Models
      2. Reception Criteria
      3. Frame Capture Effect
      4. EDCA Implementation

After a very exhausting last week with lots of writing and little sleep, my diploma thesis is finally complete. The thesis is on enhancements to the 802.11 model and EDCA (enhanced distributed coordination access) QoS (quality of service) extensions in the new network simulator ns-3.

The thesis is written in English and a copy of the abstract and table of contents is located below. There is also a Zusammenfassung in German.

It is available as PDF in different variants:

Shortened Table of Contents

• 1. Introduction
     1. Motivation
     2. Contributions
• I   Related Work
  1. IEEE 802.11
     1. 802: The Big Picture
     2. Outline of 802 and 802.11 Layers
     3. PHY Layers
     4. MAC Layer
  2. The ns-2 Network Simulator
     1. Overview
     2. Problems with 802.11 and Overhaul by DSN
  3. The ns-3 Network Simulator
     1. Design Overview
     2. Architecture of 802.11 Implementation
• II   Enhancements
  1. Propagation Model Enhancements
     1. Propagation in ns-3
     2. Basic Propagation Loss Models
     3. Further Models in ns-3.4
     4. Nakagami-m Fast Fading
     5. Implementation and Verification
  2. PHY Layer Enhancements
     1. Modeling the Transceiver
     2. Implementation of Cumulative Noise
     3. SINR Reception Criterion
     4. Frame Capture Effect
     5. Implementation Issues
     6. BER/PER Reception Criterion
     7. Verification
     8. Discussion of Reception Criteria
  3. EDCA QoS Extensions
     1. Modeling DCF
     2. Extending Model with EDCA
     3. Implementation Issues
     4. Verification
  4. Speed Comparison – ns-2 vs. ns-3
     1. Highway Lanes Scenario
  5. Conclusion
     1. Summary
     2. Future Work
  6. Bibliography
  7. Background
     1. A Note on Decibel
  8. Extra Figures and Tables
     1. 802.11a Convolutional Encoder
     2. Default EDCA Parameters
  9. ns-3 Crash Course
     1. Callbacks
     2. Objects, Ptrs, Attributes and TraceSources
     3. Highway Lanes Scenario Code

For the last three months I have been working intensely on my diploma thesis. The thesis will be about 802.11 enhancements and EDCA QoS extensions in the new network simulator ns-3.

Today I gave my halftime presentation about the current status of my efforts. The talk is composed of a short introduction into ns-3, followed by a detailed discussion of WLAN packet reception criteria and finishes with a review of DCF and how EDCA extends it.

Be warned: many slides are not all self-explanatory and therefore less suitable as a casual introduction into the topics. They are slides meant for presentation.

The slides are available as PDFs in following three variants:

Here the table of contents:

1. ns-3 Basics
   1. Introduction
   2. Showcase: Design Patterns
   3. Current State
2. Wifi in ns-3
   1. State of 802.11
   2. PHY Layer
   3. Signals, Noise and Interference
   4. Short Recapitulation of DCF
   5. QoS with EDCA
3. Conclusion