CALL FOR PAPERS CONFERENCE PROGRAM REGISTRATION VENUE

Thursday, 9 December 2010
11:20 - 12:30

IEEE GLOBECOM 2010 Design & Development Forums
 Modeling and Simulation of Wireless Networks
(Forum Organizer and Chairs: Jack L. Burbank & Jon R. Ward, Johns Hopkins University, USA)


ABSTRACT

Modeling and Simulation (M&S) is a critical element in the design, development, and test and evaluation (T&E) of any network product or solution.  In many cases, M&S provides the only method to gain insight into the performance of the eventual product or solution in a large-scale environment, and allows for more informed design trade studies.  The goal of this technical session is to provide attendees an overview of many of the M&S tools and techniques that are available to assist them in their wireless projects. In particular, the forum consists of seven relevant presentation topics:

  1. Commercial Wireless Networking Explained - an overview of key existing and emerging wireless networking technologies, such as WiFi, WiMAX, cellular, Bluetooth, ZigBee, UWB, and commercial architectural frameworks such as International Mobile Telecommunications (IMT). 
  2. Wireless Network M&S Tools - an overview of existing network M&S tools, such as OPNET, NS2, QualNet, and GloMoSim, contrasting the strengths and weaknesses of these tools as related to M&S of wireless networks.  
  3. Wireless Networking Hardware-in-the-loop M&S - an overview of hardware-in-the-loop (HITL) M&S and testbed methods, describing the appropriate applications of HITL applications, and providing novel examples of HITL techniques for assessing the performance of wireless networking technologies and devices. 
  4. Distributed simulation - an overview of distributed computing methods, and discuss the application of network M&S tools in a distributed environment in order to achieve large-scale wireless network M&S capabilities. 
  5. Waveform M&S Tools - compare and contrast existing waveform M&S tools, such as MathWorks MATLAB and SimuLink, National Instruments LabVIEW, and Agilent Signal Studio, with a focus on waveform characteristics common to wireless networking technologies (e.g., OFDM, OFDMA, MIMO).  
  6. Propagation M&S Tools - compare and contrast existing propagation M&S tools, such as Wireless Insite, considering both outdoor and indoor propagation scenarios (indoor - same floor, indoor - different floor), as well as combined outdoor-indoor scenarios. 
  7. Network Simulation with NS3  - The ns-3 network simulation environment is the result of a multi-year effort funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation, and is designed to replace the aging but popular ns-2 simulator. We will start by discussing some of the basic concepts used when creating simulations of computer networks, and the types of questions that can be analyzed by network simulation tools. Then we will discuss some of the basic design of ns-3 and the tradeoffs that went into those design decisions. Finally, we will demonstrate a simple ns-3 simulation and show the results.

 

Jack L. Burbank
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, USA


Bio:
Mr. Burbank earned his Bachelors of Science and Masters of Science degrees in Electrical Engineering from North Carolina State University in 1994 and 1998 respectively.  Mr. Burbank currently leads the Wireless Networking section within the Communications and Network Technologies group of The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU/APL).  Mr. Burbank is an expert in the areas of wireless networking and modeling and simulation, focusing on the application and evaluation of wireless networking technologies to the military context.  Mr. Burbank's background is in communications theory, wireless networking, IP internetworking, satellite communications, communications vulnerability analysis, and computer simulation of communications systems.  Mr. Burbank leads a team of network engineers at JHU/APL that participates within the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and the IEEE 802 standards organization.

Mr. Burbank's research interests include electronic attack of wireless networks, mobile ad-hoc networking, wireless MAC design, and cross-layer design.  Mr. Burbank's work spans from serving as the primary software developer for a  large M&S effort for the U.S. Navy that culminated in a formal accreditation for its use as a substitute for physical testing to leading numerous efforts that involve the modeling and simulation of large, complex communications systems.  Mr. Burbank has published numerous technical papers and reports on topics of wireless networking (both terrestrial-based and space-based), has contributed to a book on WiMAX and led commercial wireless network tutorials at the 2005 and 2006 IEEE MILCOM conference.  Mr. Burbank holds a provisional patent for a novel commercial WLAN hardware-in-the-loop M&S testbed concept developed while studying the inclusion of very high-speed mobile stations (in excess of Mach 4) within an 802.11-based WLAN.  Mr. Burbank is a professor of networking and telecommunications in The Johns Hopkins University Part-Time Engineering Program, and is a member of the IEEE and ASEE. 

SECTION I: Overview of Wireless M&S Tools

 

 

George Riley
Associate Professor, Georgia Institute of Technology, USA


Bio:
Dr. Riley received his Ph.D. from the Georgia Tech College of Computing in August 2001, and joined the faculty of ECE at that time. Mr. Riley received a MSCS from Florida Tech in 1996, and a BSEE from University of Alabama in 1972.  Prior to enrolling at Tech in 1996, Mr. Riley was president and CEO of Infoware, Inc. of Cocoa Beach Florida. From 1987 to 1996 Infoware provided software and system design services to the United States Air Force at Patrick Air Force Base, Florida. During that time, Infoware designed, implemented, and deployed numerous systems in support the missile launch activities at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, including a communications front-end processor for real-time data gathering and a real-time distributed flight safety display system. Concurrently, from 1984 to 2000, Mr. Riley was also vice-president and co-owner of CAM Systems Inc. of Atlanta Georgia. CAM systems developed, under Mr. Riley's direction, a suite of PC based software tools for residential property management.

 

Jon R. Ward
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, USA


Bio:
Mr. Ward graduated from North Carolina State University (NCSU) in 2005 with a Master's degree in Electrical Engineering. After graduating from NCSU, he started his professional career in August 2005 at The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU/APL) in Laurel, MD.  Since starting work in the wireless networking section of the communications and newtorking technology (VCT) group at JHU/APL he has worked projects focusing on network design and interference testing of standards-based wireless technologies such as IEEE 802.11, IEEE 802.15.4, and IEEE 802.16.  He has experience in network M&S and HITL test and evaluation (T&E) of commercial wireless equipment and experience writing custom physical-layer simulations for throughput and bit error rate analysis of Ultra Wideband (UWB) communications systems. He is a member of IEEE COMSOC and has served as a session chair and organizer for the IEEE Milcom conference. 

SECTION II: Industry Applications of Wireless M&S Tools

TBA