Bandwidth Analysis of a Simulated Computer Network Executing OTB

This paper describes the development of an Embedded Training computer network simulation using the OMNeT public-domain modeling tool. The purpose of this simulation is to determine the bandwidth requirements of military mission rehearsal activities while enroute to deployment. A predefined vignette running under OneSAF Testbed Baseline (OTB) provides the base data for the simulator. The simulation includes 24 computers onboard 8 military airplanes, 3 computers per plane, representing 3 combat vehicles connected via a 100Mbps Ethernet LAN. A router interconnects the resources aboard each plane to those of other planes and also to a remote ground station via 64Kbps and 256Kbps wireless communications channels. The simulation is run and the results are collected, plotted, and several conclusions are drawn regarding bandwidth and latency implications of the Embedded Training exercises. The simulation model of this system in OMNeT is also presented in detail. OMNeT is a general discrete event simulation tool that contains features aimed to facilitate computer network modeling. OMNeT runs under different platforms including UNIX systems, Linux, and Windows. It contains a graphical development environment that can be used to instantiate and connect varying icons representing the objects of the simulation: computers, communication channels, routers, airplanes, etc. The behavior of each object is then defined using C++ code. The final product is an executable standalone program that models system behavior generated using a variety of libraries. It runs as an animation or as an express simulation. As shown, a wide range of statistics is produced and immediately available for analysis. Bandwidth Analysis of a Simulated Computer Network Executing OTB Juan J. Vargas, Ronald F. DeMara University of Central Florida Orlando, Florida [email protected], [email protected]