Open Source Simulation Tools for Public Safety

Overview

While we employ a variety of commercial modeling and simulation software to conduct our research, we have made extensive use of the open-source simulation tool called Network Simulator 3 (ns-3). Using open-source software accelerates collaboration by making it easily accessible to other researchers in both industry and academia. We have developed ns-3 public-safety oriented modules to enable simulation of applications and emerging network technologies in mission critical communication. We released modules supporting the evaluation of Proximity Services (ProSe) over device-to-device communication architectures in both, LTE (https://github.com/usnistgov/psc-ns3) and NR (https://github.com/usnistgov/nr-prose-ns3-module) systems. Furthermore, detailed on-network and off-network Mission Critical Push-to-Talk (MCPTT), video streaming, and HTTP application models along with an Unmanned Arial Vehicle (UAV) energy consumption model were also released (https://github.com/usnistgov/psc-ns3-module).

The work also led to the development and public release of a new visualization tool for ns-3 to assist researchers in validating and disseminating their research (https://github.com/usnistgov/NetSimulyzer).

This work involved collaborations with several universities to further expand the simulation capabilities to include proper management of radio link failures, wireless backhaul, and mmWave communication, NR V2X and NR sidelink (Centre Tecnològic de Telecomunicacions de Catalunya (CTTC) and the University of Washington).   

Publications

• R. A. Rouil, F. J. Cintrón, A. Ben Mosbah, and S. Gamboa Quintiliani, “A Long Term Evolution (LTE) device-to-device module for ns-3,” in Workshop on ns-3 (WNS3), 2016. https://www.nsnam.org/workshops/wns3-2016/posters/wns3_2016_LTE_D2D_NIST.pdf
• R. Rouil, F. J. Cintrón, A. Ben Mosbah, and S. Gamboa, “Implementation and Validation of an LTE D2D Model for ns-3,” Workshop on ns-3 (WNS3), pp. 55–62, 2017. [Access paper]
• R. Rouil, C. Liu, and A. Izquierdo, "NISTIR 8247 Guidelines for Generating Public Safety Benchmark Scenario Set", May 2019. [Access paper]
• E. Black, S. Gamboa Quintiliani, and R. A. Rouil, “NetSimulyzer: a 3D network simulation analyzer for ns-3”, in Workshop on ns-3 (WNS3), pp. 65-72, 2021. [Access paper]
• W. Garey, T. R. Henderson, Y. Sun, R. Rouil, and S. Gamboa Quintiliani, “Modeling MCPTT and User Behavior in ns-3”, 11th International Conference on Simulation and Modeling Methodologies, Technologies and Applications (SIMULTECH 2021). [Access paper]
• R. Rouil, A. Izquierdo, C. Liu, and W. Garey, "NIST TN 2186 Modeling Public Safety Communication Scenarios: School Shooting Incident", October 2021. [Access paper]
• Gamboa, S., Henderson, T. R. , Garey, W. , Liu, C., Rouil, R., "Towards System Level Simulations of Public Safety Applications over 5G NR Sidelink," in 2024 IEEE World Forum on Public Safety Technology (WFPST), Herndon, VA, USA, 2024, pp. 1-6. [Access Paper]