Distributed Network Simulations Using the Dynamic Simulation Backplane

We present an approach for creating distributed, component-based, simulations of communication networks by interconnecting models of sub-networks drawn from different network simulation packages. This approach supports rapid construction of simulations for large networks by reusing existing models and software, and fast execution using parallel discrete event simulation techniques. A dynamic simulation backplane is proposed that provides a common format and protocol for message exchange, and services for transmitting data and synchronizing heterogeneous network simulation engines. In order to achieve "plug-and-play" interoperability, the backplane uses existing network communication standards, and dynamically negotiates among the participant simulators to define a minimal subset of required information that each simulator must supply, as well as other optional information. The backplane then automatically creates a message format that can be understood by all participating simulators and dynamically creates the content of each message by using callbacks to the simulation engines. This paper describes our approach to interoperability as well as an implementation of the backplane. We present results that demonstrate the proper operation of the backplane by distributing a network simulation between two different simulation packages, ns2 developed at USC/ISI and GloMoSim developed at UCLA. We present performance results that show that the overhead for the creation of the dynamic messages is minimal. Although this work is specific to network simulations, we believe our methodology and approach can be used to achieve interoperability in other distributed computing applications as well.