A Simulation-Based Embedded System Prototype

The next generation of simulations are believed to be Simulation-Based Embedded Systems (SBES). The idea behind these is to automate the use of simulations to improve performance in the physical systems that are being modeled. The relationship between the physical system and the simulation becomes a symbiosis, in which the physical system improves its performance by continuously evaluating future strategies, and the simulation receives a continuous flow of input and automatic validation of the output. In this study a prototype SBES that optimizes the performance of a computer network is developed. The main goal is to investigate how an SBES can be developed and used. Another goal is to show the usefulness of SBESs by using the prototype to minimize the occurrence of bottleneck links in the network. The prototype is developed entirely in software. First a model of the network that will represent the physical system is developed in Network Simulator 2 (NS-2). Then an SBES that uses NS-2 to simulate the physical system is developed. Unfortunately the SBES failed to achieve the goal of minimizing the occurrence of bottleneck links. This was mainly because the strategies used to optimize the performance were not good enough under the circumstances. Despite this, the prototype is capable of automatically performing simulations and choosing a forwarding policy to use in the physical system. The SBES can thus be viewed as a framework for varying forwarding policies dynamically. It is in this sense auto-adapting.