Extending network simulators with communication software execution models

Existing network simulators do not account for the overhead of communication software execution, which can be significant when devices in the network are resource constrained, like in MANETs and sensor networks. We propose an approach to extend network simulators to model the execution of communication software and to map the resulting behaviour onto existing protocol models. The approach can be used to extend arbitrary network simulators to model heterogeneous hardware and software in a scalable manner. We evaluate a proof of concept implementation in Ns-3 that follows the design principles and techniques provided. The results demonstrate that our models are both accurate and scalable.