Discrete-time simulation of smart antenna systems in Network Simulator-2 Using MATLAB and Octave

摘要

This paper presents two platforms that exploit the scalability properties of Network Simulator-2 for the discrete-event simulation of a telecommunication network, and the modeling capabilities of two development tools for the discretetime implementation of adaptive antenna arrays at the physical layer. The two tools are the proprietary MATLAB and the open source Octave, both of which are used to implement the physical antenna system, the beamforming algorithm, the channel coding scheme, and the multipath and fading statistics. The adopted approach enables detailed modeling of the antenna radiation pattern generated by each network node, thus improving the accuracy of the signal-to-interference ratio estimated at the receiver. This study describes the methods that can be adopted to interface MATLAB and Octave with Network Simulator-2, and discusses the advantages and disadvantages that characterize the integration of the two tools with Network Simulator-2. The proposed numerical platforms, which can be interfaced with any wireless network supported by Network Simulator-2, are used to investigate the possibility of exploiting smart antenna systems in a wireless mesh network to enable the coexistence of multiple simultaneous communications.