1. QualNet Tutorial
Yi Zheng

2. Writing protocols in QualNet
Contents
Introduction 1
Using QualNet 2
Writing protocols in QualNet 3
Example 4

3. QualNet
Part I
Introduction

4. Introduction What’s QualNet? Commercial derivative of GlomoSim
Rapid prototyping of protocols
Comparative performance evaluation of alternative protocols at each layer
Built-in measurements on each layer
Modular, layered stack design
Standard API for composition of protocols across different layers
Scalability via support for parallel execution
GUI Tools for system/protocol modeling

5. Introduction Installation
Make a local copy of QualNet in your home directory
% mkdir ~/qualnet
% cp –r /cs/research/utn/6590_2013_simulation/4.0-x86/ ~/qualnet
Set environment variables in ~/.cshrc
setenv QUALNET_HOME ~/qualnet/4.0
setenv PATH ${PATH} :${QUALNET_HOME}/bin
Test installation
% cd ~/qualnet/4.0/bin
% qualnet default.config

6. Introduction Directory Structure
addons Components developed as custom add-on modules
bin Executable and other runtime files
data Data files for the Wireless Model Library
documentation User’s Guide, Release Notes, etc.
gui Graphical components
include QualNet kernel header files
interfaces Code to interface QualNet with third party tools
kernel QualNet kernel objects used in the build process
lib Third party libraries used in the build process
libraries Source code for models in QualNet model libraries
license_dir License files required for the build process
main Kernel source files and Makefiles
scenarios Sample scenarios

7. Introduction Simulation experiment life cycle Startup Execution
Read configuration files
Initialize wireless environment
Create/initialize nodes
Execution
Execute events
Shutdown
Finalize nodes
Produce statistics files

8. QualNet
Part II
Using QualNet

9. Configuration File (1) Configuration files
Plain-text explanation for configuration file
$QUALNET_HOME/scenarios/default/default.config
Global Parameters
Experiment name
Simulation time
Coordinate system and terrain
Random seed
Topology and subnets
Layer/Protocol related parameters

10. Configuration File (2) EXPERIMENT-NAME default SIMULATION-TIME 15M
Name of experiment. Results are written to default.stat.
SIMULATION-TIME 15M
SEED 1
Value used to seed the random number generator.
COORDINATE-SYSTEM CARTESIAN
TERRAIN-DIMENSIONS (1500, 1500)
Cartesian xy terrain dimensions in meters
SUBNET N { 1 thru 30 }
30 nodes whose IP addresses range from to
Format: N<# host bits>-<address with front end 0’s omitted>
N allows hosts with IP address numbered from through
, it is equivalent to N

11. Configuration File (3) NODE-PLACEMENT UNIFORM/GRID/RANDOM/FILE
GRID RANDOM UNIFORM
MULTICASTGROUPFILE ./default.member
multicast membership file
See $QUALNET_HOME/scenarios/default/default.member for more details.
APPCONFIGFILE ./default.app
Specifies a file with a list of apps/traffic generators to run
CBR <src> <dest> <items to send> <size> <interval> <start time> <end time>
See $QUALNET_HOME/scenarios/default/default.app for more details.

12. Configuration File (4) ROUTING-PROTOCOL AODV MULTICAST-PROTOCOL SPTM
Unicast routing protocol
MULTICAST-PROTOCOL SPTM
Multicast routing protocol
Layer Statistics
APPLICATION-STATISTICS (YES|NO)
TCP-STATISTICS (YES|NO)
UDP-STATISTICS (YES|NO)
ROUTING-STATISTICS (YES|NO)
NETWORK-LAYER-STATISTICS (YES|NO)
QUEUE-STATISTICS (YES|NO)
MAC-LAYER-STATISTICS (YES|NO)
PHY-LAYER-STATISTICS (YES|NO)
MOBILITY-STATISTICS (YES|NO)

13. Using QualNet Step 1: Prepare config files for your protocol
Step 2: Run QualNet on the config files
Step 3: Examine the output statistics file
Use script language (perl/awk) to process it.
Step 4: Use plotting tools (gnuplot) to
create graphs from above results.

14. Using QualNet Find fast computers in our department
Checkout /proc/cpuinfo, /proc/meminfo, etc.
Use “top” to check no other people is using that computer
Some new(fast) computers
cse2017-pc01 ~ cse2017-pc12: E8400 3G 6M cache
cse2027-pc01 ~ cse2027-pc08: E8400
cse2023-pc01 ~ cse2023-pc08: E8400
jun01 ~ jun24: E G 4M cache
navy
Don’t run QualNet on Indigo/Red
Only one process in one computer.
Our QualNet license only supports 30 processes simultaneously.

15. Tip More Information Read manuals in $QUALNET_HOME/documents
Read source codes
Visit community forums

16. Thank You !