Software Defined Network Simulation Using OpenNet for Vehicular Network

Abstract

Interconnected vehicles, which communicate using the same concept of mobile networks, where a wireless connection is established spontaneously to perform information exchange between vehicles, is known as Vehicular Network (VANETs). High-speed moving user devices often experience information loss due to lack of connectivity, which stems from traditional network systems where the routing and switching system are installed on the same equipment. Software-defined network (SDN) embraces the dynamic nature of the vehicular network by separating the control plane from the data plane, but has limited the operational capabilities, as it is often a single network controller based systems. Multiple controllers provide fault tolerance. However, it is important to validate the augmented solution of multiple controllers using a network simulator, which would be cost-effective and feasible. In this paper capability comparison between network simulators NS3, MiniNet and OpenNet have been performed. OpenNet with POX controller has been used to simulate SDN and results show significant improvement over MiniNet and NS-3. Further, performance analysis is done on simulated data to describe the behavior of networking using TCP transmission and ping operation.