Integration of the CORE and EMANE Network Emulators

Researchers who evaluate networking protocols and applications can benefit significantly from the availability of flexible, open source tools. Network emulation has been one of the tools of choice for conducting experiments on commodity hardware, and for wireless MANET environments, in the absence of a possibly large number of radio devices. We present an easy-to-use system based on a combination of two such open source emulation tools. We describe integrating the Common Open Research Emulator (CORE), providing virtualization controlled by a graphical user interface, with the Extendable Mobile Ad-hoc Network Emulator (EMANE) framework that provides for more detailed radio models and scenarios. We discuss the benefits of integrating the two tools, along with challenges of this approach and how they were addressed. We address the performance experienced when using these more detailed link- and physical-layer models. Finally, we conclude with open issues and future directions.