Simulation of Communication Protocols
Background:
When computers exchange data over a network complex procedures are involved and a high degree of cooperation between the communicating computers is required. The logic behind this is implemented as subtasks or modules that are arranged in a vertical stack. In other words, the stack is composed of layers each of which performs specific set of functions. For two computers to communicate, the same set of layered functions must exist in both of them. The peer layers communicate by means of formatted blocks of data that obey a set of rules or conventions known as a protocol . The layered stack of protocols is referred to as the Protocol Architecture.
The cnet network simulator enables development of and experimentation with a variety of data-link layer, network layer, and transport layer networking protocols in networks consisting of any combination of wide-area-networking (WAN), local-area-networking (LAN), or wireless-local-area-networking (WLAN) links .
While the Physical Layer and the Application Layer are already implemented for the users of the cnet simulator, the rest of the layers of the protocol architecture should be designed and implemented by the users.
Project Problem:
In this project you are required to implement the Sliding-Window Flow Control (SWFC) protocol (a Data Link Layer protocol) and study its performance.
The following specifications should be taken into consideration:
1. Use a wired network with at least four machines.
2. Implement the SWFC protocol as explained in class (slides 21 - 33 and 42 - 49).
3. Test the performance of the siding-window protocol with window sizes 1, 7, and 15.
4. Collect the following statistics (The simulation should be run for a long time sufficient to collect meaningful statistics):
a. Number of frames generated.
b. Number of frames delivered.
c. Average delivery time.
d. Utilization (see number 5 below).
5. Plot the utilization as a function of (where ) (refer to pages 550 -554 of our textbook for more information). (To plot the graph you can use any software like Excel, MATLAB ... etc).