Introduction to Network Emulation

Emulation is a hybrid experimentation technique intended to bridge the gap between simulation and real-world testing. The key idea of emulation is to reproduce in real time and in a controlled manner the essential functionality of a system, so that it can interact with other real systems that can thus be evaluated. This book describes the technique of network emulation and compares it with the other experimental approaches: the scholarly analytical modeling, the popular network simulation, and the demanding real-world testing. To emphasize the practical aspects related to emulation, this book presents a large number of examples of network emulators on the market, as well as provides an in-depth analysis of a case study, the wireless network emulation testbed called QOMB.

Table of Contents:
Introduction. The Ins and Outs of Network Emulation. Network Emulators to Remember. A Case Study: QOMB.

About the Author :
Razvan Beuran is researcher with the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology, Hokuriku Research Center, Ishikawa, Japan. He received the joint Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from "Politehnica" University, Bucharest, Romania, and "Jean Monnet" University, Saint Etienne, France, in 2004. In 2006, he was post-doc research fellow with the Japan Institute of Science and Technology, Ishikawa, Japan, where he is currently project researcher. From 2001 to 2005, he was with CERN, Geneva, Switzerland as researcher, and then as a project associate. From 1999 to 2005 he was also with "Politehnica" University, Bucharest, Romania, as research assistant, and then as teaching assistant. His research interests include quality testing and measurement in wired and wireless networks, network emulation, and network reliability and dependability in connection with disaster situations.

Review :
"Since network emulation permits investigation of how higher-level protocols interact with the underlying network behaviour, it will be of particular interest to anyone tasked with designing and rolling out new applications and services, especially those aimed at wireless transport. This book represents a comprehensive survey of the current state of the art. It will give the readers a good sense of the various techniques available, allowing them to make an informed decision as to which are appropriate to their particular problem." —Dr. Neil Davies - Predictable Network Solutions, UK "The Internet is becoming a network spanning this planet, integrated into our world like the nerve network of the human body. In the 20th century we developed the Net, and in the 21st century we are starting to understand, analyze and plan with the highest wisdom from ‘network emulation’. This book covers network emulation from all the viewpoints on ‘evidence-based’ approaches to network science." —Prof. Jun Murai - Keio University, Japan "Trustworthiness of network systems is the fundamental requirement for our life to be safe and functional, as every aspect of our social and personal activities is heavily dependent on them. This book is a comprehensive and thorough introduction to network emulation, one of the key technologies for establishing network trustworthiness by testing a constructed real-like network. The author has been engaged in the research and development of the technology for many years, and this book will be definitely valuable to serious network engineers and researchers." —Prof. Takuya Katayama - Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Japan "Due to the currently available computational power and technologies, the scientific work makes use of sophisticated techniques like simulation, emulation, virtualization, etc. Network emulation is just one of the nowadays high-interest topics in computer networks that allow predicting application performance prior to deployment in real networks. This book offers the reader both a bird’s-eye view of the emulation of quality degradation in computer networks and a detailed view of the existing network emulation tools. An excellent introduction!" —Prof. Mihai Ivanovici - Transilvania University, România "This book presents a comprehensive classification of the state of the art in network emulation for both wired and wireless networks. The different technologies and trade-offs are described with the voice of experience. It is an invaluable and extremely practical guide that will be of great interest to researchers and practitioners in both the academic and commercial fields." —Dr. Brian Martin - CERN, Switzerland