New INET Framework release
This release, marked 20050706, is a significant update -- it is well worth reading the change summary below! Future INET releases are planned to have support for wireless protocols and mobility, and these parts will be based on Mobility Framework code. I've integrated (a modified version of) MF lower layers into INET, and added several new mobility models (including ones contributed by Emin Ilker Cetinbas and Georg Lutz). Small wireless/ah-hoc demos have also been included. We have also started to implement IPv6 support, partly based on IPv6SuiteWithINET. There's more -- read on. [download] [on-line docu]
Summary of changes:
- TCP improvements: separate congestion control behaviour classes TCPTahoe, TCPReno and TCPNoCongestionControl provided, for teaching purposes (their code is very short, to the point, and extensively commented).
- TCP: fixed bogus RTT calculation and other other bugs; also, sequence numbers are now recorded into omnetpp.vec, so with Plove one can create sequence number plots like Sally Floyd's [thanks to Ahmet Sekercioglu for help!]
- still TCP: fixed the bug which caused closing of a connection to be reported 2MSL (240s) later to the user.
- Added support for drop-tail router queues, and queues with QoS support based on DS Code Point; RED in preparation (see Network/Queue)
- Added wireless and mobility support (based on Mobility Framework code), including 802.11b ad-hoc mode MAC, and several new mobility models (also new to MF). Supports mobility traces from BonnMotion and ANSim.
- Contract directories introduced: Transport/Contract, Network/Contract and NetworkInterfaces/Contract. These directories contain a minimal set of classes necessary for using one layer's functionality from higher layers.
- Added notification mechanism: modules can now notify each other about "events" such as routing table changes, interface status changes (up/down), interface configuration changes, wireless handovers, changes in the state of the wireless channel, mobile node position changes, etc. Notification works via the NotificationBoard which replaces the Blackboard.
- InterfaceTable introduced: it stores all interface configuration that was previously stored in RoutingTable. Per-interface data structure was also split into protocol independent (InterfaceEntry) and protocol dependent (IPv4InterfaceData, IPv6InterfaceData) parts.
- ScenarioManager introduced (experimental, in World/ subdirectory): it addresses the need for simulating scenarios like "what if this cable breaks at t=20s", or "what if traffic intensity grows at t=100s". Scenario is described in an XML file.
- Ping and VideoStream applications added (from IPv6SuiteWithINET)
- ARP got moved up from L2 to L3; this is to prepare for IPv6 support (IPv6 doesn't need ARP, so we can no longer have it as part of the network interfaces)
- prepared for IPv6: application layer, transport layer and IPv6 contract taken over from IPv6SuiteWithINET-20050502
- work in progress: from-scratch IPv6 implementation by Wei Yang Ng (Monash University) and Andras Varga
- added INET_API definitions to classes, so that one can build a DLL that can be loaded dynamically into INET.exe (hint: compile DLL code *without* /DBUILDING_INET, and link them with INET.lib! then add [General]/load-libs= to omnetpp.ini.)
- Network/IPv4d subdirectory removed.
- added files called !WORK_IN_PROGRESS! with some explanations to directories which contain unfinished simulation models. </UL>