An NS-3 compatible emulation framework for underwater acoustic network

Simulation and real-life experimentation are both important in the development of network protocols for an underwater acoustic network. In this paper, we propose an integrated framework for computer simulation and real-life hardware emulation. Based on existing simulation modules we develop some components of the framework to connect the real acoustic modem and build the test-bed. Code migration of network protocols is not required. Only a binary flag is required to switch from soft simulation to real-life hardware emulation. We also present some preliminary tests that compare the performance between the computer simulation and emulation with a real-life modem and channel, which confirms the feasibility of the proposed framework.