Abstract

Cellular Network Simulator (CNS) is a stand-alone application, intended to study the behavior and compare the performance of frequency channel assignment and handoff algorithms in different types of cellular networks. A key requirement of such a simulator is that it should be easy to implement and integrate new types of cells or networks, methods for mobility, and algorithms for channel assignment and handoff. Thus the design of CNS was required to be extendable, and particularly in the specific ways mentioned above. CNS was designed and implemented by using object-oriented design and programming techniques. The design of CNS utilized both Unified Modeling Language ( UML ) and design patterns, while it was implemented in Java. CNS provides a convenient graphical user interface as well as a command line interface. CNS was designed and implemented in a manner to completely separate its GUI from the rest of the application. This enables CNS to run without need of any human intervention when this feature is needed. CNS is a multi-platform application that could run on any standard platform (Unix, Windows, and DOS). CNS also provides a record and playback mechanism in order to save and re-run a simulation. An in-depth description of the basic technology used in the design and implementation of CNS is provided in this report.