通過提高無線、移動網絡中心服務的可預測性,QualNet和Exata旨在幫助研發人員對新的網絡拓撲進行仿真和分析,在開始動工架設昂貴的硬件公共設施之前對其進行實驗驗證。

QualNet和 Exata將設計、可視化和分析軟件工具包集成在了一個能同時對上千個元器件進行建模的實時仿真環境中。通過采用并行處理架構,只要添加幾個核來執行其代碼就可將軟件仿真升級。QualNet和Exata沒有采用不準確的抽像,而是直接虛擬網絡和各個分層,從機械層、媒體訪問控制(MAC)、鏈路層、網絡層、網絡協議層、傳輸層到用戶應用程序,如Email、VoIP、網頁瀏覽和視頻服務器。

據SNT稱,用戶通過仿真軟件所得的仿真結果與網絡實際運行的情況相同,并且響應時間也相同。通過采用開放標準端口,QualNet和Exata還可以精確地重現信道環境的影響,包括器件行為、通信鏈路、發射器/天線、地形和大氣影響以及人為因素。

QualNet現已面市。Exata將在2008年第四季度推出支持Unix、 Windows、Mac OS X和Linux操作系統下并行處理環境和排序處理環境的版本。

翻頁查看英文原文:

What if software could simulate wireless nets?

A scalable emulation and simulation software environment for next-generation wireless technologies aimed at both civilian and military networks will be announced today by Scalable Network Technologies Inc. (Los Angeles). Building on the Global Mobile Information Systems (GloMo) Program simulator developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa), Scalable Network Technologies' QualNet and Exata software simulators accurately model the behavior and operations, respectively, of mobile communications networks, including quality-of-service, software defined radios and network-centric services.

By improving the predictability of wireless, mobile net-centric services, QualNet and Exata seek to enable developers to "what if" new network topologies and then try them out before building expensive hardware infrastructures.

QualNet and Exata integrate design, visualization and analysis software toolsets into a real-time simulation environment capable of modeling thousands of devices in simultaneous use. A parallel processing architecture enables the software simulators to be scaled up by merely adding more cores to execute its code. Rather than using inaccurate abstractions, QualNet and Exata directly emulate networks and the hierarchy of layers, from the physical layer, Media Access Control (MAC), link layer, network layer, Internet protocol (IP) layer, transport layer and user applications, such as Email, VoIP, web browsing and video servers.

Scalable Network Technologies claims that users interacting with the software simulator get the same responses as they do from real networks, and with the same response times. Using open standard interfaces, QualNet and Exata also accurately recreate channel environment effects, including device behaviors, communication links, transmitters/antennas, terrain and atmospheric effects, and human interactions.

QualNet is available now, and Exata will be available in the fourth quarter of 2008 on both sequential and parallel processing environments running Unix, Windows, Mac OS X and Linux operating systems.