Is NS-3 simulation suitable for testing a Home eNodeB gateway solution?

[AJ]

I am planning to test a Home eNodeB solution.

 

I just started going through the ns-3 documentation and came across the following section which says -

 

S1AP¶

The S1-AP interface provides control plane interaction between the eNB and the MME. In the simulator, this interface is modeled in an ideal fashion, with direct interaction between the eNB and the MME objects, without actually implementing the encoding of S1AP messages and information elements specified in [TS36413] and without actually transmitting any PDU on any link.

Since a home eNodeB gateway is physically located between an eNodeB and an EPC, and S1AP packet/message need to flow through the gateway for any useful testing to be done, I was leaning to a conclusion that LENA/ns-3 environment is not suitable for my requirement.

Is my understanding correct?

 

[Nicola Baldo]

Well, if your requirement is to have a Home eNB gateway model ready without doing any development effort, then you're right.

[AJ]

Maybe I did not makes myself clear earlier.
Say I am developing a home eNodeB solution/product and I need to test it in a LTE environment. Would LENA/NS-3 be suitable to simulate a LTE network so that I can test my home eNodeB solution?

 

 

 

[Nicola Baldo]

AJ, it's very hard to reply with so little information. What is an "eNodeB solution" for you? An algorithm of some kind? Which kind? A protocol implementation? Which protocol? A set of algorithms and protocols? Which ones? Depending on what you are exactly testing, LENA/ns-3 might be suitable or not.

Note that with "suitable" I do not mean either completely adequate or completely inadequate. Some development and integration effort will always be necessary; it could be little effort up to a huge effort depending again on what is your eNB solution. Whether LENA/ns-3 it's suitable or not for you will depend on whether this effort is worth for you.