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System-Level Simulation

Multinode networks, protocol stack, and multilayer processing

WLAN Toolbox™ system-level simulation capabilities enable you to model communication links with multiple nodes. The simulations operate across a protocol stack that includes physical (PHY), medium access control (MAC), and application layers (APP). You can measure quantities such as throughput, latency, interference, and packet loss at the node and network levels. You can also simulate and investigate the coexistence of WLAN signals with Bluetooth® signals.

The toolbox provides you with these capabilities:

  • Abstracted PHY or full PHY simulation

  • Interference modeling

  • Application traffic pattern modeling using file transfer protocol (FTP), On-Off, Video, and voice over internet protocol (VoIP) traffic models

  • Node mobility support using random waypoint mobility model

  • Run multiple independent simulations in parallel

  • IEEE® 802.11™ functionalities include:

    • Enhanced distributed channel access (EDCA) and quality of service (QoS)

    • Channel bandwidths: 20 MHz, 40 MHz, 80 MHz, 160 MHz, and 320 MHz

    • Frames: MAC protocol data unit (MPDU), aggregated MPDU (AMPDU), beacon, request to send (RTS), clear to send (CTS), multiuser-RTS (MU-RTS), acknowledgement (ACK), MU-block ACK request (BAR), basic trigger frame, block ACK (BA), and multi-STA BA

    • 802.11ax™ (Wi-Fi® 6) uplink (UL) and downlink (DL) orthogonal frequency-division multiple access (OFDMA)

    • Overlapping basic service set packet detect (OBSS PD) based spatial reuse with BSS coloring

    • 802.11be™ (Wi-Fi 7) simultaneous transmission and reception (STR) mode of multilink operation (MLO)

    • Multiband operation: 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and 6 GHz

    • Wi-Fi mesh network, including hybrid mesh

The logging and analysis functionalities include node- and network-level statistics, visualization of node state transitions, and the logging of MAC packets into packet capture (PCAP) or PCAP next generation (PCAPNG) files.

Functions

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addNodesAdd nodes to simulator (Since R2022b)
addChannelModelAdd custom channel or path loss model (Since R2022b)
scheduleActionSchedule action to perform during simulation (Since R2022b)
cancelActionCancel scheduled action (Since R2022b)
runRun simulation (Since R2022b)
associateStationsAssociate stations to WLAN node (Since R2023a)
addTrafficSourceAdd data traffic source to WLAN node (Since R2023a)
addMeshPathAdd mesh path to WLAN node (Since R2023a)
addMobilityAdd random waypoint mobility model to WLAN node (Since R2023b)
updateUpdate configuration of WLAN node (Since R2023a)
statisticsStatistics of WLAN node (Since R2023a)
generateGenerate next FTP, On-Off, VoIP, or video conference application traffic packet (Since R2020b)
writeWrite protocol packet data to PCAP or PCAPNG file (Since R2020b)
writeCustomBlockWrite custom block to PCAPNG file (Since R2020b)
writeGlobalHeaderWrite global header to PCAP file (Since R2020b)
writeInterfaceDescriptionBlockWrite interface description block to PCAPNG file (Since R2020b)

Objects

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wirelessNetworkSimulatorWireless network simulator (Since R2022b)
wlanNodeWLAN node (Since R2023a)
wlanDeviceConfigDevice configuration for WLAN node (Since R2023a)
wlanLinkConfigLink configuration of WLAN MLD (Since R2024a)
wlanMultilinkDeviceConfigWLAN MLD configuration (Since R2024a)
networkTrafficFTPFTP application traffic pattern generator (Since R2020b)
networkTrafficOnOffOn-Off application traffic pattern generator (Since R2022a)
networkTrafficVideoConferenceVideo conference application traffic pattern generator (Since R2021a)
networkTrafficVoIPVoIP application traffic pattern generator (Since R2020b)
pcapWriterPCAP file writer of protocol packets (Since R2020b)
pcapngWriterPCAPNG file writer of protocol packets (Since R2020b)
wlanPCAPWriterPCAP or PCAPNG file writer of WLAN MAC packets (Since R2021a)

Topics

Wireless Network Simulator

Create and Simulate 802.11 Networks

Statistics

Coexistence of Bluetooth and WLAN