Abstract
As the density of wireless networks continues to grow with more clients,
more base stations, and more traffic, designing cost-effective wireless
solutions with efficient resource usage and ease to manage is an increasing
challenging task due to the overall system complexity. A number of vendors
offer scalable and high-performance wireless networks but at a high cost
and commonly as a single-vendor solution, limiting the ability to innovate
after roll-out. Recent Software-Defined Networking (SDN) approaches propose
new means for network virtualization and programmability advancing the way
networks can be designed and operated, including user-defined features and
customized behaviour even at runtime. However, means for rapid prototyping
and experimental evaluation of SDN for wireless environments are not yet
available. This paper introduces Mininet-WiFi as a tool to emulate wireless
OpenFlow/SDN scenarios allowing high-fidelity experiments that replicate
real networking environments. Mininet-WiFi augments the well-known Mininet
emulator with virtual wireless stations and access points while keeping the
original SDN capabilities and the lightweight virtualization software
architecture. We elaborate on the potential applications of Mininet-Wifi
and discuss the benefits and current limitations. Two use cases based on
IEEE 802.11 demonstrate available functionality in our open source
developments.
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