How to Calculate Network Latency in omnet++

To calculate the Network latency in OMNeT++, we need to estimate the time taken, when the packet or message travels from a source node to a destination node. Below is the step-by-step approach to calculate network latency in OMNeT++:

Steps to Calculate Network Latency in OMNeT++:

1. Define the Network Model:
   • State the nodes, links and the essential network topology to build the network in OMNeT++. It can be done in the NED (Network Description) files.
2. Create or Modify the Simulation Module:
   • Make sure that the simulation module (written in C++ or via .ned files) contains necessary components to send and receive packets. To define the characteristics of all network node, we can use the cSimpleModule class.
3. Generate and Send Packets:
   • In the source node, we need to create packets by executing a method. This can be done using send() or scheduleAt() functions in OMNeT++. Make sure to record the sending time using the simTime() function:

simtime_t sendTime = simTime();

1. Capture the Arrival Time at the Destination:
   • At the destination node, when a packet is received, note the current simulation time:

simtime_t arrivalTime = simTime();

1. Calculate the Latency:
   • Subtract the sending time from the arrival time to get the latency:

simtime_t latency = arrivalTime – sendTime;

1. Record or Output the Latency:
   • We can store the estimated latency in a variable, log it to the console, or record it in a file for later analysis:

EV << “Packet Latency: ” << latency << ” seconds\n”;

Example Implementation:

We provided the simplified example where the latency is calculated for a message being sent between two nodes:

// Sender node (e.g., in the handleMessage() function of a module)

void MyModule::handleMessage(cMessage *msg) {

simtime_t sendTime = simTime();

msg->setTimestamp(sendTime);  // Store the sending time in the message

send(msg, “out”);  // Send the message to the next module

}

// Receiver node (e.g., in the handleMessage() function of a module)

void MyModule::handleMessage(cMessage *msg) {

simtime_t arrivalTime = simTime();

simtime_t sendTime = msg->getTimestamp();  // Retrieve the sending time

simtime_t latency = arrivalTime – sendTime;

EV << “Packet Latency: ” << latency << ” seconds\n”;

delete msg;  // Don’t forget to delete the message if it’s no longer needed

}

Additional Considerations:

• Packet Drops: If packets are dropped or lost in the network model, make sure that you’re only calculating latency for well delivered packets.
• Multiple Hops: If the network involves multiple hops, the latency calculation will still be the difference between the initial send time at the source and the final arrival time at the destination.
• Statistical Analysis: We can accumulate the latency data for multiple packets and compute average latency, variance, etc., for more broad analysis.

Through this approach, we successfully learned the implementation details on how to calculate Network Latency in OMNeT++. If needed, we can give you the additional implementation of this calculation we are ready to help you out.