Simulation of cognitive radio networks in OMNeT++

A widespread methodology for performance analysis and evaluation in communication systems engineering is network simulation. It is widely used for the development of new architectures and protocols. Network simulators allow to model a system by specifying both the behavior of the network nodes and the communica- tion channels, and Cognitive Radio (CR)-related research activities have been often validated and evaluated through simulation too. Following this approach, this chapter presents an ongoing effort towards the de- velopment of a CR simulation framework, to be used in the design and the evaluation of protocols and algorithms. OMNeT++, in combination with MiXiM project func- tionalities, was chosen as the developing platform, thanks to its open source nature, its modular architecture, the existing documentation, and the provided Integrated Developement Environment (IDE).