SystemC Network Simulation Library (SCNSL)

SystemC Network Simulation Library (SCNSL) is an extension of SystemC to allow modelling packet-based networks such as wireless networks, ethernet, field bus, etc. As done by basic SystemC for signals on the bus, SCNSL provides primitives to model packet trasmission, reception, contention on the channel and wireless path loss. The use of SCNSL allows the easy and complete modelling of distributed applications of networked embedded systems such as wireless sensor networks, routers, and distributed plant controllers. The advantages of SCNSL are:

• simplicity: a single language/tool, i.e., Systems, is used to model both the system (i.e., CPU, memory, periferals) and the communication network;
• efficiency: faster simulations can be performed since no external network simulator is required;
• re-use: SystemC IP blocks can be re-used
• scalability: support of different abstraction levels in the design description
• openness: several tools available for SystemC can be exploited seamlessly
• extensibility: the use of standard SystemC and the source code availability guarantee the extensibility of the library to meet design-specific constraints