Import INET to OMNeT++

INET Framework is an open-source model library for the OMNeT++ simulation environment. INET contains models for the Internet stack (TCP, UDP, IPv4, IPv6, OSPF, BGP, etc.), wired and wireless link layer protocols (Ethernet, PPP, IEEE 802.11, etc), support for mobility, MANET protocols, DiffServ, MPLS with LDP and RSVP-TE signalling, several application models, and many other protocols and components. Several other simulation frameworks take INET as a base, and extend it into specific directions, such as vehicular networks, overlay/peer-to-peer networks, or LTE. This article will explain the process of importing INET into OMNeT++, as well as how to create a new project based on INET.

Basically all INET version can be find on INET Download, download the INET which is compatible with your OMNeT++.

Importing INET

INET itself is an OMNeT++ project, importing it into OMNeT++ is no different from importing any other OMNeT++ project. In the OMNeT++ IDE, go to the “File” option and click on “Import” to initiate the project import process.

• On the “Select” page, choose “Existing Project into Workspace” under the “General” category.

  

• On the “Import Projects” configuration page, for the downloaded INET, which is in a compressed tar ball, select “Select archive file” and click “Browse…” to choose the INET tar ball, if the project is a folder, choose “Select a root directory…” and click “Browse…” to locate the folder path. In the “Projects” section, select the INET project, and if you import the project a an folder it is recommended to check the “Copy project file into workspace” for better management. Finally, click on “Finish” to complete the importing process.

  

  

• After importing, right-click on the project and select “Properties” to open the project’s property configuration page. In “Project Feature” section, you can customize the features of the INET. You can uncheck unnecessary modules and check the ones you need. For instance, to enable real network emulation functions, check the “Network emulation support” option (only supported on Linux). By default, “Visualization OSG (3D)” and “Visualization OSG (3D) showcase” are not checked. Enabling these features requires compiling and installing OpenSceneGraph functionality in OMNeT++, these two need to be checked if you need 3D visualization environment.

  

• After configuring, save the configurations and close the project properties window. Right click the project and select “Build Project” to compile the project. Please be patient and wait for the compilation process to finish.

Note

You may encounter the following error while modifying INET features or compiling INET. The error indicates that the current feature configuration does not match the configuration in “NED Source Folders” and “Makemake”. You can simply click “OK” to automatically fix it.

Create a New Project Based on INET

Create a New Project

Click on “File” in the top right corner, then select “New” followed by “OMNeT++ Project…” to create a new OMNeT++ project.

• In the “New OMNeT++ Project” page, provide a name for the project.

  

• In the “Initial Content” interface, there are two options to choose from for the project type:

  1. “Empty project”: This option creates a basic project structure without any predefined folders or files. If you only intend to use existing INET modules without writing new C++ modules, you can select this option.
  2. “Empty project with ‘src’ and ‘simulations’ folders”: This option includes the ‘src’ and ‘simulations’ folders in the initial project structure. The ‘src’ folder is used to store C++ module source code, .msg message definition files, and .ned files associated with C++ modules. The ‘simulations’ folder is typically used to store simulation configuration .ini files and .ned files that describe the network topology. If you have requirements that involve writing new modules in C++, you can choose this option.

     

• In the “C++ Project Type” page, you can select the project type and the toolchain to be used. It is recommended to keep the default settings in this step.

  

• In the “Select Configurations” page, you can custom the build configurations. There is no need for additional configuration, so you can simply keep the default settings.

  

• Click “Finish” to complete.

Project Configurations

If you do not need to use the INET framework, you can proceed directly with writing simulation code. However, if you intend to use modules from the INET framework, further configuration of the project is required. Right-click on the newly created project in the “Project Explorer” and select “Properties” to open the project’s property configuration page.

• Check “inet” under “Project References”. If you don’t need to modify or extend the C++ modules of INET for your simulation, it is sufficient for your simulations.

  

• If you need to write new C++ code based on some modules of INET, additional settings are required. In the project properties configuration page, locate “OMNeT++” and click “Makemake”. Select “src: makemake…” on the right and click “Options…”.

  

• Modify the settings in the “Compile,” “Link,” and “Custom” sections as shown in the following images.

  

  

  

• The code in “Custom” section is as follow:

  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

  MSGC:=$(MSGC) --msg6 ifeq ($(PLATFORM),win32.x86_64) LIBS += -lws2_32 DEFINES += -DINET_EXPORT ENABLE_AUTO_IMPORT=-Wl,--enable-auto-import LDFLAGS := $(filter-out $(ENABLE_AUTO_IMPORT), $(LDFLAGS)) endif