QD Channel integration for ns-3

QD Channel code

This repository contains in the code for the ns-3 integration of the QD channel model implementation from NIST and University of Padova. Please refer to the repository of the QD implementation for a complete documentation on how to generate new scenarios. In this repository, we provide a first example based on a simple indoor scenario.

The implementation leverages the spectrum implementation of the matrix-based channel model introduced in ns-3.31, described in this paper. Please cite it if you intend to use this module:

@misc{qd-realization,
  author = {Mattia Lecci and Paolo Testolina and Michele Polese and Marco Giordani and Michele Zorzi},
  title = {Accuracy vs. Complexity for mmWave Ray-Tracing: A Full Stack Perspective},
  howpublished = {arXiv:2007.07125},
}

References on the QD model and its usage can be found in the following papers:

• M. Lecci, T. Zugno, S. Zampato, M. Zorzi, "A Full-Stack Open-Source Framework for Antenna and Beamforming Evaluation in mmWave 5G NR," preprint available: arXiv:2011.05800
• M. Lecci, M. Polese, C. Lai, J. Wang, C. Gentile, N. Golmie, M. Zorzi, Quasi-Deterministic Channel Model for mmWaves: Mathematical Formalization and Validation, submitted to IEEE Globecom 2020;
• C. Gentile, P. B. Papazian, R. Sun, J. Senic, and J. Wang, “Quasi- Deterministic Channel Model Parameters for a Data Center at 60 GHz,” IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters, vol. 17, no. 5, pp. 808–812, May 2018, DOI: 10.1109/LAWP.2018.2817066;
• C. Lai, R. Sun, C. Gentile, P. B. Papazian, J. Wang, and J. Senic, “Methodology for multipath-component tracking in millimeter-wave channel modeling,” IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, vol. 67, no. 3, pp. 1826–1836, Mar. 2019, DOI: 10.1109/TAP.2018.2888686;
• M. Lecci, P. Testolina, M. Giordani, M. Polese, T. Ropitault, C. Gentile, N. Varshney, A. Bodi, and M. Zorzi, Simplified ray tracing for the millimeter wave channel: A performance evaluation, in Proceedings of the Workshop on Information Theory and Applications (ITA), 2020.

The example qd-channel-model-example.cc can be used as a starting point to understand how to use the ray tracer in wireless simulations with ns-3.

Install

Prerequisites

To run simulations using this module, you will need to install ns-3, and clone this repository inside the contrib directory. Required dependencies include git and a build environment.

Installing dependencies

Please refer to the ns-3 wiki for instructions on how to set up your system to install ns-3.

Downloading

First, clone the main ns-3 repository:

git clone https://gitlab.com/nsnam/ns-3-dev ns-3-dev

Then, clone the qd-channel module:

git clone https://github.com/signetlabdei/qd-channel ns-3-dev/contrib/qd-channel

Compilation

Configure and build ns-3 from the ns-3-dev folder:

./waf configure --enable-tests --enable-examples
./waf build

This module does not provide Python bindings at the moment, they will be added in the near future.

Documentation

To compile the documentation, please follow the instructions from the ns-3 manual.

Basic steps:

1. Install the dcumentation-specific depdendencies as described in the ns-3 installation guide
2. You might need to fix the ImageMagick permissions for ghostscript files

Compiling standalone documentation:

1. Run in your terminal, in the ns-3 root folder, make -C contrib/qd-channel/doc html
2. Open with your browser the file contrib/qd-channel/doc/models/build/html/qd-channel.html to visualize the documentation of the model

Adding documentation to ns-3:

1. In doc/models/source/index.rst, add qd-channel in the TOC tree
2. In doc/models/Makefile, add ../../contrib/qd-channel/doc/source/qd-channel.rst as one of the SOURCES
3. Run in your terminal, in the ns-3 root folder, make -C doc/models html
4. Open with your browser the file doc/models/build/html/qd-channel.html. You should locate the QD Channel Model in the TOC, as added before