Learning Networking by Reproducing Research Results in an NS-3 Simulation Networking Laboratory Course

In the past two years, the undergraduate networking laboratory course at our university has been redesigned in a learning-by-doing approach. We have carefully selected eight papers covering different networking topics and designed corresponding experiments for over 50 students to reproduce the research results in the NS-3 simulation platform. In this paper, we present the design of an NS-3 simulation based networking laboratory course by reproducing research results. The course curriculum and experiment design are introduced, the topics of which include wireless networking, software defined networking, and artificial intelligence algorithms in NS-3 platform. The proposed course has been implemented in our university with an online NS-3 lab environment, and fruitful results and positive feedback have been received from both students and teachers. This course aims to teach both engineering rigor and critical thinking for undergraduate students, moreover, help the students to understand key concepts of advanced topics in networking and obtain hand-on experiences in conducting network simulations, which are crucial for their future career or research.