Guidelines for Simulating/Emulating Software-Defined Networks in Connected Vehicles

In the vehicular scenario, on-site testing is particularly complex, time-consuming and expensive. A reduction of such testing can be achieved by improving the efficiency of the laboratory tests. For that purpose, making the right choice of the Simulation/Emulation (S/E) framework for each activity is crucial. However, the availability of specific S/E tools to model Software-Defined Networks (SDNs) in the context of vehicular networks is limited. Researchers and practitioners face the challenge of dedicating too much time to identify and master complex tools and frameworks with huge learning curves. In this paper, we propose a methodology to guide professionals in the identification of the most suitable S/E tool depending on a set of features related to SDN and the most relevant requirements for the vehicular context. For that purpose, a ranked functional comparison of current available S/E tools is performed.