A NFV Technology with Expanded Wireless Communication Emulation Function

Emerging wireless technologies such as 6G and satellite communications need thorough testing and validation before deployment. While NFV (Network Function Virtualization) effectively supports network analysis, evaluation, and testing, it lacks the ability to facilitate research in wireless communication and the convergence of wired and wireless networks. In this paper, we aim to enhance the capabilities of NFV by integrating the ns-3 network simulator with the NFV system. Moreover, we utilize the rich wireless modules in ns-3 to expand wireless communication emulation functions for NFV. Firstly, we discuss the operational principles of integrating the ns-3 emulated wireless network with the NFV network, which implemented by utilizing the communication interface between ns-3 and Linux. Next, we discuss the technical details of expanding the wireless communication emulation function within the NFV system. Furthermore, we provide a case study on the convergence between the NFV-based wired network and the ns-3 emulated MANET (Mobile Ad-hoc NETwork). The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method has extended the availability of NFV in wireless communication emulation.