{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,5]],"date-time":"2025-12-05T23:30:30Z","timestamp":1764977430218,"version":"3.46.0"},"reference-count":14,"publisher":"Walter de Gruyter GmbH","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2015,1,15]],"date-time":"2015-01-15T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1421280000000},"content-version":"unspecified","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-nd\/3.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2015,12,1]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>Ns2 is an open-source communications network simulator primarily used in research and teaching. Ns2 provides substantial support for simulation of TCP, routing, and multicast protocols over wired and wireless networks. Although Ns2 is a widely used powerful simulator, it lacks a way to measure networks that are used to assess reliability and performance metrics (e.g., the number of packets transferred from source to destination, delay in packets, packet loss, etc.) and it does not analyse the trace files it produces. The data obtained from the simulations are not straightforward to analyse. Ns2 is still unable to provide any data analysis statistics or graphics as requested. Moreover, the analysis of the Ns2 trace file using any software scripts requires further steps by a developer to do data processing and then produce graphical outputs. Lack of standardisation of tools means that results from different users may not be strictly comparable. There are alternative tools; however, most of them are not standalone applications, requiring some additional libraries. Also, they lack a user-friendly interface. This article presents the architecture and development considerations for the NsGTFA (Ns2 GUI Trace File Analyser) tool, which intends to simplify the management and enable the statistical analysis of trace files generated during network simulations. NsGTFA runs under Windows and has a friendly graphical user interface. This tool is a very fast standalone application implemented in VC++, taking as input an Ns2 trace file. It can output two-dimensional (2D) and 3D graphs (points, lines, and bar charts) or data sets, whatever the trace file format (Tagged, Old, or New). It is also possible to specify the output of standard network performance metrics. NsGTFA satisfies most user needs. There is no complex installation process, and no external libraries are needed.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1515\/jisys-2014-0153","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2015,1,15]],"date-time":"2015-01-15T12:01:08Z","timestamp":1421323268000},"page":"467-477","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["NsGTFA: A GUI Tool to Easily Measure Network Performance through the Ns2 Trace File"],"prefix":"10.1515","volume":"24","author":[{"given":"Idris Skloul","family":"Ibrahim","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Mathematical and Computer Sciences, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, UK"}]},{"given":"Peter J.B.","family":"King","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Mathematical and Computer Sciences, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, UK"}]},{"given":"Hans-Wolfgang","family":"Loidl","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Mathematical and Computer Sciences, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, UK"}]}],"member":"374","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2015,1,15]]},"reference":[{"key":"2025120523261369994_j_jisys-2014-0153_ref_001_w2aab3b7d191b1b6b1ab2ab1Aa","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"C. Bouras, S. Charalambides, M. Drakoulelis, G. Kioumourtzis and K. Stamos, A tool for automating network simulation and processing tracing data files, Simul. Model. Pract. Theory30 (2013), 90\u2013110.10.1016\/j.simpat.2012.09.001","DOI":"10.1016\/j.simpat.2012.09.001"},{"key":"2025120523261369994_j_jisys-2014-0153_ref_002_w2aab3b7d191b1b6b1ab2ab2Aa","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"L. Breslau, D. Estrin, K. Fall, S. Floyd, J. Heidemann, A. Helmy, P. Huang, S. McCanne, Varadhan K., Y. X. Y. Xu and H. Y. H. Yu, Advances in network simulation, Computer (Long Beach Calif.)33 (2000), 59\u201367.10.1109\/2.841785","DOI":"10.1109\/2.841785"},{"key":"2025120523261369994_j_jisys-2014-0153_ref_003_w2aab3b7d191b1b6b1ab2ab3Aa","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"V. L. Chee and W. C. Yau, Security analysis of TORA routing protocol, in: Computational Science and Its Applications \u2013 ICCSA 2007, Pt. 2, Proceedings, vol. 4706, pp. 975\u2013986, 2007.","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-540-74477-1_87"},{"key":"2025120523261369994_j_jisys-2014-0153_ref_004_w2aab3b7d191b1b6b1ab2ab4Aa","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"C. Cicconetti, E. Mingozzi and G. Stea, An integrated framework for enabling effective data collection and statistical analysis with NS-2, in: Proceeding from 2006 Work. NS-2 IP Network Simulator \u2013 WNS2 \u201906, p. 11, 2006.10.1145\/1190455.1190466","DOI":"10.1145\/1190455.1190466"},{"key":"2025120523261369994_j_jisys-2014-0153_ref_005_w2aab3b7d191b1b6b1ab2ab5Aa","unstructured":"K. Fall and K. Varadhan, The ns Manual (formerly ns notes and documentation), VINT Proj. (2011), 434."},{"key":"2025120523261369994_j_jisys-2014-0153_ref_006_w2aab3b7d191b1b6b1ab2ab6Aa","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"T. Issariyakul and E. Hossain, Introduction to Network Simulator NS2, 2nd ed., p. 527, Springer, New York, 2012.10.1007\/978-1-4614-1406-3","DOI":"10.1007\/978-1-4614-1406-3"},{"key":"2025120523261369994_j_jisys-2014-0153_ref_007_w2aab3b7d191b1b6b1ab2ab7Aa","unstructured":"A. Kaponias, A. Politis and C. Hilas, Simulation and Evaluation of MANET Routing Protocols for Educational Purposes, in: Proceedings of the 2nd Pan-Hellenic Conference on Electronics and Telecommunications, Thessaloniki, pp. 2\u20135, 2012. Available: http:\/\/www.pacet.gr\/program.htm."},{"key":"2025120523261369994_j_jisys-2014-0153_ref_008_w2aab3b7d191b1b6b1ab2ab8Aa","unstructured":"NS2 Analyser: Jtrana, [Online] Available: http:\/\/ns2analyser.blogspot.co.uk\/2011\/03\/jtrana.html, Accessed 6 May, 2014."},{"key":"2025120523261369994_j_jisys-2014-0153_ref_009_w2aab3b7d191b1b6b1ab2ab9Aa","unstructured":"OTcl \u2013 MIT Object Tcl, [Online] Available: http:\/\/www.isi.edu\/nsnam\/otcl\/README.html, Accessed 6 May, 2014."},{"key":"2025120523261369994_j_jisys-2014-0153_ref_010_w2aab3b7d191b1b6b1ab2ac10Aa","unstructured":"V. Park and S. Corson, Temporally-ordered routing algorithm (TORA) version 1, IETF MANET Work. Gr., pp. 1\u201324, 2001."},{"key":"2025120523261369994_j_jisys-2014-0153_ref_011_w2aab3b7d191b1b6b1ab2ac11Aa","unstructured":"F. Rocha, NS2 Visual Trace Analyzer, Manual, p. 17, 2010."},{"key":"2025120523261369994_j_jisys-2014-0153_ref_012_w2aab3b7d191b1b6b1ab2ac12Aa","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"A. U. Salleh, Z. Ishak, N. M. Din and M. Z. Jamaludin, Trace Analyzer for NS-2, in: 2006 4th Student Conf. Res. Dev., 2006.10.1109\/SCORED.2006.4339302","DOI":"10.1109\/SCORED.2006.4339302"},{"key":"2025120523261369994_j_jisys-2014-0153_ref_013_w2aab3b7d191b1b6b1ab2ac13Aa","unstructured":"S. Taruna and G. N. 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