[ns] How to access and change antenna setting from Mac?

[Hai T. Vu]

Hi all,

I am working on an interesting Mac protocol for wireless network where the
tower has a few antennas with different directions. They will be
transmitting alternatively to avoid conflict. In order to implement this
idea on ns2, I have to answer these questions:

1) How to use/implement directional antenna? For this one, I found out that
the ns2 I am using (ns-2.31) does not support anything other than omni
attenna. I luckily found a piece of code from IIT-Kanpur (
http://www.cse.iitk.ac.in/users/braman/tens/) which has been developed for
ns-2.1b9a and 802.11. But I somehow managed to make it work with my Mac
protocol in ns-2.31 (even not perfectly now) thanks to the authors.

2) How to use simulate multiple antennas for one mobile node behaving as a
tower? For this I have several options:
a) Support one node with multiple interface
b) Create several nodes, each with one antenna and put them in the same
position, making them work like one single node
c) One node has one antenna, but change directly while running simulation

Right now I am going with 1c), but in any case I need to access the antenna
instance to change the direction, or turn on/off each of them during the
simulation in case I can have multiple interfaces. I believe it should be
possible but I am struggling how to do this. Could anyone please tell me a
way to access the antenna instance from Mac and change the setting such as
Pt_, Gt_, or direction as with my directional antenna. Also if you know any
solution better than the ones I told above, please suggest. I really
appreciate your help.

Thanks.

Hai.