What is ns3?
The ns-3 simulator is a discrete-event network simulator targeted primarily for research and educational use. The ns-3 project, started in 2006, is an open-source project developing ns-3.
Advantages of ns3:
- Ns-3 provides features not available in ns-2, such as a implementation code execution environment (allowing users to run real implementation code in the simulator)
- Ns-3 provides a lower base level of abstraction compared with ns-2, allowing it to align better with how real systems are put together. Some limitations found in ns-2 (such as supporting multiple types of interfaces on nodes correctly) have been remedied in ns-3
- Ns-3 is actively maintained with an active, responsive user’s mailing list, while ns-2 is only lightly maintained and has not seen significant development in its main code tree for over a decade.