IEEE Proceedings of 4th International Conference on Intelligent Human Computer Interaction, Kharagpur, India, December 27-29, 2012

Advanced Network Technologies Virtual Lab:

A Human-Computer Interface for Performing
Experiments on Wireless Sensor Networks
Bibudhendu Pati
School of Information Technology
Indian Institute of Technology
Kharagpur, India, 721302
Email: bpati@sit.iitkgp.ernet.in
Sudip Misra
School of Information Technology
Indian Institute of Technology
Kharagpur, India, 721302
Email: smisra@sit.iitkgp.ernet.in
Barun Kumar Saha
School of Information Technology
Indian Institute of Technology
Kharagpur, India, 721302
Email: baruns@sit.iitkgp.ernet.in

Abstract—Research analysis manifest clear trends of growing

interest of the field of Human Computer Interaction (HCI)
towards virtualized learning. To keep up this trend, as well as
the pace with the rapid advancement of software technologies,
the Advanced Network Technologies Virtual Lab (ANT VLab)
has been developed by us at Indian Institute of Technology,
Kharagpur, India. This lab exposes students to various advanced
topics including Wi-Fi, WiMAX, Satellite Networks, Mobile
Adhoc Networks (MANETs), Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs),
Bluetooth, Zigbee, and encourages them to work on related
problems in a partially constrained environment. Apart from
providing detailed theory on each topic, each virtual experiment
in the lab has a set of exercises to be solved using remote network
simulations. Network Simulator-2 (NS-2) / Mannasim framework
and Network Simulator-3 (NS-3) have been used for this purpose. Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of a Wireless Sensor Networks
The ANT VLab also offers benefits such as reduced software and
hardware costs as against setting up an actual advanced network
technology lab, improved learning by interactive visualization,
and self-learning advanced network technologies in the absence
cate with very short-range broadcast and multi-hop routing
of a real-life instructor. Additionally, the students can interface [7]. WSNs frequently change their topology due to fading and
and learn at their own pace any time and from any place node failures. They also have limitations in energy capacity,
having a PC with high speed Internet connectivity. WSNs is an computing power, memory, and transmission power.
emerging field in computer networking. In this paper, we discuss
the development of a module for WSNs, that can be used for A. Types
performing different WSNs experiments in the virtual mode. Depending on the environment of deployment, WSNs can
Index Terms—Wireless Sensor Networks, Human Computer
Interaction, Virtual Lab, Advanced Network Technologies, and
be classified into the following categories: terrestrial wireless
Network Simulator. sensor networks, under-ground sensor networks, underwater
sensor networks, multi-media sensor networks, and mobile
I. I NTRODUCTION sensor networks [16].

A WSNs is a wireless network consisting of spatially B. Routing Protocols in WSNs

distributed autonomous devices that use sensors for monitoring
and recording the physical conditions of the environment
and organizing the collected data at a central location [5].
WSNs measure environmental conditions such as temperature,
sound, pollution levels, humidity, wind speed and direction,
and pressure [6]. It consists of anywhere from a few hun-
dreds to thousands of sensor nodes [7]. The sensor node
equipment includes a radio transceiver along with an antenna,
a micro-controller, an interfacing electronic circuit, and an
energy source, usually a battery. Fig. 1 shows an WSNs
scenario. WSNs possess self-configuration, self-healing, self-
optimization, and self-protection capabilities. They communi-
Many routing protocols have been proposed for WSNs [10].
These have been classified into three categories, namely: Data-
centric protocols, Hierarchical protocols, and Location-based
protocols. Data-centric protocols are query-based and use the
concept of naming of desired data to eliminate many redundant
transmissions. Hierarchical protocols cluster the nodes so that
cluster heads can aggregate and reduce the data to save energy.
Location-based protocols use position information to send the
data to only the desired regions rather than to the whole
network. The more important ones among these are SPIN [21],
[25], LEACH [11], PEGASIS [13], TEEN [17], and APTEEN
[18].

978-1-4673-4369-5/12/$31.00 2012
c IEEE
C. Organization
This paper is organized as follows. In Section II, we describe
briefly the overview of the Advanced Network Technologies
Virtual Lab. In Section III, we describe an experiment on
simulating a wireless sensor network with NS-2. Section IV
illustrated an suitable example and in Section V, we conclude
the paper.
II. OVERVIEW OF THE A DVANCED N ETWORK
T ECHNOLOGIES V IRTUAL L AB
In this Section, we have first described the objectives of our
designed ANT VLab. Subsequently, we have described the
target audience, concept of an experiment, human computer
interface and the list of experiments. Fig. 2 shows the screen
shot of an experiment on WSNs designed in the ANT VLab.
Fig. 2. A screen shot of the ANT VLab
A. Objectives
Virtual Labs will provide to the students the result of an
experiment by one of the following methods (or possibly a
combination)
• Modeling the physical phenomenon by a set of equations
and carrying out simulations to yield the result of the
particular experiment. This can, at-the-best, provide an
approximate version of the real-world experiment.
• Providing measured data for virtual lab experiments cor-
responding to the data previously obtained by measure-
ments on an actual system.
• Virtual labs will be made more effective and realistic
by providing additional inputs to the students like ac-
companying audio and video streaming of an actual lab
experiment and equipment.
• To enthuse students to conduct experiments by the arous-
ing their curiosity. This would help them in learning basic
and advanced concepts through remote experimentation.
• To provide a complete Learning Management System
(LMS) around the virtual labs where the students can
avail the various tools for learning, including additional
web-resources, video-lectures, animated demonstrations
and self evaluation.
• To share costly equipment and resources, which are
otherwise available to limited number of users due to
constraints on time and geographical distances.
B. Target Audience
This lab is suitable for undergraduate or postgraduate stu-
dents having a course on Computer Network and Wireless
Sensor Networks.
C. Concept of an Experiment
The model of an experiment in the context of virtual labs
has been specified by the experts’ committee of virtual labs.
Although, development of each lab is going on in a distributed
manner in different institutions of India, an attempt has been
made to make all the labs follow a basic structure [4]. As per
these guidelines, an experiment consists of:
• Theory: This section provides a brief theoretical overview
on the subject matter of the particular experiment.
• Simulation: Flash animations have been used to illustrate
specific concepts on the topic.
• Self-evaluation: This section provides a set of multiple-
choice type questions for each experiment that lets an
user to judge his knowledge on the subject.
• Procedure: This section provides detailed steps on how
to solve the different exercises for a given experiment.
• Exercises: This is the core section of an experiment. In
fact, the notion of real-life experiment actually maps to
this section. Depending upon the topic, a set of exercises
are given to be worked out by the students. Link to
a possible solution of the exercise, with an optional
analysis, is also presented here.
• References: Provides a list of books and/or URLs of web
resources that have helped in the development of the
current experiment.
D. Human Computer Interface
Virtual labs should be as realistic as possible. Also, unless
the interface is user friendly, it will be difficult to conduct
the experiment remotely [1]. In ANT VLab, the GUI is im-
plemented using JQuery, Django framework, Python, Hypertex
Markup Language (HTML), and JavaScript for supporting web
browsers.
E. List of Experiments
ANT VLab has a set of ten experiments focusing on
different areas of the subject. A list of all the experiments
in ANT VLab is described in Table I.
F. Deployment
The ANT VLab has been deployed to the Production server
hosted by IIIT-Hyderabad. Presently, the official URL of this
virtual lab is: http://virtual-labs.ac.in/cse28/ [7]. An extensive
documentation for the deployment process has been prepared
as well.
 TABLE I
L ISTS OF E XPERIMENTS IN THE ANT VL AB .
No. Experiments
1 Basics of Network Simulation
2 Simulating a Local Area Network
3 Measuring Network Performance
4 Simulation of a Satellite Network
5 Simulating a WiFi Network
6 Simulating a WiMAX Network
7 Simulating a Mobile Adhoc Network
8 Simulating a Wireless Sensor Network
9 Setting up a Bluetooth Network
10 Setting up a Zigbee Network
III. E XPERIMENT ON S IMULATING A W IRELESS S ENSOR
NETWORKS WITH NS-2
In this Section, first we discuss about the LEACH protocol
[11] and then we describe the operations including the setup
phase and steady-state phase with their algorithms and a
suitable schematic diagram of LEACH protocol.
A. Discussions on LEACH
LEACH is a cluster-based routing protocol for WSNs [12],
[8]. In WSNs, sensor nodes are partitioned into a number
of small groups known as clusters. Each cluster has the
coordinators, called cluster head (CH), and each node in
a cluster is called a cluster node [9]. LEACH adopts the
clustering concept to distribute energy among the sensor
nodes in the network, and improves the energy-efficiency of
WSNs beyond the normal clustering architecture [20]. LEACH
uses a TDMA/CDMA MAC to reduce inter-cluster and intra-
cluster collisions. As a result, the lifetime of the network
can be extended, and is a very important issue that needs
to be considered in WSNs [22], [23], [24]. Fig. 3 shows the
schematic diagram that can help in understanding the LEACH
protocol. In Fig. 3, CH represents a cluster head and CN
represents a cluster node.
Fig. 3. Schematic diagram of the LEACH protocol
B. Operations of LEACH
The operation of LEACH is divided into number of rounds
with each round having two phases: setup phase and steady-
state phase. The phases in each round of the LEACH protocol
is shown in Fig. 4. In the setup phase, clusters are organized
and this is done in three steps that is, cluster-head advertise-
ment, cluster set-up and transmission schedule creation. In the
steady-state phase, data transfer to the base station occurs [11]
[19]. The algorithm for both the phases of the LEACH protocol
is given as follows.
C. Algorithm for the Setup Phase
In the setup phase of the LEACH protocol, the cluster-head
advertisement, cluster set-up, and transmission schedule are
created as follows.
• Cluster-head Advertisement:
1) Let x be a random no between 0 and 1, n be the
given node, P be the cluster-head probability, r be
the current round, G the set of nodes that were not
cluster-heads in the previous rounds.
2) If the random number is < the following threshold
T (n), then the node becomes a cluster head.

P
1 if n ∈ G
T (n) = 1−P ∗(rmod P )
0, otherwise
3) Nodes that are cluster-heads in round 0 cannot be
again the same in the next 1/P rounds; after 1/P −
1, the threshold value will be T (n)=1.
4) In 1/P rounds, all nodes are eligible again to
become cluster heads.
5) After the election of cluster head, each node broad-
casts an advertisement message to the rest of the
nodes by using the CSMA MAC protocol.
The algorithm is designed so that each node becomes a
cluster head at least once. After the completion of this phase,
each non-cluster-head node decides the cluster by using the
received signal strength of the advertisement.
• Cluster Set-up:
1) Each node informs the cluster head node about its
choice.
2) Each node uses the CSMA/MAC protocol to trans-
mit the information.
3) Cluster heads must keep receivers ON.
• Transmission Schedule Creation:
1) Creates a TDMA schedule as per the number of
nodes in the cluster.
2) Each node sends their data during their allocated
transmission time to the cluster head.
D. Algorithm for the Steady State Phase
In the steady-state phase, LEACH protocol follows follow-
ing statements:
1) Begin sensing and transmitting data to the cluster heads.
 TABLE II
2) Then, the cluster head node receives all the data, and S UMMARY OF THE SIMULATION SETTINGS OF THE LEACH PROTOCOL .
aggregates it before sending it to the base-station.
3) After a certain time, which is determined a priori, the Parameters Values
Area 500 m X 500 m
network goes back into the setup phase. Duration 550 sec
# of nodes 11
# of clusters 4
New cluster formation interval 100 sec (fixed)
Initial energy 10 joules
Disseminating interval 10 sec
Transmission range 50 m
Channel type Wireless
Transport protocol UDP
Layer Physical
Antenna OmniAntenna
Fig. 4. Different phases of the LEACH protocol Radio Propagation TwoRayGround
Sensing interval 5 sec
Data generator type Temperature
E. Simulating a WSNs with NS-2 using the Mannasim frame- Sensing type Programmed
work
For simulating WSNs using NS-2 [14], the Mannasim [15]
Section III is obtained in our case as k/N , where k is the #
is required, where the LEACH script generator is available.
of desired cluster heads, and N is the total # of nodes in the
Mannasim is an open source WSN module for NS-2 comprised
network.
of two solutions: The Mannasim Framework and The Script
Generator Tool (SGT). The Mannasim framework is a module
for WSNs simulation and is based on the NS-2. Mannasim
extends NS-2 by introducing new modules for design, devel-
opment and analysis of different WSNs applications. SGT is
a front-end for easy creation of TCL simulation scripts. SGT
is generate with Mannasim framework. An animation of the
working principle of the LEACH protocol is shown in Fig. 5.

Fig. 6. Scree shot of code used for simulating the LEACH protocol

The screen shot of output of simulation results is shown in

Fig. 7. The users are asked to verify certain results, as well as
to experiment with protocol, as per the following guidelines:
• For the given simulation time, how many rounds of
cluster formation take place?
• What is the number of cluster heads per round?
• Does the average number of cluster heads per round equal
Fig. 5. An animation of the working principle of the LEACH protocol
the desired number of cluster heads (line #475)?
• Vary the number of nodes (line #474) and expected

IV. A N I LLUSTRATED E XAMPLE number of cluster heads (line #475), and once again verify
the output
The exercise for this experiment deals with how to simulate
a routing protocol for WSNs, namely, LEACH, using the
Mannasim patch with NS-2. A summary of the simulation
settings is given in Table II. The first column in Table II
presents the parameters for the setting and the second presents
the values for the corresponding parameters. A screen shot of
code for simulating LEACH protocol using Mannasim patch
is shown in Fig. 6.
The number of access points is set to be 0 for our simulation
and all the nodes are static. The ratio P that is described in Fig. 7. Screen shot of the output of the simulation results
 The screen shot of the solution of the exercise is shown in
Fig. 8. The result indicates that, we have 4 cluster heads and 11
common nodes. It can be observed from the simulation results
that the actual number of cluster heads formed per round is
varying with respect to the desired number of cluster heads.
Fig. 8. Screen shot of the solution of the simulation results
V. C ONCLUSION
Today’s technology provides a valuable opportunity to the
students as well as to the teachers, to practice new learning
techniques [3], [2]. Because of computers and the Internet,
most online learning today is interactive, and sometimes more
interactive than the traditional classroom learning [4]. HCI
have expanded the way in such a way that information can be
delivered to the students in a more cost effective way.
In this paper, we describe an ANT VLab that provides
HCI for performing different experiments on WSNs. This lab
provides exercises at the end of each experiment which helps
the user to have an hand-on experience on the techniques used
in WSNs. Virtual labs are helpful for both students as well
as for the teachers. Teachers should make use of virtual labs
to facilitate learning and should adapt their current teaching
methods to incorporate this new media into the classroom
to improve their teaching process. Since there is no direct
teacher-student contact in a virtual lab environment, course
expectations and outcomes must be clearly specified, and
timely feedback must be provided. Overall, we expect the
virtual labs in general, and the ANT VLab in particular, would
be able to enhance the quality of education in India.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors would like to thank Arijit Roy, Sujata Pal and
Tanay Chaki for contributing towards the development of the
ANT VLab at IIT Kharagpur. This work is funded with the
support of Ministry of Human Resource and Development,
Government of India.
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