Networking Simulation
Networking Simulation
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Table of Contents
Task 1: WLAN Design and Deployment Plan for CIS Building ............................................... 3
Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 3
Analyzing and Interpreting User Requirements ................................................................ 4
Approach and Design for WLAN Systems ......................................................................... 4
Set up the APs and floor-wise design ................................................................................... 5
Bandwidth and Capacity Justification ................................................................................ 7
Security Considerations........................................................................................................ 8
Cost Estimation and Feasibility ........................................................................................... 8
Evaluating Design Choices with a Focus on Professional Needs ...................................... 8
Conclusion ................................................................................................................................. 9
Task 2: Simulation-Based Analysis of WLAN Performance ................................................... 10
Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 10
Simulation Environment .....................................................................................................11
Simulation Report for the Ground Floor ...........................................................................11
Results from the simulation on the first floor .................................................................. 12
Results Produced on the Second Floor.............................................................................. 13
Analyzing the Performance ................................................................................................ 14
Checking traffic patterns using the Throughput Graph ................................................. 14
Latency Trends .................................................................................................................... 15
Looking at the trend of Packet Loss .................................................................................. 16
Recommendations ............................................................................................................... 17
Conclusion ............................................................................................................................... 18
References .................................................................................................................................... 19
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Introduction
It falls on the team of WLAN network engineers at Northumbria University to create and set up a
highly secure, powerful, and flexible wireless LAN for the new CIS building. This part of the
report outlines how the three-floor CIS building is connected to the WLAN. The goal is to provide
sufficient bandwidth, manage limited spectrum, support a reasonable number of users, support
important applications, and provide security at a reasonable cost. The location features computer
labs, lecture halls, open workspaces for sharing, and various offices, which all have their own
design requirements. Since the current WLAN is using obsolete 802.11b technology, the system
should be upgraded to the current standards used today. To accommodate APs at the most
opportune locations, prioritize access to channels and anticipate true user traffic. The proposed
design relies on 802.11n and follows standard engineering practices.
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The client required the network to provide at least 100 Mbps to all users, and it insisted the WLAN
use only the 2.4 GHz spectrum. It is crucial to handle 200 users accessing the Wi-Fi, mainly in
busy floors such as the computer vision labs and gaming rooms. The network must allow for
different kinds of applications, such as video streaming, high-speed gaming, web browsing,
sending and reading email messages, and using file servers (Nazir et al., 2025). Security must be
a top priority and should be reflected in how the software is implemented. The rules mentioned
above should be taken into account when making decisions about AP locations, channels, the
hardware used, and load balancing. In order to manage high-speed connections with so little space
on the 2.4 GHz band, the device should emphasize using the same space as little as possible.
In this project, the WLAN design uses heatmaps and basic floor maps in combination with
anticipated traffic from users for planning. It was not feasible to use 100 APs per floor to provide
200 users with the needed 100 Mbps due to issues related to space, radio waves, and signal
interference. The system is planned considering that the most users will visit at the same time,
making up only 25% of everyone who can use it. Such behavior is typical because not every user
in a school is using all the available bandwidth at the same time. For this reason, each floor got 25
APs, which brings the total number of APs to 75 in the whole building (Verma et al., 2023). Using
this approach, networks ensure low interruption to performance for users, block out nearly all
interference, and watch their expenses while meeting the data rate needs of employed users.
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WLAN design is found on the ground floor, the first floor and the second floor of the building.
Twenty-five APs are placed on every floor to ensure the strongest signal coverage and prevent
most co-channel interference. Wireless access points are placed on each floor to ensure there is
enough Wi-Fi at the student café and the various meeting areas, where people may connect with
different frequency levels at different times (Nahar et al., 2024). Effort was put into ensuring
roaming areas have the best signal to avoid interruptions.
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Since heavy use of bandwidth for gaming and computer vision was found in the first-floor
computer laboratories, a denser arrangement of APs was arranged, and care was taken to ensure
they did not interfere with each other. Since high-throughput applications require faster speeds, a
plan covering the same area more than once was needed for extra redundancy. Offices and
classrooms on the second floor are laid out in a more balanced and even AP pattern. As there are
fewer people using these spaces and their applications use less bandwidth, you can distribute them
evenly with less chance of overlap (Nazir et al., 2025). All the APs on each floor were set in the
center of rooms, but not close to objects or wires that might block the signal. Allocating spectrum
and channels is called the Channel and Spectrum Allocation Strategy. It was not easy to work with
2.4 GHz because this frequency supports only three distinct channels (usually channels 1, 6, and
11). A crowded area with plenty of APs increases the risk of co-channel interference. The problem
was resolved by assigning three channels on each floor. All APs were provided one of three
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exclusive channels, so that adjacent APs do not operate with the same channel. Moreover,
channeling APs on each story in a different order prevented vertical interference. Using this design,
multiple APs can function together with very little contention, even if there are many APs in a
single area.
The most important factor was ensuring each user received an internet speed of 100 Mbps.
Therefore, all the APs used for the deployment support the IEEE 802.11n standard, reaching speeds
of approximately 300 Mbps in 2.4 GHz with 40 MHz channels. Despite real-world effects, protocol
needs, and interference, engineers assumed that each AP can only manage up to 150 Mbps.
Each AP supports an average of two users when only 25% of all users access the network at the
same time, or 50 users per floor (Monir and Ishmam, 2022). When traffic is at its highest, users
can download at an average network speed of about 75 Mbps, and this rate jumps to more than
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100 Mbps in usual cases. Using the latest scheduling and load-balancing features on modern
WLAN controllers makes sure that even during very busy hours, each user’s bandwidth level
remains acceptable.
Security Considerations
As academic and administrative data is sensitive over the WLAN, strong security steps have been
added to the design. Because it provides good security and is suitable for businesses, WPA2-
Enterprise was chosen as the main security protocol. This means the RADIUS server infrastructure
from the university is integrated to control the login process for users (Nazir et al., 2025). Also,
the use of virtual LANs (VLANs) has been mentioned to divide traffic for students, faculty, staff,
and guests. Appropriate firewall policies are given to every user group to narrow their movements
and lower their security risk. In addition, MAC address filtering is used, but even this method is
not always reliable (Abd El-Haleem et al., 2023). Conducting security audits and installing the
latest software patches on devices is necessary to keep academic IT safe, as it gets frequent external
visits.
All costs were estimated by using an Excel-based model. The model requires spending on AP units,
charges for WLAN controller licenses, costs of cables, switches powered by PoE, expenses for
installation, and maintenance costs every year. The total amount was determined by estimating
costs for 75 APs installed on three floors using enterprise-grade devices (Cao et al., 2022). Given
that we use optimized capacity planning, the environment won’t face financial problems while still
performing and scaling as required.
The same number of APs on each floor was implemented because the traffic will naturally change,
so it can be smoothly managed by the controller software. A portion of the budget is set aside for
training IT staff and also to cover anything unexpected with WLAN devices (Safonov et al., 2022).
It helps to ensure that the network can operate smoothly and successfully in the long run.
Different methods were used to determine whether the proposed design could be feasible and
useful. You should use simulations, check industry guidelines and best practices suggested by
Cisco and Aruba, and use heuristics for planning your 2.4 GHz network in a campus setting.
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Besides, each AP placement map on every floor was produced using smart tools and shown in
visual connection with the actual building’s features (Xu et al., 2022). They are used by both the
technical staff during deployment and by stakeholders during the review and approval phase. The
approach emulates how professionals design, joining available data, theoretical models, and
experience from building networks.
Conclusion
The proposed plan for WLAN in the CIS building satisfies all the technical, operational, and
security needs of the university in a cost-efficient way. Given that 25 APs are deployed on each
floor with a 25% overlap in use, every active user gets the required minimum bandwidth of 100
Mbps. Using the 2.4 GHz band, special attention is given to AP placement, channel use, and tools
designed for business security. To ensure the design can be used in more areas and changed in the
future, it was reviewed through engineering and modelling. If the wireless network is implemented
by experts, the university will enjoy a stable and reliable network that supports all its academic
goals today and in the future.
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Introduction
After finishing the installation of the wireless LAN (WLAN) in the Computer Science building,
customers experienced periodic network interruptions on the ground floor. People began to worry
that the network could not deal with many users at the same time and ensure uninterrupted data
rates. Because it can support 200 people per floor, it became important to check if the network
would be able to handle an increasing number of users (Manzoor et al., 2023). To study this,
OMNeT++ was used to perform simulations and check how network traffic changes as the number
of clients is increased on Ground, First and Second floors. We wanted to know how many clients
could be served by BSS using IEEE 802.11n on the 2.4 GHz band. The report includes findings
that illustrate how the network keeps its performance steady and at what limit its performance
decreases.
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Simulation Environment
The simulation broke the Computer Science building’s WLAN into three 802.11n infrastructure
BSS networks, with one network on each level. All the APs were set to function on the 2.4 GHz
band to meet the design guidelines. There was an AP every 25 feet on each floor and all clients
were spread properly within the AP coverage. While the WiFi PHY can handle 600 Mbps per
access point in theory when set to 802.11n, the actual speed depends a lot on the frequency of
medium access and the surrounding environment (Kinabo et al., 2021). For each case, I ran the
application with a different number of active users: 20, 50, 100 and 200. We tested throughput,
latency and packet loss for each configuration to get an average for each client.
Finding mingled-use areas on the ground floor such as open lounges, spots for collaboration and
a café. Because of the changes in surroundings and the movement of people, the layout creates
many challenges. A total of 20 users on the system resulted in an average performance of 184
Mbps. Video conferencing was efficient since latency remained low and packet loss was less than
0.2%. As user numbers went up to 50, the average throughput increased to 390 Mbps and average
latency increased to 25 milliseconds (Abd El-Haleem et al., 2023). The percentage of lost packets
was kept below 0.5% during the tests. Once there were 100 clients, the network experienced its
maximum throughput of 550 Mbps. But the network delay amounted to 50 milliseconds, with 1.5%
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of packets no longer reaching their destination. As soon as the network was filled to 200, it became
overloaded. The speed cap was reached at 540 Mbps, but the latency began to spike all the way up
to 85 milliseconds. The rate of packet loss increased to 3.8%. The results demonstrate that the
network functions well for up to 100 users, but when all users are using the network, there is often
instability because of conflicts caused by sharing the same medium.
On the first floor, you can find computer vision, simulation and gaming labs which are built for
fast transmission and low latency. Being organized in the lab help avoid distractions and make the
outcome of experiments easier to guess (Monir and Ishmam, 2022). For 20 users, I obtained a
transfer speed of 194 Mbps, an average wait time of just 10 milliseconds and a packet loss of 0.1%.
After increasing users to 50, the throughput amounted to around 415 Mbps. The time between
sending and receiving a packet became slightly slower at 20 milliseconds, while packet loss was
0.3%. The test demonstrated that when 100 users were connected, the system achieved the top
throughput of 620 Mbps by using the channel wisely. There was an average latency of 42 ms and
the percent of lost packets rose to 1.0%. Even with twice the number of clients, response speed did
not increase; it remained at 620 Mbps. The network’s latency reached 78 milliseconds and packet
loss was now 3.2%, meaning the setup could no longer be scaled further.
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Most of the second floor consists of places for staff, administration and quiet areas for study. Fewer
people enter this floor and the traffic is less organized than on the other two floors. The data from
the simulation indicates that 20 users led to 188 Mbps speed, 11 millisecond latency and 0.15%
packet loss. Going from 25 to 50 users gave the network a throughput of 395 Mbps, 22
milliseconds of latency and 0.35% packet loss (Manzoor et al., 2023). As soon as there were 100
users, the throughput was 590 Mbps. I noticed that the time between requests increased to 48
milliseconds and packet loss rose to 1.3%. When the number of users reached 200, download speed
decreased slightly to 580 Mbps due to more people trying to use the BAP. An increase in
milliseconds to 82 and a rise in packet loss to 3.6% were noticed. The results on this floor were
consistent until the users concurrently increased, at which point the performance began to
deteriorate gradually.
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When analyzing everything at the same time, it is clear that the WLAN functions properly for up
to about 50 to 100 users. If low-to-medium usage is maintained, the infrastructure can still ensure
there are no delays or slowed traffic since everyone wants to use the system at the same time.
Afterward, the system starts to slow down due to nodes crashing into each other, to retry messages
and to wait their turn.
Across all user numbers, the first floor outperformed the others due to how it was arranged and the
little interference found there. The area on the ground floor declined the fastest beyond its capacity,
possibly because it has an open layout and is used differently each time.
The graphs of throughput for each floor indicate that the number of users rises from 20 to 100 and
that the throughput goes up steadily during this range. In instances when bandwidth is unused,
these frames use it best (Soto et al., 2021). Still, after having more than 100 users, the network
performance doesn’t improve and may even get slightly slower.
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This kind of dropout is common with IEEE 802.11n when working on the 2.4 GHz medium.
Because there are not many non-conflicting channels on this band, growing congestion on the
MAC layer leads to poor efficiency when many people use the network.
Latency Trends
A significant connection exists between latency and the number of users per area. The service
responded within 15 milliseconds on average in situations with a low number of users, making it
acceptable for voice and video applications. With higher user numbers, the average time it took to
connect also rose, reaching almost 85 and 78 milliseconds on the ground and first floor
respectively. It explains how retransmissions, backoff and delays in the queue are caused by heavy
traffic (Yadav et al., 2024). As the network becomes almost fully utilized, delay in transmitting
data starts to limit real-time applications.
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As long as fewer than 50 users were connected, the percentage of lost packets did not exceed 0.5%
which is very reliable. Beyond 100 users, the rate of user loss began to grow steadily and got to
almost 3% for 200 users. The challenge of recovering from collisions means that MAC cannot
function well when there is lot of contention (Gumzej, 2021). A high rate of packet loss reduces
efficiency and additionally results in retransmissions, increasing congestion in the network.
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Recommendations
Several options exist for reducing the problems with performance identified. In the first step, load
balancing must be turned on to keep APs from getting overloaded. The options include managing
how many clients can be on the same AP or enabling smart roaming. In the second instance, when
Quality of Service (QoS) features are set at the Media Access Control (MAC) layer, urgent traffic
for gaming and video is given priority over other tasks (Abramova, 2025). Moreover, using
specially-designed antennas or putting APs closer together in crowded locations improves the use
of radio signals and reduces interference. You can improve the 2.4 GHz band by managing channel
assignments and lowering interference.
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Conclusion
It has been shown that the WLAN in the Computer Science building is not able to handle maximum
traffic effectively. In most places, 2.4 GHz IEEE 802.11n wireless LAN can serve over 100 users
on any floor without interference. Additionally, increased transfer speed, extra latency and some
data packets being lost become inevitable because of the way the protocol works and how much
spectrum is available. This analysis points out that the number of devices connected to a WLAN
should be considered when designing it. Besides setting up APs, it is important to continually fine-
tune the network and adapt the settings to how the network is used to achieve good overall
performance in educational institutions. The achievements help provide instructions for how to
make the WLAN better and continue improvement attempts.
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References
Abramova, E.A. (2025). Wireless Network Reconfiguration Model in OMNeT++
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Manzoor, S., Manzoor, M., Manzoor, H., Adan, D.E. and Kayani, M.A., 2023. Which
simulator to choose for next generation wireless network simulations? ns-3 or
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Verma, S., Rodrigues, T.K., Kawamoto, Y., Fouda, M.M. and Kato, N., 2023. A survey on
Multi-AP coordination approaches over emerging WLANs: Future directions and open
challenges. IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials, 26(2), pp.858-889.
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Nahar, T., Rawat, S., Pathak, P., Kumar, P. and Anguera, J., 2024. Leaf-shaped antennas for
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Soto, P., Camelo, M., Mets, K., Wilhelmi, F., Góez, D., Fletscher, L.A., Gaviria, N.,
Hellinckx, P., Botero, J.F. and Latré, S., 2021. ATARI: A graph convolutional neural
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Yadav, M., Shoran, P., Saxena, E., Bijalwan, A. and Bijalwan, J.G., 2024. IoTs-Based
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Abd El-Haleem, A.M., Anany, M.G., Elmesalawy, M.M. and Bakr, E.S.E.D., 2023. A
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Kinabo, A.B., Mwangama, J.B. and Lysko, A.A., 2021, December. Towards wi-fi-based
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Appendices
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