How to Simulate Border Gateway Protocol Projects Using MATLAB

To simulate Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) using MATLAB, we need to design several autonomous systems (ASes) that describing routers in these systems and executing the BGP operations like route advertisement, path selection, and route propagation. BGP functions among autonomous systems to discover the finest paths for data packets according to the numerous parameters like AS-Path, local preference, and multi-exit discriminator (MED).

We deliver sequence steps to simulate a BGP project in MATLAB:

Steps to Simulate BGP Protocol in MATLAB

1. Define Autonomous Systems and Routers

• In BGP, routers are organized in autonomous systems (ASes). Each AS interactions with adjacent ASes using BGP to swap routing data.

Example of defining autonomous systems and routers:

numAS = 3;  % Number of autonomous systems (AS)

routersPerAS = [3, 2, 4];  % Number of routers in each AS

totalRouters = sum(routersPerAS);  % Total number of routers

% Define router positions within the network area

routerPositions = rand(totalRouters, 2) * 100;  % Random positions in a 100×100 network area

% Initialize adjacency matrix for router connectivity

adjacencyMatrix = inf(totalRouters);  % Initialize with infinity (no direct link)

% Intra-AS links (routers inside the same AS)

adjacencyMatrix(1,2) = 1; adjacencyMatrix(2,1) = 1;

adjacencyMatrix(2,3) = 2; adjacencyMatrix(3,2) = 2;

adjacencyMatrix(4,5) = 1; adjacencyMatrix(5,4) = 1;

% Inter-AS links (BGP connections between ASes)

adjacencyMatrix(3,4) = 3; adjacencyMatrix(4,3) = 3;  % AS1 <–> AS2

adjacencyMatrix(5,7) = 4; adjacencyMatrix(7,5) = 4;  % AS2 <–> AS3

adjacencyMatrix(1,6) = 5; adjacencyMatrix(6,1) = 5;  % AS1 <–> AS3

2. Routing Table Initialization

• Every single router sustains a routing table, which stores paths to diverse destinations. Firstly, routers only understand regarding the routers in its own AS.

Example of initializing routing tables:

function routingTable = initializeRoutingTable(totalRouters, adjacencyMatrix)

routingTable = cell(totalRouters, 1);  % Each router has its own routing table

for i = 1:totalRouters

for j = 1:totalRouters

if adjacencyMatrix(i, j) < inf

routingTable{i} = [routingTable{i}; j, adjacencyMatrix(i, j), i];  % Destination, cost, next-hop

end

end

end

end

routingTable = initializeRoutingTable(totalRouters, adjacencyMatrix);

3. BGP Route Advertisement

• In BGP, routers swap routing data along with its neighbors. Routers publicize paths to their destinations, and the receiving routers update its routing tables rely on the advertisements.

Example of BGP route advertisement:

function routingTable = bgpAdvertiseRoutes(routingTable, srcRouter, adjacencyMatrix)

totalRouters = length(routingTable);

for neighbor = 1:totalRouters

if adjacencyMatrix(srcRouter, neighbor) < inf  % Check if neighbor is directly connected

% Add/update the route in the neighbor’s routing table

for route = 1:size(routingTable{srcRouter}, 1)

destination = routingTable{srcRouter}(route, 1);

cost = routingTable{srcRouter}(route, 2) + adjacencyMatrix(srcRouter, neighbor);  % Add cost

nextHop = srcRouter;

% Update neighbor’s routing table with the new route

routingTable{neighbor} = [routingTable{neighbor}; destination, cost, nextHop];

end

end

end

end

4. BGP Path Selection

• Routers sustain several paths to the similar destination however choose the finest one depends on BGP parameters like AS-Path length, local preference, and multi-exit discriminator (MED). For simplicity, we will utilize the path length (hop count) in this instance.

Example of implementing path selection:

function bestPath = bgpPathSelection(routingTable, src, dst)

routes = routingTable{src}(routingTable{src}(:,1) == dst, :);  % Get all routes to the destination

if isempty(routes)

bestPath = [];  % No route found

return;

end

[~, bestIdx] = min(routes(:, 2));  % Select the route with the minimum cost (hop count)

bestPath = routes(bestIdx, :);

end

% Example: Select the best path from router 1 to router 7

bestPath = bgpPathSelection(routingTable, 1, 7);

disp([‘Best path from router 1 to router 7: ‘, num2str(bestPath)]);

5. Simulate Route Propagation and Convergence

• BGP routers propagate routes to its neighbors up to the network converges. The simulation executes numerous iterations of the route advertisement and selection until no new updates happen.

Example of simulating route propagation:

numIterations = 10;  % Number of iterations to simulate BGP route propagation

for iter = 1:numIterations

for router = 1:totalRouters

routingTable = bgpAdvertiseRoutes(routingTable, router, adjacencyMatrix);

end

disp([‘Routing tables after iteration ‘, num2str(iter)]);

for router = 1:totalRouters

disp([‘Router ‘, num2str(router), ‘ routing table:’]);

disp(routingTable{router});

end

end

6. Simulate Data Transmission Using BGP Routes

• When the network has met then we replicate the transmission of data from an origin to a destination utilizing the optimal BGP routes.

Example of simulating data transmission:

function transmitData(routingTable, src, dst)

bestPath = bgpPathSelection(routingTable, src, dst);

if isempty(bestPath)

disp(‘No valid route found.’);

else

disp([‘Data transmitted from router ‘, num2str(src), ‘ to router ‘, num2str(dst), ‘ via next-hop: ‘, num2str(bestPath(3))]);

end

end

% Simulate data transmission from router 1 to router 7

srcRouter = 1;

dstRouter = 7;

transmitData(routingTable, srcRouter, dstRouter);

7. Evaluate BGP Performance

• Assess the performance of BGP using parameters like average path length, routing overhead, convergence time, and packet delivery ratio.

Example of calculating the average path length:

totalPathLength = 0;

pathCount = 0;

for i = 1:totalRouters

for j = i+1:totalRouters

bestPath = bgpPathSelection(routingTable, i, j);

if ~isempty(bestPath)

totalPathLength = totalPathLength + bestPath(2);  % Add the path length

pathCount = pathCount + 1;

end

end

end

avgPathLength = totalPathLength / pathCount;

disp([‘Average path length: ‘, num2str(avgPathLength)]);

8. Visualize the Network Topology and BGP Routes

• Envision the network topology, the routers, and the paths taken for data transmission by using MATLAB’s plotting functions.

Example of visualizing the network:

figure;

hold on;

plot(routerPositions(:,1), routerPositions(:,2), ‘bo’, ‘MarkerSize’, 10);  % Plot router positions

% Plot communication links

for i = 1:totalRouters

for j = i+1:totalRouters

if adjacencyMatrix(i,j) < inf

plot([routerPositions(i,1), routerPositions(j,1)], [routerPositions(i,2), routerPositions(j,2)], ‘k-‘);

end

end

end

title(‘BGP Network Topology’);

hold off;

Conclusion

To replicate a Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) using MATLAB:

1. Describe the network topology, which contains autonomous systems and routers.
2. Introduce routing tables in which each router understands regarding routes within their own AS.
3. Execute the BGP route advertisement in which routers swap routing information along with their neighbors.
4. Execute path selection, selecting the optimal route according to the parameters such as AS-Path length.
5. Mimic route propagation and convergence in which routers exchange routes until the network attains a stable state.
6. Replicate data transmission, where routers forward packets utilizing the optimal BGP routes.
7. Estimate the performance using parameters such as average path length, convergence time, and routing overhead.

By employing MATLAB environment, we completed in-depth simulations for Border Gateway protocol projects and we are capable of extending it further if more insights are required.

We are dedicated to assisting you in simulating Border Gateway Protocol projects using MATLAB. Our team focuses on various parameters, including AS-Path, local preference, and multi-exit discriminator (MED), to ensure optimal results for your projects. Feel free to reach out to us for exceptional service. We provide project ideas and conduct performance analyses tailored to your specific interests.