A Survey on Open-Source Edge Computing Simulators and Emulators: The Computing and Networking Convergence Perspective
2025/05/15 by Jianpeng Qi, Qi, Jianpeng, Chao Liu +11
Computer Science · #Cloud Computing and Resource Management #Digital Libraries (cs.DL) #Distributed and Parallel Computing Systems #FOS: Computer and information sciences #IoT and Edge/Fog Computing #Networking and Internet Architecture (cs.NI)
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2505.09995
openalex publication_date 2025/05/15 · openalex created_date 2025/10/15 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Abstract
Edge computing, with its low latency, dynamic scalability, and location awareness, along with the convergence of computing and communication paradigms, has been successfully applied in critical domains such as industrial IoT, smart healthcare, smart homes, and public safety. This paper provides a comprehensive survey of open-source edge computing simulators and emulators, presented in our GitHub repository (https://github.com/qijianpeng/awesome-edge-computing), emphasizing the convergence of computing and networking paradigms. By examining more than 40 tools, including CloudSim, NS-3, and others, we identify the strengths and limitations in simulating and emulating edge environments. This survey classifies these tools into three categories: packet-level, application-level, and emulators. Furthermore, we evaluate them across five dimensions, ranging from resource representation to resource utilization. The survey highlights the integration of different computing paradigms, packet processing capabilities, support for edge environments, user-defined metric interfaces, and scenario visualization. The findings aim to guide researchers in selecting appropriate tools for developing and validating advanced computing and networking technologies.
Citations
- A Survey on Integrated Sensing, Communication, and Computation
- Beyond the Edge: An Advanced Exploration of Reinforcement Learning for Mobile Edge Computing, its Applications, and Future Research Trajectories
- CloudSim Express: A Novel Framework for Rapid Low Code Simulation of Cloud Computing Environments
- Meta Computing
- REMR: A Reliability Evaluation Method for Dynamic Edge Computing Network under Time Constraints
- IFogSim2: An Extended iFogSim Simulator for Mobility, Clustering, and Microservice Management in Edge and Fog Computing Environments
- iFogSim2: An extended iFogSim simulator for mobility, clustering, and microservice management in edge and fog computing environments
- From Cloud to Edge: A First Look at Public Edge Platforms
- Query Age of Information: Freshness in Pull-Based Communication
- LEAF: Simulating Large Energy-Aware Fog Computing Environments
- SimFaaS: A Performance Simulator for Serverless Computing Platforms
- Age of Information: An Introduction and Survey
- The gem5 Simulator: Version 20.0+
- Age of Processing: Age-driven Status Sampling and Processing Offloading for Edge Computing-enabled Real-time IoT Applications
- Edge Intelligence: Paving the Last Mile of Artificial Intelligence with Edge Computing
- Edge Intelligence: Paving the Last Mile of Artificial Intelligence With Edge Computing
- EmuFog: Extensible and Scalable Emulation of Large-Scale Fog Computing Infrastructures
- iFogSim: A Toolkit for Modeling and Simulation of Resource Management\n Techniques in Internet of Things, Edge and Fog Computing Environments
- iFogSim: A toolkit for modeling and simulation of resource management techniques in the Internet of Things, Edge and Fog computing environments
- Named data networking
- CloudSim: a toolkit for modeling and simulation of cloud computing environments and evaluation of resource provisioning algorithms
Related