5G-air-simulator: An open-source tool modeling the 5G air interface

5G-air-simulator is an open-source and event-driven tool modeling the key elements of the 5G air interface from a system-level perspective. It implements several network architectures with multiple cells and users, different mobility and application models, a calibrated link-to-system model for physical and data-link layers, and a wide range of features standardized for both control and user planes, as well as a set of technical components recently designed for the 5G air interface (such as massive Multiple Input Multiple Output, extended multicast and broadcast transmission schemes, predictor antennas, enhanced random access procedure, and NB-IoT). The tool has been already used in different research activities to design and evaluate the performance of reference 5G-enabled use cases. Moreover, it allows a flexible configuration, arrangement, and extension of its capabilities to model both new scenarios and new technical components, hence supporting advanced studies willing to address the research questions emerging from the deployment of current and upcoming mobile systems.