Token bus local area network simulator

Abstract

This project is a token bus local area network simulator written in Pascal on an IBM PC compatible. The simulator is written for the Microsoft Windows operating environment and makes use of a graphical user interface for controlling the simulation. The program is object-oriented to make use of the Borland ObjectWindows Windows interface and because of the suitability of object-oriented programming to graphics and simulation applications. All basic token bus network functionalities specified by the Institute Of Electrical And Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.4 token bus standard are implemented in the simulation plus an added function to resolve duplicate node addresses. The network nodes and bus are drawn using Windows' color graphics. The state of each node is represented by text as well as the color and style each node is drawn in. The frame being transmitted is shown as large text within the bus object on the screen. The direction of data transfer on the bus is shown graphically as is the current location of the token among the nodes.

The user of the simulation has the ability make any node active, inactive, or passive, or to make any node fail. The user may make a node send data to one other node or many other random nodes. The addresses of the nodes may also be changed. The user may pause, step through, or continue the simulation, control the simulation speed, control the error rate of data on the bus, and produce a lost token scenario.