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SPECIFICTION
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Common Open Research Emulator (CORE)

nrl.navy.mil

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Spec score 7.5 #18 of 31 in Network Simulation Software

Spec sheet

Purpose
CORE emulates networks on one or more machines and can connect emulated networks to live networks.Read 10 Oct 2026 · github.com
Intended users
NRL describes CORE for research, demonstrations, testing, security studies, and increasing the size of physical test networks.Read 10 Oct 2026 · nrl.navy.mil
API
NRL says the CORE API lets other systems interact with CORE emulation and is used for communication between CORE components.Read 10 Oct 2026 · nrl.navy.mil
Integrations
CORE documentation includes provided services for EMANE, FRR, Quagga, SDN, and XORP.Read 9 Oct 2026 · coreemu.github.io
Support
The repository points users to GitHub-hosted documentation and a Discord channel for support discussions.Read 10 Oct 2026 · github.com
License
The GitHub repository identifies the project license as BSD-2-Clause.Read 10 Oct 2026 · github.com
APIs
The core-daemon provides a gRPC API, and the GUI communicates with the daemon over gRPC.Read 9 Oct 2026 · coreemu.github.io
Customization
CORE is described as highly customizable and includes Python modules for scripting network emulation.Read 9 Oct 2026 · github.com
Distributed and physical networks
CORE supports distributed emulation and hardware-in-the-loop, and its emulated networks can connect to live networks.Read 9 Oct 2026 · nrl.navy.mil
Installation
The repository documents package installation using deb or rpm packages and script installation for Ubuntu 22.04 and CentOS.Read 10 Oct 2026 · github.com
Installation options
The project offers prebuilt RPM and DEB packages and script-based installation; its documentation gives Ubuntu 22.04 and Rocky Linux 8.10 examples.Read 9 Oct 2026 · coreemu.github.io
Interface
CORE provides a drag-and-drop GUI for creating nodes and links, and can launch terminals for emulated nodes.Read 9 Oct 2026 · coreemu.github.io
Interface and scripting
CORE includes a GUI for drawing topologies of lightweight virtual machines and Python modules for scripting network emulation.Read 10 Oct 2026 · github.com
Key features
NRL lists an easy-to-use GUI canvas, centralized configuration and control, hardware-in-the-loop, distributed operation across multiple CORE instances, and customization.Read 10 Oct 2026 · nrl.navy.mil
Network implementation
CORE runs on Linux and uses Linux namespaces, Ethernet bridging, virtual interfaces, and Netem queuing disciplines to form and configure emulated networks.Read 9 Oct 2026 · coreemu.github.io
Real-time and physical connections
NRL says CORE runs emulations in real time and can connect them to physical networks and routers.Read 10 Oct 2026 · nrl.navy.mil
Requirements
The repository states that CORE requires Python 3.9 or later.Read 10 Oct 2026 · github.com
Unmodified software
NRL says CORE runs applications and protocols without modifying them.Read 10 Oct 2026 · nrl.navy.mil
Use cases
NRL says CORE is typically used for network and protocol research, demonstrations, application and platform testing, networking scenario evaluation, security studies, and expanding physical test networks.Read 10 Oct 2026 · nrl.navy.mil
Wireless integration
CORE documentation describes using EMANE with CORE for higher-fidelity wireless networks.Read 10 Oct 2026 · coreemu.github.io

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