Abstract: A hardware system for simulating a network physical layer for communication channels. The hardware system includes a plurality of hardware processors configurable to model a network physical layer and communication channels. The hardware system is further implemented where the hardware processors are configured such that a single set of hardware, including a single set of gates and registers, is used in a single simulation to model a plurality of virtual routers for different nodes.

Abstract: Indicating to a receiver node in a network that the receiver node should begin tracking signal to noise ratio (SNR) of a received signal for a new power and rate (PAR) interval for data sent from a transmitter node. A method includes determining that a new PAR interval is beginning. The method further includes adding an identifier to a data block. The identifier corresponds to the new PAR interval. The method further includes sending the data block from the transmitter node to the receiver node, where the receiver node will use the identifier to determine that a new tracking interval of SNR should be performed for the data block and subsequent data blocks having the identifier.