NetPilot

Academic Network Research Lab

Reproducible multi-vendor networking experiments for research and thesis labs.

AI-built topologies with real device CLIs. Prompts as artifacts. Complementary to ns-3, Mininet, GENI, CloudLab, and FABRIC — not a replacement. Built for graduate research where real multi-vendor protocol behavior and artifact reproducibility matter.

Prompt = reusable artifact
Real multi-vendor NOS CLIs
Minutes-to-lab, not days

Academic research tools compared

Honest positioning. NetPilot is not a replacement for ns-3 (different category: simulator vs emulator) or for GENI/CloudLab/FABRIC (different category: federated testbeds vs cloud platform). NetPilot is the real-CLI multi-vendor layer that fills a specific gap.

Dimensionns-3 (simulator)MininetGENI / CloudLab / FABRICVendor free tiersNetPilot
Real NOS CLI behavior❌ simulation⚠️ Linux tools✅ bare-metal✅ single vendor✅ multi-vendor
Multi-vendor in one topology❌❌⚠️ BYO software❌✅
Setup timeDays (scripts)HoursDays–weeks (onboarding)Hours~2 minutes
Reproducible artifact (prompt)✅ scripts⚠️ Python⚠️ profiles❌✅ prompt = artifact
Cloud self-serve❌ local❌ local✅ federated⚠️ varies✅
Single-user self-serve✅✅⚠️ onboarding✅✅
Best forSimulation scaleSDN + teachingBare-metal experimentsSingle-vendor studyReal multi-vendor iteration
Anchor scenario

Reproducing a paper that depended on vendor hardware

Networking research reproducibility is harder than the field would like. ACM-surveyed reproducibility rates sit around 32% in networking, and SIGCOMM / NSDI / MobiSys / CoNEXT artifact-evaluation programs consistently flag hardware-dependent artifacts as the hardest to reproduce.

The bottleneck is rarely the research itself. It's the environment setup — finding or buying the vendor hardware, matching firmware versions, recreating the topology, scripting the impairment, hitting the same convergence baseline.

The NetPilot pattern: describe the published experiment in plain English. The prompt + generated configurations become the artifact. Reviewers re-deploy in minutes on real Cisco, Juniper, Arista, Nokia, or FRR CLIs — no hardware sourcing, no firmware archaeology. For experiments that depend on specific commercial vendor code paths, BYOI supports the researcher's own licensed image.

BGP convergence research methodology

Complement to ns-3, Mininet, and NSF testbeds

Each existing tool solves a specific problem well. NetPilot fills a specific gap without trying to replace any of them.

ns-3 (discrete-event simulator)

Simulation fidelity at massive scale. Rich protocol abstractions. Use for simulation-layer experiments where thousands of nodes matter more than real vendor CLI behavior.

Mininet

Linux-namespace emulation — the teaching default. Excellent for SDN research and CS networking courses. NetPilot covers the multi-vendor real-NOS gap Mininet doesn't address.

GENI / CloudLab / FABRIC

NSF-funded federated bare-metal testbeds. Rigorous hardware experiments. Onboarding and provisioning take days to weeks — NetPilot takes minutes for research that fits on cloud infrastructure.

NetPilot

Real multi-vendor NOS CLIs, AI-built topologies from prompts, cloud self-serve, minutes-to-lab, artifact-ready reproducibility. The real-CLI multi-vendor layer.

Use all of them. The research question determines the tool.

Use cases for academic networking research

Four research workflows where real multi-vendor CLIs + artifact reproducibility matter.

Reproduce published-paper experiments

Read a SIGCOMM, NSDI, IMC, or CoNEXT paper that depended on vendor hardware. Describe its topology to NetPilot in plain English. Re-run the experiment in minutes on real multi-vendor CLIs — the hardware-dependent artifact problem that artifact-evaluation programs flag as hardest becomes tractable.

BGP convergence research →

PhD / master's thesis lab

Thesis experiments that need real multi-vendor protocol behavior — EVPN interop studies, BGP convergence across implementations, cross-protocol comparisons. Reproducible prompts, real CLIs, artifact-ready for committee review.

Graduate course teaching labs

Advanced networking courses covering multi-vendor interop, service-provider protocols, or data-center fabric research. Students get real CLI exposure without per-student hardware. Course-pack licensing available for institutions — contact sales.

Artifact-evaluation-ready submissions

The prompt + generated configs + deployable topology is the artifact. Reviewers reproduce in minutes, not weeks. Addresses the environment-setup bottleneck that drives reproducibility rates below one-third in networking research (per ACM surveys).

For institutions

Course packs, dedicated environments, institutional access

For departmental research labs, graduate course packs, or institutional research-group deployments, NetPilot offers dedicated environments, isolated tenancy, instructor oversight patterns, and SSO / audit integration under enterprise plans.

Pricing and access mechanics are handled case-by-case for academic institutions — the goal is to match the workflow, not force it into a SaaS plan shape. Reach out to the team.

Protocols and tooling supported

Real vendor code paths for research. Pair with ns-3 for simulation-scale experiments; pair with GENI/CloudLab/FABRIC for bare-metal experiments.

  • FRR (BGP, OSPF, IS-IS, Babel, EVPN, SRv6, RIP, PIM) — reference open-source routing stack
  • Multi-vendor NOS: Cisco IOL, Juniper cRPD, Arista cEOS, Nokia SR Linux (BYOI for commercial)
  • EVPN-VXLAN (Type-2/3/5 routes, symmetric/asymmetric IRB, multi-homing)
  • SR-MPLS and SRv6 (SR-TE, uSID, SR-MPLS-LSP)
  • MPLS L3VPN (RFC 4364), L2VPN, VPLS, EVPN-VPWS
  • BGP convergence research topologies (EBGP, IBGP, route reflectors, confederations)
  • Impairments (tc netem): packet loss, latency, jitter, duplication, reordering, rate limit, link flap
  • Scapy for custom packet crafting and experimental protocol research
  • BFD, LACP, LLDP for realistic data-center and service-provider fabric modeling

Category note

NetPilot is a real-NOS cloud emulation platform. It is not a discrete-event simulator (that is ns-3's category) and not a bare-metal federated testbed (that is GENI/CloudLab/FABRIC's category). Choose the tool that matches the research question.

Academic Research FAQ

Scenario-phrased questions from graduate researchers and networking faculty.

Describe the paper's topology, vendor NOSes, and protocol stack in plain English. NetPilot deploys the equivalent multi-vendor topology in ~2 minutes with real Cisco, Juniper, Arista, Nokia, or FRR CLIs. For papers that depend on specific commercial vendor code paths, bring-your-own-image (BYOI) is supported. The prompt + generated configs become a reusable artifact that another researcher can re-run — the environment-setup bottleneck that drives low reproducibility rates goes away.
No — they're different categories. ns-3 is a discrete-event simulator; Mininet is a Linux-namespace emulator for teaching and SDN research. NetPilot runs actual vendor NOS code (real FRR, real Cisco, real Junos) on cloud infrastructure. Use ns-3 for simulation-scale experiments; Mininet for SDN controller research and CS teaching; NetPilot when you need real protocol behavior on real vendor CLIs in a multi-vendor topology.
Yes. NetPilot is well-suited for thesis experiments that need real multi-vendor NOS interaction — cross-vendor EVPN interop, multi-vendor BGP convergence studies, protocol-behavior comparisons under failure. The prompt-as-artifact pattern also supports thesis defense requirements for reproducibility. For simulation-scale experiments (thousands of nodes), pair with ns-3.
GENI, CloudLab, and FABRIC are federated bare-metal research testbeds — gold standard for experiments needing specific hardware characteristics or bare-metal timing fidelity. They take days to weeks to onboard and provision. NetPilot is a real-NOS emulation platform that deploys in minutes. Use GENI/CloudLab/FABRIC for bare-metal experiments; use NetPilot for protocol iteration and multi-vendor research where minutes-to-lab matters more than bare-metal fidelity.
Yes. The NetPilot prompt + generated per-vendor configurations form a portable artifact. A reviewer can re-deploy the exact same topology in minutes, without sourcing hardware or recreating setup scripts. This aligns with SIGCOMM / NSDI / IMC / CoNEXT artifact-evaluation program expectations. Several AE programs specifically flag hardware-dependent artifacts as the hardest to reproduce — the prompt-as-artifact pattern addresses that directly.
NetPilot offers a free tier suitable for individual-researcher exploration and small thesis-scale experiments. For departmental, course-pack, or large-scale research use, contact sales to discuss dedicated environments, isolated tenancy, and instructor oversight patterns. Pricing and access mechanics are handled case-by-case for academic institutions — reach out to the team.
Course-pack and classroom access for graduate-level networking instruction is available under enterprise plans — contact sales to discuss. The platform already supports the multi-vendor configurations commonly used in advanced courses (EVPN-VXLAN, SR-MPLS, BGP convergence, multi-vendor OSPF). Instructor oversight, student access patterns, and dedicated environments are part of the institutional plan.
Yes, within scope. FRR includes BGP, OSPF, IS-IS, Babel, EVPN, SRv6, RIP, and PIM. Linux endpoints support Scapy for experimental packet crafting and custom protocol implementations at user space. For research protocols that require patching vendor NOS code or custom data-plane development, pair NetPilot with FRR source builds or BYOI for your custom image.

Related reading

Guide

BGP Convergence Research: From Paper to Validated Experiment

Reproducibility methodology for BGP convergence research — prompt-as-artifact pattern.

Tutorial

Scale Testing 100-Node Network Fabrics

Large-scale experiments without physical hardware.

Tutorial

BGP Fuzzing with Scapy

Security research methodology with reproducible labs.

Guide

AI-Powered MANET Research Labs

Reproducible mesh-network experiments — crossover between academic and defense research.

Comparison

Keysight vs VIAVI vs NetPilot: Research Lab Comparison

Honest comparison across research tooling categories.

Hub

Network Research Lab

The parent hub — all six research segments.

Ready to make your next experiment reproducible?

Spin up a free lab and try the prompt-as-artifact pattern yourself. For course packs, research-group access, or institutional deployments, contact sales.