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Common Open Research Emulator (CORE)

Common Open Research Emulator (CORE) builds real-time virtual networks that can connect with physical networks and routers.

Place
#29 of 31
Score
5.5
Common Open Research Emulator (CORE)'s website

What Common Open Research Emulator (CORE) is

Common Open Research Emulator (CORE) builds real-time virtual networks that can connect with physical networks and routers. It is used for network and protocol research, demonstrations, application and platform testing, scenario evaluation, security studies and enlarging physical test networks. A drag-and-drop GUI lets users draw topologies, create nodes and links, and launch terminals for emulated nodes. Applications and protocols can run without modification. On Linux, CORE uses namespaces, Ethernet bridging, virtual interfaces and Netem queuing disciplines to configure emulated networks. The core-daemon provides a gRPC API used by the GUI and other systems, while Python modules support scripted emulation. CORE supports distributed operation and hardware-in-the-loop, with connections to live networks. Documented services include EMANE, FRR, Quagga, SDN and XORP; EMANE supports higher-fidelity wireless networks. CORE is free, open source under the BSD-2-Clause license, and available for Linux, self-hosting and API use. Installation requires Linux kernel 3.3 or later, Python 3.10 or later, pip, venv, GUI Tcl/Tk support, iproute2 and nftables.

Good

  • Real-time emulation connects to live networks
  • Drag-and-drop topology GUI
  • Runs unmodified applications and protocols
  • gRPC API and Python scripting modules
  • Supports distributed and hardware-in-the-loop operation

Watch out

  • Linux-only platform
  • Requires several system packages and tools
  • Self-hosted installation is required
  • No free trial is offered

Who it suits

CORE suits researchers, educators, security practitioners and engineers evaluating network scenarios or applications. It is also relevant when emulations must connect to physical networks, distributed instances or hardware-in-the-loop setups.

Verdict

CORE provides a customizable Linux environment for realistic network emulation, scripting and physical-network integration. Its open-source license, APIs and hardware-in-the-loop support make it suited to technical research and testing workflows.

The facts

Each one read from Common Open Research Emulator (CORE)'s own pages, with the date it was checked.

What it does

API
NRL says the CORE API lets other systems interact with CORE emulation and is used for communication between CORE components.checked 10 Oct 2026
APIs
The core-daemon provides a gRPC API, and the GUI communicates with the daemon over gRPC.checked 9 Oct 2026
Customization
CORE is described as highly customizable and includes Python modules for scripting network emulation.checked 9 Oct 2026
Distributed and physical networks
CORE supports distributed emulation and hardware-in-the-loop, and its emulated networks can connect to live networks.checked 9 Oct 2026
Installation
The repository documents package installation using deb or rpm packages and script installation for Ubuntu 22.04 and CentOS.checked 10 Oct 2026
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.checked 9 Oct 2026
Integrations
CORE documentation includes provided services for EMANE, FRR, Quagga, SDN, and XORP.checked 9 Oct 2026
Intended users
NRL describes CORE for research, demonstrations, testing, security studies, and increasing the size of physical test networks.checked 10 Oct 2026
Interface
CORE provides a drag-and-drop GUI for creating nodes and links, and can launch terminals for emulated nodes.checked 9 Oct 2026
Interface and scripting
CORE includes a GUI for drawing topologies of lightweight virtual machines and Python modules for scripting network emulation.checked 10 Oct 2026
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.checked 10 Oct 2026
License
The GitHub repository identifies the project license as BSD-2-Clause.checked 10 Oct 2026
Network implementation
CORE runs on Linux and uses Linux namespaces, Ethernet bridging, virtual interfaces, and Netem queuing disciplines to form and configure emulated networks.checked 9 Oct 2026
Purpose
CORE emulates networks on one or more machines and can connect emulated networks to live networks.checked 10 Oct 2026
Real-time and physical connections
NRL says CORE runs emulations in real time and can connect them to physical networks and routers.checked 10 Oct 2026
Requirements
The repository states that CORE requires Python 3.9 or later.checked 10 Oct 2026
Support
The repository points users to GitHub-hosted documentation and a Discord channel for support discussions.checked 10 Oct 2026
Unmodified software
NRL says CORE runs applications and protocols without modifying them.checked 10 Oct 2026
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.checked 10 Oct 2026
Wireless integration
CORE documentation describes using EMANE with CORE for higher-fidelity wireless networks.checked 10 Oct 2026

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