TinyICS: An Industrial Control System Simulator Based on NS-3

Industrial control systems (ICS) are essential in industrial applications and critical infrastructure. These systems can be composed of various components involving different communication methods. Conducting tests in an ICS can be dangerous and costly. Therefore, having simulation tools is of high value for research and development teams. This work aims to develop an open-source industrial control systems simulator capable of simulating arbitrary process behavior and capturing communication traffic. The NS-3 network simulator was used to simulate communication between the industrial components, and Modbus was developed as the application-level industrial protocol. Abstractions were developed for commonly used industrial devices, as well as the controlled physical process, where end users can define the behavior of these components. Python bindings were developed for the simulator to reduce the learning curve and target system experts. Finally, the proposed simulator is used to model and evaluate an industrial application scenario.