World Ocean Simulation System
WOSS is a multi-threaded C++ framework that permits the integration of any existing underwater channel simulator that expects environmental data as input and provides as output a channel realization.
Currently, WOSS integrates the Bellhop ray-tracing program.
Thanks to its automation the user only has to specify the location in the world and the time where the simulation should take place. This is done by setting the simulated date and the wanted latitude and longitude of every node involved. The simulator automatically handles the rest (check technical description).
WOSS can be integrated in any network simulator or simulation tool that supports C++.
Check the third-party libraries section for the latest library and database requirements and compatibilies.
Latest releases
Latest WOSS released: v2.0.0 (November 2025)
Latest WOSS-NS3 released: v2.0.0 (November 2025)
Latest Dbs released: v1.7.1 (April 2025)
Latest news
WOSS 2.0.0 introduces a complete library refactor to modern C++17 syntax, which support is now mandatory.
For the complete list of changes, see the CHANGELOG webpage.
It is strongly recommended to reset any forked repository to origin’s HEAD due to a required repository history rewrite.
WOSS 1.14.0 has added support for bellhop’s bathymetry geoacoustic matrix
WOA 2023 dataset has been added to Dbs v1.7.0
WOSS 1.13.0 fixes bugs in SHD and ARR file parsing in binary format
WOSS and WOSS-NS3 users are required to update to the latest NetCDF4-C and NetCDF4-C++ recommended libraries due to bugs in the previous versions.
Woss source files
Recommended third-party libraries and databases
Latest Acoustic Toolbox compatibility: 25 December 2024 *NEW*
Latest HDF5 compatibility: v1.14.6 *NEW*
Latest NetCDF4-C compatibility: v.4.9.3 *NEW*
Latest NetCDF4-C++ compatibility: v4.3.1
Latest GEBCO Netcdf Db compatibility: 2D 15 arc-second 2025 *NEW*
Documentation
WOSS – as described in IEEE Network SI “Open source for networking”, 2014
Acknowledgements
WOSS version 2.x has been developed by Federico Guerra
WOSS version 1.x has been developed by Federico Guerra and SIGNET lab, University of Padova, in collaboration with the NATO Centre for Maritime Research and Experimentation (http://www.cmre.nato.int ; E-mail: pao@cmre.nato.int), whose support is gratefully acknowledged.
The development of:
– the option to simulate the time evolution of environmental parameters
– the option to model surface waves using realistic wave spectra
has been supported in part by the European Commission under the 7th Framework Programme, CLAM project (Grant Agreement no. 258359).
License
WOSS – World Ocean Simulation System –
Copyright (C) 2009 2025 – Federico Guerra and regents of the SIGNET lab, University of Padua
Author: Federico Guerra – WOSS@guerra-tlc.com
This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2 as published by the Free Software Foundation
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details. You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program. If not, see http://www.gnu.org/licenses/.