Hello, see the link below may be useful for you.

http://www.ns2project.com/research-in-ns-2/

Good luck

A discrete-event network simulator, ns-3. can be found at https://www.nsnam.org/

@Zeeshan Haider

You can use matlab as well as ns2 for academic Network Simulation.

You can use Opnet for academic wireless Network Simulation.

or OMNET++ is free for academic purpose

@fawaz

Will these ( Opnet, omnet+) support LTE , Specifically handover protocol simulation in academic version?

Back in 2017, I used SimuLTE, the LTE user plane simulator in OMNeT++ to simulate handover algorithms.

It is open source, and necessary modifications can be performed to facilitate your own algorithms.

OMNET++ is the best simulation tool with rich community support

https://omnetpp.org/intro/

Zeeshan Haider