Radio Channel Emulators (Fading Simulators)

Keysight is the leading supplier of radio channel emulators (also called fading emulators or fading simulators) for commercial communication standards, Over-The-Air testing of MIMO terminals and MANET applications like V2X (Car to Car and Vehicle to Infrastructure) and tactical radio communications. Keysight bought the Propsim business of Anite in 2015.

Applications in mobile Communication

The patented radio channel emulators of Keysight can be used between real base stations (instead of base station simulators) and terminals (mobile phones, tablets, laptops) to test in real time a variety of scenarios:

• Handover between different mobile communication standards
• Scheduling
• Diversity
• Beam forming
• Smart Antenna Concepts
• MIMO tests over cable or Over-The-Air (OTA)
• 5G research

The Propsim fading simulators emulate real world radio channels which have been measured or standardized by ITU, 3GPP or CTIA. Those radio channels are characterized by

• Multi-path propagation (fast fading)
• Time-varying (moving) taps
• Frequency shifts due to Doppler-effect
• Shadowing
• Antenna effects due to the movement of the terminal

All those effects can be reproduced bit by bit with a Keysight radio channel emulator.

Download our radio channel emulation application brochures:
Virtual Drive Test with Radio Channel Emulators
Testing MIMO Terminals Over-The-Air
Simulation of Mobile Ad-hoc Networks (MANET Tests)
WLAN Over-The-Air Tests (IEEE 802.11n, 802.11ac and 802.11ax)

Article in Markt&Technik und elektroniknet: Realistische MIMO-Testszenarien im Labor erzeugen (German)
White Paper in English "Beyond Conformance Testing in 3GPP LTE". This White Paper gives an introduction to LTE  technology and describes how LTE products, systems and applications can be tested in a realistic environment in the lab - and thus reproducibly.

Keysight Propsim F8

Keysight's Propsim F8 has redefinded the State of Art in radio channel emulation with

• seamless frequency coverage from 220MHz to 6GHz, important for new LTE-Advanced bands above 3GHz and Car2X
• the largest RF bandwidth of up to 160MHz, channels can be combined to achieve 1GHz
• the largest delay range of up to 1.3 seconds
• the lowest Error Vector Magnitude (EVM) of <-50dB for WCDMA
• the largest dynamic range of up to 160dB at the output
• phase synchronisation of up to 6 Propsim F8 for increasing the number of RF and fading channels
• thus being ideal for for MANET- (mobile ad hoc network) and Mesh-topologies

The University of Bristol is combining RF channels and uses external downconverters to achieve 1GHz bandwidth at Ka-band frequencies. See press release University of Bristol collaborates with Keysight Technologies on 5G wireless technology research. In a Microwave Journal article on this subject Prof. Andrew Nix of the University of Bristol commented: “Anite’s Propsim F8 Channel Emulators with enhanced bandwidth capability will open a new avenue in our 5G research in projects such as Horizon 2020 mmMAGIC and 5G-XHaul, as well as collaborative projects with industry.”

Data sheet Keysight Propsim F8

Aerospace Option for high Speeds and long Signal Delays

With the Aerospace option for the Propsim F8 velocities up to 40000km/h and signal delays up to 1.3 seconds can be emulated.
With the Aerospace option you can define flight routes and simulate them.
Aircell Success Story: Aircell has equipped more than 600 airplanes with its Inflight Connectivity Solution.
The Propsim Channel Emulation Brochure Aerospace shows how to test with Keysight's radio channel emulators:
Satellite communications, tactical data links, commercial airplane communication and in-flight-services

Propsim F32 for LTE-OTA and MANET Tests

The Propsim F32 is the radio channel emulator with the largest number of RF and fading channels.

• up to 32 bidirectional RF channels with 40MHz signal bandwidth or 16 RF channels and 80MHz bandwidth
• up to 128 logical channels (fading channels)
• complete simulation of Mobile Ad-hoc Networks (MANET) with up to 11 radios (equals 110 fading channels)
• even more radios can be simulated by dividing the network into sub-networks
• up to 6 Propsim F32 can be synchronized
• frequency range extensions down to 30MHz and up to 6GHz

Data sheet Keysight Propsim F32-2.7GHz
Data sheet Keysight Propsim F32-6GHz
 

Keysight Propsim FS8

The Propsim FS8 has the same features as the F32, in a compact table top housing, with up to 8 bidirectional RF channels and up to 32 fading channels. Up to 6 Propsim FS8 can be synchronized. It is available in two versions, both have 40MHz RF channel bandwidth standard and 80MHz optional (with channel combining):
Data sheet Keysight Propsim FS8-2.7GHz
Data sheet Keysight Propsim FS8-6GHz

Demo Unit Propsim C2

MRC GIGACOMP is selling its demo unit EB Propsim C2. The EB Propsim C2 is a fully integrated, broadband radio channel emulator with touchscreen for ease-of-use. Configuration of the demo unit for 25'000 Euro:

• 2 physical emulation channels, usable with RF or baseband signals
• Frequency range 350MHz - 6GHz
• Signal bandwidth 70MHz
• 4 logical channels for 2x2 MIMO
• 2 internal local oscillators for easy analysis of FDD channels
• Built-in interference sources: AWGN, CW, GMSK, WCDMA DL, 8-PSK, WCDMA UL
• Shadowing option for maximum dynamic range
• Software release 2.1.2
• all standardized radio channel models including LTE

Brochure EB Propsim C2
Data sheet EB Propsim C2