The inherent complexity of modern and future wireless communications systems places high demands on test environments. High data rates, multiple channels, wider bandwidth, spectrum availability and higher frequencies all present serious challenges for system development. Propsim C8 introduces a totally new design for testing all these features in one integrated tool.

The most powerful tool for propagation environment emulation
Propsim C8 is a hardware, realtime radio channel emulator emulating up to 8 independent or correlative wideband radio channels at a time. It represents the latest fading technology, providing multichannel emulation capability integrated in one piece of equipment. The physical radio channel characteristics, such as frequency, multipath propagation, fading, dynamic delay, attenuation, noise, interference and shadowing, can be emulated independently on each channel. Propsim C8 enables playback emulation of measured data and the emulation of spatial channels based on DoA, DoA spread, antenna geometry and correlation between channels (Correlation matrix, MIMO Correlation Modeling).

The full digital implementation provides three emulation interfaces – digital baseband, analog baseband and RF. The emulator can be introduced to test systems throughout the whole development cycle, starting from baseband algorithm research and design and continuing all the way to functional, performance and conformance testing.

Propsim C8’s versatile channel modeling tools, internal channel combining and splitting and digital AWGN and interference generators enable accurate, fast and fully repeatable testing of multichannel applications, taking advantage of the controlled inter-channel delay and fading characteristics.

Solution for repeatable wireless network drive testing
The key element of a modern cellular mobile network is to support seamless transition of communication services from one network cell to another. Transition requires fluent RRM algorithms such as admission control, load control, power control and handover methods. The upcoming 3G networks will exploit inter-system (e.g. from WCDMA to GSM), intra-cell and intercell handover methods. Each of these are controlled by an individual algorithm. The power control algorithm compensates power level variations caused by path loss, shadowing and fast fading. Optimization of both handover and power control algorithms requires a repeatable and realistic test bench. Realistic environment modeling, combined with multiple channels in Propsim C8 provide a versatile platform for network testing.

Environment modeling
The channel modeling toolbox includes software for creating realistic fading environment models. Multi channel Propsoft is a 2D-map based tool where mobile route, multiple base station positions and scatterer coordinates are defined. The channel model editor is a stochastic modeling tool in which fading distributions, Doppler, delay and directional information are defined. Generated models have characteristics such as path loss, shadowing and fast fading. Measurement data from existing networks can be used together with the Propsim channel model editor to form realistic, location specific environment models.

Complete test bench
Integrated interference emulation and advanced environment modeling, combined with the latest state of the art multi channel simulation technology, makes Propsim C8 a superior tool for network testing.