Azimuth Systems is showing what it calls the industry's first MIMO channel emulator for testing WiFi products. The Azimuth Channel Emulator (ACE) 400NB reproduces 4 x 4 multipath environments with channel correlation to test MIMO or single-input-single-output (SISO) implementations. The ACE system is likely the first purpose-built 802.11 test solution which can emulate multipath signals in a controlled environment. Multipath--the reflection of radio frequency (RF) signals in a physical environment--can be difficult to predict and control because of multipath reflections which cause performance deterioration in today's SISO WiFi products. MIMO technology, which will be included in 802.11n, takes advantage of multipath signals to improve product performance. Multipath emulation with correlated channels is required to determine whether MIMO algorithms are working properly and to predict performance of MIMO-based products in a real world environment.

The ACE 400NB is a stand-alone testing platform which includes bidirectional 4 x 4 multipath channel emulation with correlated channels, built-in support for six real-time channel models for typical WiFi scenarios, direct connections to 802.11 devices (no external RF devices required) and GUI-based configuration to select the channel model and TCL script control with one mouse click.

For more on Azimuth's MIMO channel emulator:
- see this report from Test & Measurement World