Using IF-scale delays to emulate the effects of site-specific multipath in a digital wireless channel emulator.

Laboratory-based wireless testbeds are essential for performing repeatable experiments with experimental protocols and devices. Several many-to-many wireless emulators have been proposed and built, but existing systems still rely on simplified channel models, such as free-space path loss, or general stochastic fading models. We have begun using site-specific channel modeling software to drive experiments. In this paper we describe our prototype digital channel emulator with multiple discrete-time taps, and several experiments using a site-specific, 3D ray-tracing channel model, controlling and highlighting the effects of RF multipath. We describe and evaluate a technique for emulating RF-scale interference with discrete delay taps with a resolution on the timescale of IF.