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Channel Emulation
Real-world validation of wireless devices and network infrastructure
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Anechoic Test Chambers
5G OTA test chambers for conformance, antenna, and faded performance testing
Channel Emulation
Keysight channel emulation solutions enable end-to-end real-world performance testing of wireless devices, network infrastructure equipment, and wireless local area network (WLAN) access points in a laboratory environment. Emulate radio conditions, model mobility, interference, and fading, and validate performance under a wide range of repeatable and controllable scenarios using a combination of hardware emulators and software tools. From OTA and mobile ad hoc network (MANET) scenarios to satellite and field-to-lab solutions, find the toolset that is right for your application. Need help selecting? Check out the resources below.
Anechoic Test Chambers
Keysight anechoic test chambers are powerful accessories that provide a controlled environment for evaluating wireless device performance without external interference. Compact chambers support mmWave testing in a small footprint, while multiprobe chambers enable faster measurements by capturing spatial data without mechanical movement. Rack-mountable chambers integrate easily into lab environments, and manufacturing chambers are optimized for high-throughput production testing. Selecting the right chamber will depend on the application, toolset, and lab environment you are testing. Need help selecting? Check out the resources below.
Evaluating FR3 and Next-Gen Networks
6G is predicted to connect physical, digital, and human worlds, shaping around new spectrum utilization, AI, digital twins, and new network architectures. See how to perform the upper mid-band (FR3) end-to-end testing in the lab, enabling the evaluation of new 6G technologies such as network sensing, extreme MIMO, and more with the Keysight AI-assisted radio channel emulation solutions.
Find compatible software and accessories for your channel emulator
Choose from a wide variety of channel emulator software for link emulation, fading profiles, and scenario modeling, as well as accessories such as transceiver and interface units, and more.
Explore channel emulator use cases
Channel emulators support a wide range of measurements across various industries, discover them all
Aerospace and Defense
How to Recreate Satellite Radio Links Between Network Entities
Re-create the satellite radio links between different network entities by understanding satellite trajectory dynamics, Doppler effects, and frequency errors.
Aerospace and Defense
How to Validate NTN Base Stations
Simulate a realistic lab-based environment with emulated end-user devices and satellite channels.
Wireless Communication
Set up a test to emulate real-world field conditions to verify 5G device performance under various mobility scenarios.
Aerospace and Defense
How to Test a NTN Unmodified Device
Compensate for the satellite-related delays and distortions by testing NTN unmodified devices in the lab under different conditions.
Wireless Communication
Perform 6G FR3 testing with geometry-based stochastic channel modeling and semi-deterministic and deterministic site-specific channel modeling.
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Frequently asked questions
A channel emulator recreates the conditions a wireless signal would experience as it travels through the real world. Instead of relying on unpredictable over-the-air testing or field trials, engineers can simulate those conditions in a controlled lab environment. This includes modeling how signals reflect off buildings, fade over distance, pass through walls, or interact with moving objects like cars or people.
The benefit of using a channel emulator is repeatability. Real-world environments are constantly changing, which makes testing difficult to standardize. A channel emulator allows you to recreate the same environment repeatedly, ensuring consistent validation of a device or system's performance. This helps reduce development risk, improves reliability testing, and can significantly shorten the time required to bring a product to market.
Wireless channels are affected by multiple factors such as path loss, delay, fading, Doppler shift, and interference. A channel emulator reproduces these effects using digital signal processing techniques. It applies mathematical models that represent the physics of how a signal behaves under different environmental and motion conditions.
For example, multipath fading occurs when a transmitted signal takes multiple paths to reach the receiver, resulting in interference patterns that can fluctuate rapidly. The emulator recreates this behavior by introducing multiple delayed and scaled versions of the signal. Similarly, the Doppler shift, caused by movement between transmitter and receiver, can be simulated by altering the frequency of the signal components. These capabilities allow engineers to test how a device performs under challenging, real-world conditions without leaving the lab.
Over-the-air (OTA) testing is useful for evaluating end-to-end system performance in uncontrolled environments, but it comes with significant limitations. Environmental conditions can vary from day to day, and replicating the same scenario consistently is almost impossible. This makes OTA testing a poor fit for tasks that require repeatability or controlled comparisons.
Channel emulators are typically used when a device or system needs to be evaluated under specific, known conditions. For example, if a development team wants to understand how a receiver behaves when transitioning between different cell towers or during high-speed movement, a channel emulator can create that exact scenario on demand. It’s also useful for testing across frequency bands or for simulating interference, noise, and cross-channel fading, all without the need to set up physical antennas or travel to remote test sites.