Azimuth Systems Partners With AT4 Wireless to Bring Channel Emulation to Mobile WiMAX Testing

(Business News & Technology News, 23 Oct 2007)

Wireless engineering test equipment provider Azimuth Systems Inc. has partnered with AT4 wireless, a supplier of testing solutions for wired and wireless technologies, to add MIMO channel emulation testing for Mobile WiMAX products to the lab's extensive testing capabilities. WiMAX testing with channel emulation allows thousands of real-world conditions to be tested for RF performance, mobility and interoperability, using statistical modeling to provide broad testing in a lab.

Designed from the ground up as a MIMO test solution, Azimuth's ACE 400WB WiMAX Channel Emulator is purpose-built for testing the key technology differentiators of Mobile WiMAX. Mobility, high throughput and extended range are dependent on the multipath environment for MIMO spatial streaming and advanced antenna techniques, and Azimuth's bi-directional and reciprocal channel modeling provides this real-world scenario in a lab. This replaces hundreds of hours—or even days—of field testing, where each test provides only a snapshot scenario and lacks repeatability. The result is more thorough evaluation of WiMAX chipsets, clients and infrastructure devices and faster time to market, at a much lower cost.

"We are constantly evaluating new technologies to help make WiMAX testing more effective and more efficient, and we believe that channel emulation will prove to be a critical element in the testing process for both our customers and for WiMAX performance testing efforts," said Fernando E. Hardasmal, Deputy General Director of AT4 wireless. "Partnering with Azimuth Systems was a natural fit because of the company's unparalleled expertise in channel emulation testing."

The ACE 400WB combines state-of-the-art digital signal processing and complete RF control to deliver sophisticated channel modeling on a scale never before delivered, to enable repeatable and efficient testing of MIMO-based WiMAX devices. It can be used to test and debug algorithms, optimize the performance of WiMAX devices in MIMO and SISO environments, streamline QA processes and run competitive performance benchmark tests. The ACE 400WB also tests interoperability between MIMO and SISO implementations from multiple vendors and can be used to define industry-wide mobility performance test suites for future WiMAX products.

"In addition to presenting huge technological advantages, multi-antenna MIMO solutions such as IEEE 802.16e-2005 based Mobile WiMAX products create great test challenges," said Graham Celine, Senior Director of marketing at Azimuth Systems. "Azimuth is committed to working with industry-leading organizations like AT4 wireless to deliver the benefits of accurate, repeatable channel emulation testing to help streamline the development of the next generation of WiMAX devices."

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