Relativistic wireless channel emulator

A method for emulating channel propagation with separation between a propagation model and hardware performing emulation, the method comprising:

• determining a propagation model based on a user selection made at an external controller;
• determining emulation parameters based on the propagation model at a host device in communication with the external controller;
• configuring a radio peripheral with the emulation parameters determined at the host device;
• receiving input radio frequency (RF) data at the radio peripheral;
• and
• modifying the input RF data according to channel effects including signal delay, propagation loss and Doppler shift effect to generate an RF output representing a modification of the input RF data based on the propagation model,
• wherein the Doppler shift effect includes spreading that is multiplicative in frequency.