System And Method For Channel Emulator Performance Measurement And Evaluation

A system for determining the performance of a channel emulator in a multiple-input, multiple-output (MIMO) communication architecture, comprising:

• a plurality of transmitters and a plurality of receivers, each transmitter being synchronized with each other transmitter, each receiver being synchronized with each other receiver, and each transmitter and each receiver configured to operate on the same local oscillator frequency and the same sampling rate;
• an input signal that traverses the channel emulator and that appears at each receiver as a faded receive signal;
• and
• a signal processor configured to receive a processor signal and the faded receive signal, the signal processor configured to autocorrelate the processor signal and the faded receive signal, and configured to cross-correlate the processor signal and the faded receive signal to develop a correlated signal that represents a channel impulse of the channel emulator, the channel impulse of the channel emulator used to extract at least one channel coefficient that reflects the performance of the channel emulator.

A method for determining the performance of a channel emulator, comprising:

• generating an input signal;
• providing the input signal to at least one transmitter, the at least one transmitter coupled to at least one receiver through the channel emulator;
• transmitting the input signal through the channel emulator;
• receiving a faded receive signal;
• providing a processor signal and the faded receive signal to a signal processor;
• correlating the processor signal and the faded receive signal to develop a correlated signal that represents a channel impulse of the channel emulator;
• and
• extracting from the channel impulse at least one channel coefficient that reflects the performance of the channel emulator.