Anite announced that the UK’s University of Bristol has selected the company’s Propsim F8 Channel Emulator for its 5G research projects. The Propsim F8 is claimed to be the only radio channel emulator with an RF channel bandwidth of 160 MHz. This wide capability enables research organizations and wireless equipment manufacturers to verify very high data rates as well as implement advanced 5G and 802.11ac features, such as multi-user MIMO and beamforming.
Propsim’s user-friendly interface, with its pre-built library of channel models, enables researchers and developers to quickly design new propagation models by rigorously modeling the components that make up a communications link. Propsim F8 enables the University of Bristol to ‘stack’ multiple channels in the frequency domain to test wideband applications that use antenna array technology and beamforming techniques for millimeter wave wireless access technologies.
Anite has a long-standing relationship with the University’s Communication Systems and Networks (CSN) Group that runs a state-of-the-art hardware and measurement facility. The CSN Group will be using the Propsim F8 (procured through an UK EPSRC equipment award) for projects such as mmMagic (EU 5G PPP ─www.5g-ppp.eu/mmmagic).
Early channel model research and development is necessary to understand the way radio waves propagate at various frequencies, which is why many research initiatives across the globe use Propsim Channel Emulators to progress 5G research. For example, the Anite-led task group within the METIS project finalized the world’s first 5G radio channel models earlier this year.
Paul Beaver, Products Director at Anite’s Device & Infrastructure Business said, “Anite is delighted to support the University of Bristol, helping them to further upgrade their advanced wireless channel emulation facility and achieve their 5G research goals.”
Professor Andrew Nix, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Head of the CSN Group, commented: “Anite’s Propsim F8 Channel Emulators with enhanced bandwidth capability will open a new avenue in our 5G research in projects such as Horizon 2020 mmMAGIC and 5G-XHaul, as well as collaborative projects with industry.”