Azimuth Systems Inc., a leading provider of Wi-Fi engineering test equipment, recently announced the industry's first MIMO channel emulator for testing Wi-Fi products. The Azimuth Channel Emulator (ACE) 400NB reproduces 4 × 4 multipath environments with channel correlation to test multiple-input/multiple-output (MIMO) or single-input/single-output (SISO) solutions.

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The sophisticated yet easy-to-use ACE 400NB provides testing capabilities that were previously limited to leading research facilities—enabling Wi-Fi equipment vendors to improve product quality by measuring performance in an emulated, real-world environment.

The ACE system is the first purpose-built 802.11 test solution that can emulate multipath signals in a controlled environment. Multipath—the reflection of radio frequency (RF) signals in a physical environment—can be difficult to predict and control because it is affected by a number of factors, including building construction, time and the presence of people or other obstacles.

Multipath reflections typically cause performance deterioration in today's SISO Wi-Fi products. However, MIMO technology, which will be included in the next-generation Wi-Fi (802.11n) specification, takes advantage of multipath signals to improve product performance. Multipath emulation with correlated channels is required to determine whether MIMO algorithms are working properly and to predict performance of MIMO-based products in a real-world environment.

The ACE product will begin shipping this quarter and has an order lead time of 12 weeks.