Virtual RF Environment

Echo Ridge and partner Comsearch, propose to design, build, test, demonstrate and validate a prototype DYnamic Spectrum Environment Emulator (DYSE), which provides a Virtual RF Environment (VRE) for RF system testing. Our vision for the end state of the effort is the availability of a productized DYSE (hardware and application software) configured from COTS components, useful for lab-based developmental testing of military C3 and commercial wireless devices in a user-defined, field emulation environment. The platform will also support research-oriented testing for emerging RF technologies such as cognitive radios and advanced MIMO antennas. A unique aspect of the product approach is connecting to Systems Under Test (SUT) at RF where they operate as if they were in the field including motion, antenna effects, other virtual spectrum users and field-realistic dynamic RF wireless channels. The realism is enabled by emulating the wireless environment in the digital domain, where complex RF channels can defined and programmed at will. A key feature of the test tool is the ability to efficiently and comprehensively test large tactical C3 systems typically made up of hundreds of nodes by immersing a small number of real systems in a virtual environment with a large number of virtual nodes. In addition to producing a prototype system, we propose to validate DYSE field testing emulation by collecting field data in a test range including specific instrumentation data, configuring a DYSE emulation of the environment including the same physical SUT, and then comparing results.