Advanced Hardware-in-the-Loop Testing Assures RF Communication System Success

Abstract

RF Communication (COMMS) systems where receivers and transmitters are in motion must be proven rigorously over an array of natural RF link perturbations such as Carrier Doppler shift, Signal Doppler shift, delay, path loss and noise. These perturbations play significant roles in COMMS systems involving satellites, aircraft, UAVs, missiles, targets and ground stations. In these applications, COMMS system devices must also be tested against increasingly sophisticated intentional and unintentional interference, which must result in negligible impact on quality of service. Field testing and use of traditional test and measurement equipment will need to be substantially augmented with physics-compliant channel emulation equipment that broadens the scope, depth and coverage of such tests, while decreasing R&D and test costs and driving in quality. This paper describes dynamic link emulation driven by advanced antenna and motion modeling, detailed propagation models and link budget methods for realistic, nominal and worst-case hardware-in-the-loop test and verification.