RT Logic, a subsidary of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc., has launched its newest, most powerful and widest bandwidth RF Channel Simulator.
The 250 MHz T400CS Wideband Channel Simulator precisely replicates the real-time RF conditions that can be expected in wideband SATCOM, aircraft, missile, and UAS missions. Its use in testing and training applications can prevent expensive and dangerous mission communication failures.
The T400CS is a hardware-in-the-loop instrument that can be quickly inserted between modems, receivers and transmitters, or other communications devices. It recreates the exact, real world, complex RF signal conditions that will exist between these communications devices when they will be in motion or separated by distance. The T400CS can simulate unintentional interference or deliberate jamming that can be expected on live mission flights. Because it can simulate a wide range of nominal and worst case RF signal scenarios, the T400CS can dramatically cut costs and reduce risk by enabling ground-based hardware-in-the-loop testing prior to operational missions and live fire testing. The T400CS enables thorough test coverage for demanding wideband commercial, government, and military uses that require high-capacity throughputs, such as broadband IP and broadcast quality video.
The T400CS is the latest addition to RT Logic’s established family of Channel Simulators and is already being used in the field by customers including O3b Networks, whose fleet of commercial satellites is designed to provide voice and Internet coverage to the 3 billion people throughout emerging markets in Africa, South America, and Asia. Given the complex architecture of its next generation network with a large number of satellites, their rate of movement, the required handoff between satellites and ground stations, and high data rates, O3b Networks was able to test and ensure the continuous operation of ground stations under all conditions, prior to live flight. “O3b has validated throughput and seamless handover for its MEO satellite services using an advanced Channel Simulation capability from RT Logic,” said Gary Mattie, Chief Ground System Engineer for O3b Networks.
“The RT Logic 250MHz Wideband Channel Simulator, including phase coherent Doppler Shift, variable propagation delay, and dynamic amplitude profiles, has been invaluable to O3b’s performance verification test campaign. RT Logic makes the widest bandwidth, most realistic channel simulation products available, and their engineering team has been very responsive to our needs,” added Mattie.
The T400CS creates physics-compliant, phase-continuous signals by receiving a wideband input signal and applying dynamic time delay, carrier and signal Doppler shift, path loss, additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) and interference. The resulting output signal is indistinguishable from an actual signal received from a distant and/or moving transmitter, providing complete transmitter and receiver test and characterization in the lab, under any signal conditions imaginable.
“Commercial, government and military communications systems are under urgent pressure from rapidly increasing data, image and video bandwidth needs, particularly in network centric, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance applications,” said Steve Williams, Business Area Manager of RT Logic’s Signal Instrumentation Solutions. “Devices utilized in these systems, especially modems and general receiver/transmitter subsystems, must be thoroughly proven under a wide variety of signal conditions, and must be resilient to interference. The 250 MHz T400CS plays a critical role in this communications assurance.”
Source: Press Release