Azimuth Systems has announced the availability of the latest upgrade to its award-winning ACE™ MX and MX2 MIMO channel emulators. The sixth release in Azimuth’s series of ACE channel emulator feature and functionality upgrades includes increased support for multi-link and mesh networks, additional geometric modeling capability, as well as an updated version of DIRECTORTM II test executive software (release 7.6) for enhanced functionality and ease-of-use.

The ACE product line of fully-featured channel emulators is designed to accurately recreate complex fading channels for testing the most advanced wireless technology and devices. As purpose-built, enhanced testing solutions, ACE wireless channel emulators are architected to meet the demanding needs of Multiple-Input, Multiple-Output (MIMO) and orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM)-based systems. ACE channel emulators provide a superior platform for testing LTE and other advanced wireless infrastructure equipment and devices, and also includes all of the backwards-compatible channel emulation features to test 2G/3G cellular products.

Azimuth’s DIRECTOR II Test Executive Software Suite is a flexible management tool that provides centralized control of ACE channel emulators and other Azimuth test platforms, dramatically reducing test execution time from days to hours by leveraging end-to-end device and test automation capability. An intuitive user interface allows users to configure and manage test equipment as well as devices, and initiate, control, and monitor network and test bed traffic, while enabling the user to record, analyze, and share performance results.

Azimuth has added key features including path specific PDPs in order to better emulate multi-link as well as mesh networks. This release includes variable crest factor support, and additional geometric modeling capabilities for the core platform, as well as variable propagation delay, frequency offset, and visualization features for AzPlayer. ACE also now supports 50 MHz AWGN bandwidth. Additionally, the new DIRECTOR II release 7.6 features innovative ease-of-use features for an improved user experience with ACE channel emulators.

“These latest enhancements for Azimuth’s ACE channel emulators and Director II Release 7.6 are another significant step forward in Azimuth’s real world emulation capability and will enable Azimuth test platforms to function even more effectively,” said Peter Paglia, senior vice president of field operations, Azimuth Systems. “Azimuth is committed to continuously improving the performance of our products to meet our users’ evolving needs.”