NetEqualizer News Blog

By

Art Reisman

CTO http://www.netequalizer.com

Recently I wrote an article on how tough it has become to deploy wireless technology in high density areas.  It is difficult to predict final densities until fully deployed, and often this leads to missed performance expectations.

In a strange coincidence, while checking  in with my friends over at Candela Technologies last Friday , I was not  surprised to learn that their latest offering ,the Wiser-50 Mobile Wireless Network Emulator,  is taking the industry by storm.  

So how does their wireless emulator work and why would you need one ?

The Wiser-50  allows you to take your chosen access points, load them up with realistic  signals from a densely packed area of users, and play out different load scenarios without actually building out the network . The ability to this type of emulation  allows you to make adjustments to your design on paper without the costly trial and error of field trials.  You will be able to  see how your access points will behave under load  before you deploy them.  You can then make some reasonable assumptions on how densely to place your access points,  and more importantly get an idea on the upper bounds of your final network.

With IT deployments  scaling up into new territories of  densities, an investment in a wireless emulation tool will pay for itself many times over.  Especially when bidding on a project. The ability to justify how you have sized a quality solution over an ad-hock random solution, will allow your customer to make informed decisions on the trade -offs in wireless investment.

The technical capabilities of Wiser-50 are listed below.   If you are not familiar with all the terms involved with wireless testing I would suggest a call to Candelatech network engineers, they have years of experience helping all levels of customers and are extremely patient and easy to work with.

Scenario Definition Tool/Visualization

• Complete Scenario Definition to add nodes, create mobility vectors and traffic profiles for run-time executable emulation.
• Runtime GUI visualization with mobility and different link and traffic conditions.
• Automatic Traffic generation & execution through the GUI.
• Drag-and-drop capability for re-positioning of nodes.
• Scenario consistency checks (against node capabilities and physical limitations such as speed of vehicle).
• Mock-up run of the defined scenario (i.e., run that does not involve the emulator core to look at the scenario)
• Manipulation of groups of nodes (positioning, movement as a group)
• Capture and replay log files via GUI.
• Support for 5/6 pre-defined scenarios.

RF Module

• Support for TIREM, exponent-based, shadowing, fading, rain models (not included in base package.)
• Support for adaptive modulation/coding for BER targets for ground-ground links.
• Support for ground-to-ground & satellite waveforms

• Support for MA TDMA (variants for ground-ground, ground-air & satellite links).
• Support for minimal CSMA/CA functionality.
• Support to add effects of selective ARQ & re-transmissions for the TDMA MAC.

Related Articles

The Wireless Density Problem

Wireless Network Capacity Never Ending Quest Cisco Blog