The CMU Wireless Network Emulator, version 2

Version 2 of the wireless network emulator became operational in Fall 2005 and was retired in August 2006. It supported the full 2.4 GHz ISM band and had 4 nodes. This web page has some pictures of the various components.

The core of the emulator is the Digital Signal Processing (DSP) Card, shown above. It includes a large FPGA that executes the channel models. It has 16 connections, one of which is used to connect to the Emulator Controller while the other 15 can be used to connect wireless devices using Digital Signal Conversion (DSC) modules.

The DSC module consists of 5 cards: a D/A and A/D card, a DSC card that uses an FPGA to translate between the signal formats used by the various cards, a power converter card that generates the various voltages needed for the cards, and an RF frontend. The first four cards are shown in the picture above. The RF frontend, shown below, supports for the 2.4 GHz ISM band.

The DSC module and the wireless device (laptop in this case) are packaged in a RF shielded box as is shown below. The box is closed with a lid that contains a fan for cooling.

Updated on August 2006.