Radio Channel Emulator

• Subject Area: Electrical Engineering and Information Technology
• Term: Funded in 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 508759126

The Chair of Communication Networks is involved in numerous research projects on 5G and 6G mobile networks, e.g. in the 6G Research Hub 6GEM, in the DFG Collaborative Research Centre 876, in the German Rescue Robotics Center DRZ and a number of further research projects. The performance evaluation of communication for safety-critical applications in often dynamically changing environments plays a major role in this research. The methodological foundation of the research work is formed by close interaction of network simulations, analytical modeling, and experiments in the laboratory and in the field. This ensures the credibility and in-depth validation of the obtained results. The proposed research instrumentation is a radio channel emulator for dynamic and reproducible replication of radio channel conditions in the laboratory environment, thus forming an indispensable link for the various methods of model design and performance evaluation. The radio channel emulator enables the purposeful and reproducible emulation of radio channel conditions to provide a wide range of insights in numerous research questions, such as the investigation of the influence of mobility on the energy efficiency of wireless Internet-of-Things communication systems, research into highly reliable communication for networked mobile robotic systems, and vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication for future connected and autonomous driving. Further planned research includes the investigation of millimeter-wave communication under the influence of mobility and interference as well as robust 5G network slicing for dynamic channel conditions using machine learning concepts. The radio channel emulator will be embedded in the laboratory infrastructure of the Chair of Communication Networks so that professional operation and continuous readiness are ensured by laboratory staff. On this basis, the outlined research will be carried out in close and interdisciplinary cooperation with other scientists of the TU Dortmund University from the faculties of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology, Computer Science, and Mechanical Engineering.

• DFG Programme: Major Research Instrumentation
• Major Instrumentation: Funkkanalemulator
• Instrumentation Group: 6620 Funkanlagen (außer Konferenz- und Saal-Sprechanlagen)
• Applicant Institution: Technische Universität Dortmund
• Leader: Professor Dr.-Ing. Christian Wietfeld