Azimuth Systems Press Release - May 11, 2009

Azimuth Systems Partners with Rice University’s Wireless Open-Access Research Platform (WARP) Group

Rice WARP Group to Utilize Azimuth’s ACE™ Channel Emulator for Extensive MIMO and RF Performance Testing on its Scalable and Extensible Programmable Wireless Platform

ACTON, MA – May 11, 2009 – Azimuth Systems, Inc., a leading provider of wireless broadband test equipment and channel emulators, today announced that the company has partnered with the Center for Multimedia Communication, home of the Wireless Open-Access Research Platform (WARP) Group at Rice University. Azimuth will provide Rice University with an ACE™ channel emulator to enable extensive research on advanced transceiver architectures including beamforming, sphere detection and cooperative communications, to be conducted during the summer of 2009. In addition to allowing direct testing capabilities for MIMO projects, Azimuth and Rice University plan to collaborate on several research projects, which are poised to become part of 4G wireless.

A scalable and extensible programmable wireless platform, WARP was built from the ground up to prototype advanced wireless networks. The open-access WARP repository allows exchange and sharing of new physical and network layer architectures to build a true community platform, and is currently in use at 50+ research organizations. Recognizing the importance of beamforming to increase the range of MIMO systems, the WARP Research Group chose the ACE MIMO channel emulator due to its best-in-class RF fidelity, along with its ability to emulate wireless over-the-air conditions in both the downlink and uplink paths simultaneously. In addition, WARP researchers will use the emulator for advanced experiments in cooperative communications, cognitive wireless, interference management and multi-hop mesh networks.

“With the goal of enabling both hands-on wireless education and the pooling of ideas via open-access research, the WARP project is constantly seeking assistance from wireless communication leaders like Azimuth Systems,” said Ashutosh Sabharwal, director of the CMC and lead PI of the WARP project at Rice University. “The advanced features of the ACE provide us with unmatched testing capabilities, which will allow us to build proof-of-concept prototypes for next-generation technologies on WARP. Our experimental results will provide deep insights into operational networks, which often require a complex mix of data-driven theoretical foundations and clean-slate experiments to produce deployable technologies.”

The Azimuth ACE Channel Emulator uses advanced digital signal processing technology to enable real-time laboratory testing of MIMO, MISO and SISO devices in a multipath environment. It provides dynamic, real-time channel emulation that scales for testing single channel devices to MIMO 4X4 devices (up to 32 channels), features dedicated bi-directional channel modeling, extensive model and parametric customization tools, integrated RF components and superior ease of use.

“We are excited to bring Azimuth’s industry-leading channel emulation capabilities to Rice University and the WARP research group,” said George Reed, vice president of marketing and product management at Azimuth Systems. “The channel emulator will enable the WARP research group to extensively test characteristics inherent in the next generation of wireless broadband products, including beamforming as well as other MIMO and performance-enhancing applications. This testing capability will result in high-performance research that will help to advance the wireless community as a whole.”


About Azimuth Systems

Azimuth Systems is a leading provider of wireless broadband test equipment and channel emulators for Wi-Fi, WiMAX, LTE and cellular technologies. Azimuth’s products are used by the world’s foremost wireless semiconductor designers, infrastructure and mobile equipment vendors, and service providers to improve wireless product quality and speed time-to-market. Azimuth’s wireless test and channel emulation products and solutions enable research, development, quality assurance and systems engineers to test the performance, conformance, certification and interoperability of broadband wireless devices and networks while greatly reducing the cost and time of manual testing.


The company is based near Boston, Massachusetts and may be contacted at (978) 263-6610 or at www.azimuthsystems.com.


Azimuth® is a registered trademark of Azimuth Systems and ACE™ is a trademark of Azimuth Systems.

 

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For additional information, contact:

Graham Celine                                                                                      
Azimuth Systems, Inc.                                                                       
978-268-9220                                                                                        
graham_celine@azimuthsystems.com                                             









Posted 5/12/2009