What is CE?
A CE (Channel Emulator) is electronic test equipment that simulates real-world radio channel conditions in a controlled laboratory environment. It reproduces impairments such as multipath propagation, fading, Doppler shift, delay spread, and path loss to enable realistic performance testing of wireless devices and base stations without the need for field trials. Channel emulators are essential for 5G NR testing, where complex propagation conditions at sub-6 GHz and mmWave frequencies must be accurately reproduced for conformance and performance validation.
How Does CE Work?
A channel emulator takes a transmitted signal and applies mathematically modelled channel impairments in real time. It uses stored or dynamically generated channel models (such as 3GPP TDL, CDL, or WINNER models) that define the number of multipath components, their delays, powers, angles of arrival/departure, and Doppler characteristics. The emulator applies these parameters through digital signal processing — including interpolation, filtering, and fading generation — to produce an output signal that faithfully represents what would be received after passing through the modelled channel. Modern 5G channel emulators support bandwidths up to 2 GHz for FR2 testing and can model MIMO channels with up to hundreds of paths.
Use Cases
5G NR device and base station conformance testing, beamforming performance evaluation under fading conditions, MIMO throughput testing, V2X channel emulation for automotive scenarios, and R&D validation of receiver algorithms under realistic conditions.
3GPP / Standards Reference
3GPP TR 38.901 (Channel model for frequencies from 0.5 to 100 GHz), 3GPP TS 38.141 (NR BS conformance testing)
Related Terms
OTA | MIMO | Beamforming | FR1 | FR2
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This glossary entry is part of the 5GWorldPro Complete 5G Glossary. To go deeper into 5G architecture and technology, explore our 5G Training courses.
