Mobility in an RF-isolated test platform

Understanding the practical impact of mobility in a wireless network is essential for the wireless networks of tomorrow. Mobility influences the network performance, behavior, and ability to provide seamless service across a wide area. Testing and evaluating the real impact of mobility is difficult in the field with so many variables such as interference, fading, and so on. Experimental wireless evaluation in a test environment must correspond to an actual deployment. Furthermore, it is important to achieve repeatability without sacrificing realism. This study presents a functional test platform that uses real IEEE 802.11 equipment, providing repeatability and reliability. The platform is used to test the practical impact of device movement in a WLAN cell while voice and data applications are running. The mobility characteristics of wireless devices are based on individual models used by researchers with the addition of real aspects of mobility from empirical studies to improve realism.