Predicting the results of 10 Mbps-30 Mbps wireless field trials using simulation techniques

The accuracy with which simulation techniques can be used to predict the performance of an experimental high speed M-QAM testbed in typical indoor wireless environments is studied in this paper. Ray tracing techniques were used to produce impulse responses for specific transmit and receive antenna locations where actual measurements were taken using a highly versatile equalized M-QAM testbed operating at 10 Mbps, 20 Mbps and 30 Mbps. The results obtained using a simulation of the testbed plus the ray-traced channel are compared with those obtained with experimental field trials. The paper presents the results of such comparisons for a total of 2,322 trials, where a trial is defined as a simulation run plus a field test for a given data rate and antenna location. The study shows that when quantization noise is factored into the simulation, the performance predicted using the simulation approach closely matches the experimental data