Programmable RFSoC-Based Antenna Emulator for MIMO System Prototyping

Karle C, Pfau J, Neu M, Unger K, Becker J, Scheder A, Kögel T, Witte L, Nuss B, Marten JC, Younis M (2025)

Publication Type: Conference contribution

Publication year: 2025

Pages Range: 1-6

Conference Proceedings Title: 2025 IEEE 38th International System-on-Chip Conference (SOCC)

DOI: 10.1109/SOCC66126.2025.11235346

Abstract

This paper presents a programmable RFSoC-based system to emulate multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna systems used during the testing and prototyping phase of radar and communication applications. The emulator can be used to simulate complex antenna configurations in a laboratory environment, without the need for outdoor tests in a controlled and reproducible environment. It is implemented on a Xilinx ZCU216 evaluation board that provides up to 16 phase-coherent analog output channels. The ability of our antenna emulator to accurately replicate different antenna configurations is verified using a hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) setup simulating a direction of arrival (DoA) scenario. The measured results closely matched theoretical expectations, demonstrating the system’s functionality and practical applicability. Future improvements aim to enable the emulation of more extensive and complex scenarios, broadening the antenna emulator’s application scope.

Authors with CRIS profile

André Scheder Lehrstuhl für Hochfrequenztechnik (LHFT) Tobias Kögel Lehrstuhl für Hochfrequenztechnik (LHFT) Lukas Witte Lehrstuhl für Hochfrequenztechnik (LHFT)

Involved external institutions

Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) DE Germany (DE) Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V. (DLR) / German Aerospace Center DE Germany (DE)

How to cite

APA:

Karle, C., Pfau, J., Neu, M., Unger, K., Becker, J., Scheder, A.,... Younis, M. (2025). Programmable RFSoC-Based Antenna Emulator for MIMO System Prototyping. In 2025 IEEE 38th International System-on-Chip Conference (SOCC) (pp. 1-6).

MLA:

Karle, Christian, et al. "Programmable RFSoC-Based Antenna Emulator for MIMO System Prototyping." Proceedings of the 2025 IEEE 38th International System-on-Chip Conference (SOCC) 2025. 1-6.

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