National Instruments Testbed

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= Overview =

National Instruments is a leading manufacturer of test equipment and their digital communications group has supplied our lab with two powerful programmable chassis for research in cellular network technology. The National Instrument equipment can be programmed in LabView, a graphical programming language (similar to Simulink in MATLAB) that enables rapid prototyping for research groups. We will be using the National Instrument platform to develop a small testbed based on a simplified version of the 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) standard with modifications for MAC and upper layer experimentation. Given the tremendous power of the NI hardware, we expect that to be able to test small networks of two base stations and two mobiles, each with 10 MHz and 2x2 antennas. National Instruments, in partnership with other universities have developed much of the LTE physical layer. The focus of our group will be on development and experimentation in the higher layers. Research projects will include advanced inter-cell interference coordination, dynamic cell selection, and backhaul rate optimization.

= Getting Started = Our getting started page provides Instructions for installing LabView, links for tutorials and developer notes on the relevant pieces.