ATIC: Automated Testbed for Interference Testing in Communication Systems

Published

December 25, 2023

Author(s)

Michelle Pirrone, Keith Forsyth, Jordan Bernhardt, Dan Kuester, Aric Sanders, Duncan McGillivray, Adam Wunderlich

Abstract

The proliferation of communication devices and systems has led to increasingly complex and dynamic spectral environments. This greatly impacts the operations of a multitude of organizations, including commercial entities, academic and non-commercial scientific research, and military equipment and missions, where devices such as cellular systems, radar, and Wi-Fi may share the same spectrum space. The automated testbed for interference testing in communication systems (ATIC) provides a low-cost, flexible framework to perform repeatable, well-controlled interference susceptibility testing with a wide variety of closed-box communication systems. Examples of closed-box systems that could be evaluated with ATIC include aeronautical mobile telemetry, microwave point-to-point, and WiFi-like systems. Using relatively inexpensive commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) components, this testbed provides insight into the resilience of communication systems against external interferers, both friendly and hostile, helping inform decisions on spectrum management and deployment of new technologies. This paper provides a systematic approach to executing interference testing via a simple, streamlined setup with example electronics provided. Additionally, guidelines for testbed validation are demonstrated and open source code is provided for rapid, repeatable implementation.

Proceedings Title

2023 IEEE Military Communications Conference (MILCOM)

Conference Dates

October 30-November 3, 2023

Conference Location

Boston, MA, US

Conference Title

MILCOM 2023 - Military Communications Conference

Pub Type

Conferences

Download Paper

https://doi.org/10.1109/MILCOM58377.2023.10356299

Local Download

Keywords

testbed, spectrum sharing, interference susceptibility, automation

Citation

Pirrone, M. , Forsyth, K. , Bernhardt, J. , Kuester, D. , Sanders, A. , McGillivray, D. and Wunderlich, A. (2023), ATIC: Automated Testbed for Interference Testing in Communication Systems, 2023 IEEE Military Communications Conference (MILCOM), Boston, MA, US, [online], https://doi.org/10.1109/MILCOM58377.2023.10356299, https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=956224 (Accessed October 6, 2025)