Hi Chuck, I was the System / Proj manager on this. I had always wondered why folks didn't just simulate the whole thing in software; then I realized, although

Hi Chuck, I was the System / Proj manager on this. I had always wondered why folks didn't just simulate the whole thing in software; then I realized, although doing it with Ettus Research SDRs + moby networking + hella big Dell box to coordinate it all was necessary because --- the digital went out to the SDR, and out of the SDR came RF *at the frequencies of interest*. Although all of it was cabled RF (using cables I spec'd and acquired), it could have just as easily been put to antennas and run 'over the air'. (except of course that environment is harder to completely control). The artificial interferers were able to be consistent across the entire test. The successful entries had no coordination, and still maintained spectacular bps throughput. This work was done several years ago now, so I don't know if the winning algorithms are now deployed in an 'real' on-the-air system. This was a very technically challenging project, pretty much at the limit at what could be done at that time. But it worked! See https://youtu.be/FYmCVDhyxMM https://youtu.be/FYmCVDhyxMM and https://youtu.be/inF6ppH8zGA https://youtu.be/inF6ppH8zGA