Chimera

Network Emulation up to 100Gbps

Use Chimera to impair Ethernet traffic at five speeds up to 100Gbps to emulate real-world network behavior.

Chimera represents great value with these top features:

  • True wire-speed impairment @ 100Gbps (plus 50 / 40 / 25 & 10Gbps)
  • Ease of use – Chimera is a stand-alone impairment tool that integrates seamlessly with Xena’s Valkyrie traffic generator, letting you speed up your work flow by using the same SW to both generate and impair Ethernet traffic.
  • Highest port density in the industry – plus you can reserve individual port-pairs without blocking access to the others
  • Setting up custom impairment distributions is a breeze
  • Chimera supports a broad range of impairments (latency/jitter, packet & port impairments, flexible distributions, BW shaping etc)
  • Powerful, easy-to-use automation & scripting options

→ 7 reasons for choosing Chimera (PDF)
→ How to test resiliency of 5G Ran Fronthaul with Chimera (PDF)
→ Case Study on O-RAN Latency Testing (PDF)

Example of Emulated Network with Chimera

Chimera can function as a standalone traffic impairment emulator. Or it can be installed in a Valkyrie chassis to seamlessly add impairment to traffic (up to 100G) being generated by the other Valkyrie test modules.

Learn how to test the resiliency of your
5G RAN fronthaul solution using Chimera

Hardware

Chimera is available as a 2-slot test module for a ValkyrieBay chassis, the Val-C12-2400G, where ValkyrieManager is used to emulate impairment as part of its standard user-interface.

Chi-100G-5S-2P tests 5 speeds: 100G, 50G, 40G, 25G and 10G

STANDALONE CHASSIS:

ChimeraCompact is a standalone version where the test module is installed in a quiet desktop-sized chassis.

Chimera Traffic Emulator Module
Chimera Traffic Emulator Compact Solution

Software

ValkyrieManager

Chimera in ValkyrieManager

When a Chimera test module is installed in a ValkyrieBay chassis, ValkyrieManager detects its presence and makes the Chimera’s software options available for adding impairment. This makes it very easy for test engineers to emulate impairment via the same GUI they use for generating the stateless Ethernet traffic.

Chimera impairment flows

This diagram illustrates how the Chimera test module emulates impairment. Incoming traffic enters a flow filter and different types of impairment are then added (as defined in the UI), with each traffic flow being processed in a prioritized order.

Types of test

Performance Testing

Performance testing focuses the performance of a DUT via parameters like maximum throughput, latency and jitter.

When performance testing includes analysis of how a DUT can send traffic through a network Chimera emulates realistic network conditions including impairments that are likely to occur when a signal passes through a network.

QoS and Service Validation

Chimera offers network emulation for QoS and service validation testing. By adding latency, packet drop and other impairments the user can test that a system under test can maintain a high QoS and service quality guarantee despite difficult network conditions.

Functional Testing

Functional testing verifies the basic functionality of the DUT and will depend on the DUT and the application.

Chimera provides a wide range of network emulation features for functional testing, including latency and other typical impairments.

Security Testing

Security testing is usually conducted during development to reveal how a DUT handles abnormal conditions.

Chimera makes it easy for users to apply all kinds of network conditions to analyze and verify the behavior DUT.

Software Application Testing

Software application testing can cover many parameters depending on the application. The testing can be done to verify the basic functionality of the software and to see how it performs under different network conditions. Chimera provides a wide range of network emulation features to emulate network conditions, including latency and other typical  impairments.

Chimera test

Documentation

All the documentation about Chimera products

ChimeraFactsheet – brief product overviewDatasheet – detailed technical specificationsUser Manual – complete details of how to use Chimera
ValkyrieManagerDatasheetStep by Step GuideWebpage
Scripting CLIDatasheetScripting GuideWebpage

Chimera Videos

See how easy Ethernet impairment emulation can be

Traffic Emulator Software
  • Step-by-step guide to how Chimera works using Xena’s live demo system. Watch now
  • How to add some basic types of latency and jitter to Ethernet traffic using Chimera. Watch now
  • How to use Chimera to limit the bandwidth of Ethernet packet flows passing through a device, using the policers and shapers of the impairment pipeline. Watch now
  • How to use Chimera flow filters to map incoming packets to up to 8 different flows per port. Each flow can then be independently impaired. Watch now
  • How and why Xena’s Chimera impairment emulator can help with performance testing of 5G Fronthaul. Watch now

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Try it now:

Send in the form and we’ll send you instructions on how to access the Chimera test module in our live demo system.

Did you know you can try Chimera right now?

It's easy. Just download the software and connect in seconds to a live test network so you can see how different features work. 

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