A system or method for emulating wireless channels, including a multi-input, multi-output (MIMO) channel, for evaluation of a wireless system is provided. To emulate the wireless channel, a series of in-field measurements of the wireless signal may be obtained and used to configure one or more communication devices for the signal evaluation. A virtual circular antenna may be controlled to obtain a first set of measurements based on a first trigger signal and a second set of measurements based on a second trigger signal delayed from the first trigger signal. The second set of measurements of the wireless signal, in addition to the first set of measurements, may approximate or may be an equivalent of the MIMO channel. The obtained or derived characteristics of the in-field wireless signal may be used to emulate a channel in a laboratory setting to evaluate one or more aspects of a wireless communication system.