A channel propagation emulator includes a radio peripheral configured to receive input radio frequency (RF) data and modify the input RF data according to channel effects including signal delay, propagation loss and Doppler shift effect to generate an RF output, and a host device operably coupled to the radio peripheral. The RF output represents a modification of the input RF data based on a propagation model. The host device operably coupled to an external controller and is configured to define emulation parameters based on the propagation model. The propagation model is selected at the external controller. The external controller is configured to provide instructions for implementing the Doppler shift effect to include spreading that is multiplicative in frequency.