A hardware system for simulating a network physical layer for communication channels. The hardware system includes a plurality of hardware processors configurable to model a physical layer and communication channels. The hardware system includes a first interface coupled to the plurality of hardware processors. The first interface is configured to be coupled to a software simulator comprising a physics model configured to provide model parameters based on modeled communication hardware and a temporal modeling scenario. A second interface is coupled to the plurality of hardware processors. The second interface is configured to be coupled to simulated or real nodes for sending and receiving network data to and from the nodes. The hardware processors are configured to model effects of the physical layer and communication channels on the network data.