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 network physical layer and communication channels. The hardware system further includes a multi-point data switch configured to be coupled to various data log points associated with the plurality of hardware processors. The hardware system further includes a RAM coupled to the multi-point data switch, where the RAM is configured to store log data provided by the multi-point data switch as software defined data structures.