The simulator has been developed as a laboratory instrument for evaluation and testing of the Magnetic pattern reader; it can be considered as a processor based waveform generator where the waveform of an ideal pattern (that is conforming to the reference ISO standards, i.e. ISO 1004:1995 for what concerns magnetic characters printing) can be altered according to the typical distortions encountered in real applications, due to poor printing quality, variable reading speed and noise.

The digital waveform is converted into a current signal applied to a conductor; if the magnetic sensor of the reader is put next to the conductor the same signal is seen by the reader electronics; by using this method the whole signal chain can be fully characterized.