I could be wrong, but I am pretty sure Airwave is downloadable in both the iso and virtual version by anyone who has an Aruba support account. The cost is in the licensing, or the device count that Airwave manages (controllers, APs, switches, routers, etc.) For that you purchase a license pack, I know they come in 500 and 1000 devices, not sure of how small. If you ask your Aruba sales team they may be able to generate you a temporary license to try out Airwave with.
Depending on the number of controlled devices, you may need a pretty large VM to handle the load.
Hope it helps!