ELEC/TELE/PHTN

4123
Electrical/Telecommunications Design Proficiency
Semester 1, 2014

Lab 3: Communications Systems Design

Christopher Vergara, Karthik Manimaran

Design Requirements
We are required to design a data transmission system to transmit binary data over a channel that
will be modelled using a circuit. This circuit will simulate a channel response. The binary data will be
in the form of a binary file and the outputs and inputs to the PC will be achieved using the sound
card and NI DAQ. The design is limited to the physical layer that is to the modulator and
demodulator and is not concerned with any higher protocols or error detection and correction. The
general representation of the data transmission system is shown in the FIGURE 1 below. The design
of the data transmission system can use any coding and/or modulation schemes. The goal is to
maximise the bit rate whilst adhering to a minimum bit error rate of 0.01 or 1%.

Figure1: Data Transmission System

The requirements of the system are as follows:

1. To build the circuit that will serve to simulate the channel model. The circuit is shown in
FIGURE 2 and the high level channel model is shown in FIGURE 3
2. To analyse and model the channel.
3. To set the potentiometer so that the RMS noise amplitude is 0.2V.

Figure2: Communications Channel Schematic

Figure3: Channel Model

In addition no advanced Matlab functions are to be used. The design is to be completed within 3
weeks.

Detailed Design

Channel modelling

In order to be able to implement the modulation scheme, the channel model must rst be obtained.
An understanding of the characteristics of the channel not only inuences the design of the
transmitter and receiver, but it also places limits on the data rates that can be achieved.

To model the channel a software package (circuit lab) was used in order to do a frequency sweep.
The frequency sweep provides the bode plot of the channel as seen in FIGURE 4. From the plot it can
be deemed that the channel work best between frequencies of 1khz and 50khz. Thus, when
choosing the carrier frequencies for the modulation schemes this will be taken into consideration.

Figure 4: Bode plot of Channel

Noise characteristics

It is required to set the potentiometer so that the noise gure is the required value of 0.2V RMS.

Transmitter design

With designing the transmitter we will be required to select a suitable modulation scheme and
implement it. Modulation is a process of mixing a signal with a sinusoid to produce a new signal.
(Wikibooks 2014). Modulation is used because there are data signals that are not always suitable for
direct transmission, whereas a modulated signal may be of greater preference.

In our case, we are required to transmit data over a channel that has a significant amount of noise,
and therefore different types of modulation schemes were considered. There are three fundamental
types of modulation used in telecommunications. They are as follows:

1. Amplitude modulation
2. Frequency modulation
3. Phase modulation

Amplitude modulation is where the amplitude of the carrier signal is modulated, or in other words,
changed, in proportion to the modulating signal where the frequency and phase of the carrier signal
is kept constant. FIGURE 5 graphically gives an idea of the mechanics of this type of modulation.

Figure5: Amplitude modulation

Just like amplitude modulation, frequency modulation is where the frequency of the carrier signal is
modulated, in proportion to the modulating signal where the amplitude and phase of the carrier
signal is kept constant. FIGURE 6 graphically gives an idea of the mechanics of this type of
modulation.

Figure6: Frequency Modulation

Phase modulation is where the phase of the carrier signal is modulated, in proportion to the
modulating signal where the amplitude and frequency of the carrier signal is kept constant. FIGURE
7 graphically gives an idea of the mechanics of this type of modulation.

Figure7: Phase Modulation
From these three types of modulation, frequency modulation was chosen to be implemented in our
transmitter design. The reasons were as follows:

Performs well amongst noise

o Most noise in amplitude based, and this was seen to be the case when the channel
was modelled.
Behaves when subject to signal strength variations
o Frequency modulation is that it does not suffer audio amplitude variations as the
signal level varies

Since the design is to transmit binary data, a branch of frequency modulation, known as Binary
Frequency Shift Keying is implemented. Binary Frequency Shift Keying uses a pair of discrete
frequencies to transmit binary (0s and 1s) information (Wikipedia 2014). This is shown in FIGURE 8

Figure 8: Binary frequency Shift Keying

To implement this modulation scheme, the sound card of the PC in use is to be used/controlled with
the use of the program, Matlab. The sound card can essentially provide the user with a signal whose
characteristics is programmed by Matlab. In order to output from the sound card a Matlab function

player = audioplayer(Y,Fs)

which creates an audioplayer object for signal Y, using sample rate Fs. (MathWorks Australia
2014).

The current design will transmit a sinusoidal wave of frequency, ! = 8 , when required to
send a binary value of 1, and will transmit a sinusoidal wave of frequency, ! = 2 , when
required to send a binary value of 0. The selections of differing frequency factors were made so that
there would be a reduced ambiguity between what is represented as a 1 or a 0.

The sampling rate Fs, was made to be ! , as this should be the frequency of the carrier wave because
of its greater value over ! .
This output wave is then transmitted through the channel to be processed by the receiver at the
other end.

Receiver design

When designing the receiver, it was taken into account what modulation scheme was used, i.e.
Binary Frequency Shift Keying. Therefore a few methods of frequency demodulation were
considered. They include:

FM demodulation using a frequency discriminator

o Involves differentiating the modulated signal such that the resulting waveform has
the corresponding message in the amplitude of the signal
FM demodulation by a zero-crossing detector
o Involves measuring the number of zero-crossings in a certain time interval to
determine the bit that was sent
FM demodulation with a bandpass limiter
o Similar to the method using the frequency discriminator, except that a bandpass
limiter is implemented prior to the differentiation. This bandpass limiter may be
used to remove the variation in the received signals amplitude.
FM demodulation with feedback
o Involves phase lock loop, which detects the carrier wave and then extracts the
embedded message by multiplying the received signal with that same carrier wave.

FM demodulation by a zero-crossing detector was deemed to be what was required to demodulate

the signal. The advantage of zero crossing detection (and FM-to-AM conversion) is that no source of
the carrier frequency is required to demodulate the signal. A digital signal can easily be recovered
from a FM signal in this manner.

However, a slight deviation of the existing method was used. Instead of detecting the amount of
zero crossings, the amount of peaks of the message signal was counted. The reason being is that it
would be much easier to distinguish between what is the message and what is just noise. This is
achieved by implementing amplitude thresholds, as the amplitude carrier wave will inevitably be
greater than the amplitude of the noise.

Therefore, when the measured wave has a frequency of ! over a predetermined bit period, the
system will judge the message to be a bit of value 1 since the amount of peaks will be greater than
the amount of peaks found in a wave of frequency ! .

Next, in order for the system to process the required data, a method of acquiring the data must be
determined. This is the role that the National Instruments USB-6009 Multifunction DAQ fills. The
DAQ will interface the output of the communications channel to the computer. This is accomplished
using a Matlab function

daq.createSession(ni)

which creates a session object that you can configure to perform operations (MathWorks Australia
2014), and Matlab property

s.Rate
which sets the rate of operation in scans per second (MathWorks Australia 2014). This property is
set to the maximum value so as to ensure we sample enough data to effectively emulate the real
signal.

Now to record the output of the channel, the analog output of the channel will be the analog input
to the DAQ. Thus the Matlab function to initialise the DAQ to accept the inputs is

s.addAnalogInputChannel

which adds a channel on the device (MathWorks Australia 2014).

Finally the Matlab operation

s.startForeground

enables the computer to store discrete values of the modulated waveform, allowing us to begin
calculating the values outlined in the Design Requirements.

Implementation and Test Plan

The implementation & testing of this task was categorised into two sections, these included:

Implementation & testing of the channel

Implementation & testing of the Modulation Scheme

Channel

The channel has two main components as previously explained, it has a component to generate
Gaussian noise and it has component that is the actual channel. The noise component was built as
given to us in the design specification. The testing involved tuning the potentiometer so that it met
the design requirements of 0.2V rms, this was easily done with the use of an oscilloscope and
measuring the rms output of the noise component.

The implementation of the channel was further subdivided into components so that testing could be
done more easily. The following outlines implementation and testing methods for the
subcomponents:

- Low pass filter:

The cut off frequency for this low pass filter can be found using:

1
! =
2
1
=
2 1000 1010!!
= 15915.5

This theoretical value was then tested to see if the circuit performed as required. The tested cut-off
frequency was found to be 14.5kHz. This value is within reasonable tolerance and therefore the
circuit was deemed acceptable.
- Voltage Limiter

The purpose of this circuit was to limit the voltage, after the low
pass filter, to a voltage that is equal to or below the diode voltage.
This was circuit was test by applying a DC voltage that was above
the diode voltage and was checked for where the output was
limited to the theoretical diode voltage of 0.7V. After testing with a
5V DC source the output was limited to 0.763 V. Again this value is
within reasonable tolerance of the theoretical value and thus this
circuit was deemed acceptable.

- Non-Inverting Amplifier

This circuit is simply an amplifier, performing circuit analysis:

!" = ! = !

!"# ! !
=
10 10

!"# !" = !"

!"# = 2!"

We can see that the function of this op-amp circuit is to simply double the input voltage. This circuit
was tested by applying a 5V DC voltage to the input and the output was measured to be 10.1V. Again
this value is well within reasonable tolerance, deeming this circuit acceptable.

- Band pass filter

The purpose of the band pass filter is to limit the output

of the circuit to a particular band of frequencies. The
testing of the circuit showed that the circuits pass band
was between 200Hz and 8.7kHz. This is within
reasonable tolerance of the theoretically calculated
pass band shown below:

1
!"# =
2 4710!! 1210!
= 282.19

1
!!"! =
2 4.710! 5.610!
= 6.047
Modulation Scheme

After modelling our channel, previously shown, it was found that the best operating frequencies was
between 1kHz and 50kHz. Testing of the modulation scheme required a lot of tweaking, as we were
required in the design task to maximise bit rate and at the same time keep the bit error to less than
or equal 1%, and also keeping in mind the limitation of the channel. We approached the testing by
gradually increasing the bit rate, initially the bit period was set to 1ms which correlates to a bit rate
of 1000 bits per second. Figure 9 below shows the waveform of the modulated wave with a bit
period of 1ms.

Figure9: Frequency modulated wave

Demodulating this modulated wave gave a result with no errors. So the bit period was increased
until an error was given, the bit period, which gave error, was 60ns, so the bit period was set to
70ns. 70ns correlates to the high carrier frequency of 115kHz, which is within the limitation of the
channel, however there was a reduction in gain, which was accounted for when setting the
threshold limits.

Conclusion

After careful consideration of numerous factors which have been detailed above this design task was
completed using a FSK modulation scheme, achieving a bit rate of 1.308Khz and a bit error of zero.

References
Wikibooks 2014, Communication Systems/What is Modulation?, accessed 17 May 2014,
<http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Communication_Systems/What_is_Modulation%3F>

Wikipedia 2014, Frequency-shift keying, accessed 17 May 2014,

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frequency-shift_keying >

MathWorks Australia 2014, MATLAB audioplayer, accessed 17 May 2014,

<http://www.mathworks.com.au/help/matlab/ref/audioplayer.html >

MathWorks Australia 2014, MATLAB daq.createSession, accessed 17 May 2014,

<http://www.mathworks.com.au/help/daq/ref/daq.createsession.html>

MathWorks Australia 2014, MATLAB Rate, accessed 17 May 2014,

<http://www.mathworks.com.au/help/daq/ref/rate.html>

MathWorks Australia 2014, MATLAB addAnalogInputChannel, accessed 17 May 2014,

<http://www.mathworks.com.au/help/daq/ref/daq.session.addanaloginputchannel.html>