Communications Blockset 5.

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Design and simulate the physical layer of communication systems

Introduction

Communications Blockset provides a comprehensive library of blocks for designing and simulating the physical
layer of communication systems. The blockset lets you model wireless and wireline systems and their
semiconductor components in MATLAB® or Simulink®. Using channel models, error detection and correction
blocks, and modulation techniques, you can create a golden reference design, generate test benches, verify a
fixed-point implementation, and optimize system performance. Most algorithms and tools are available as both
System objects (for use in MATLAB) and blocks (for use in Simulink).

The blockset includes sample models that provide a starting point for implementing MIMO, OFDM and other
advanced communication system architectures.

Key Features
▪ Simulink Blocks for designing and simulating the physical layer of communications systems, including source
coding, block and convolutional coding, interleavers, filters, and modulators

▪ MATLAB System objects for stream-based processing in communication systems

▪ Support for HDL code generation

▪ Sources, including random integer and binary generators, PN, and Gold code sequences

▪ Sinks, including error-rate calculations, eye diagrams, and constellation plots

▪ Channel models, including AWGN, Multipath Rayleigh Fading, and Rician Fading

▪ RF impairments, including nonlinearity, phase noise, thermal noise, and phase and frequency offsets

▪ Interactive tool for visualizing and exploring time-varying communications channels

Communication-specific displays for visualizing and analyzing the signals at any point or step in your model.

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Stream Processing in MATLAB and Simulink

Most communication systems handle streaming and frame-based data using a combination of temporal
processing and simultaneous multifrequency and multichannel processing. This type of streaming
multidimensional processing can be seen in advanced communication architectures such as OFDM and MIMO.
Communications Blockset enables the simulation of communications systems by supporting stream processing
and frame-based simulation in MATLAB and Simulink.

Simulink handles stream processing by managing the flow of data through the blocks that make up a Simulink
model. Through its interactive, graphical environment for multidomain modeling and simulation of dynamic
systems, Simulink uses hierarchical diagrams to represent a system model. It includes a library of general-purpose,
predefined blocks to represent algorithms, sources, sinks, dynamics, and system hierarchy. Communications
Blockset provides a library of Simulink blocks for the design of communication systems.

In MATLAB, System objects enable stream processing by representing time-based and data-driven algorithms,
sources, and sinks. System objects implicitly manage many details of stream processing such as data indexing,
buffering, and algorithm state management. You can mix System objects with standard MATLAB functions and
operators. MATLAB programs that use System objects can be incorporated into Simulink models via the
Embedded MATLAB® function block. Each System object has a corresponding Simulink block with the same
capabilities. Most algorithms and tools in Communications Blockset are available as System objects for use in
MATLAB.

Functional Blocks

Communications Blockset provides blocks for a typical cascade of random source, transmitter, channel model,
receiver, and BER measurement. Supplied blocks include:

Data Sources: Barker, Gold, Hadamard, Kasami, OVSF, PN, Walsh, Bernoulli, and Poisson

Digital and Analog Modulation Types: Binary, QAM, FSK, PSK, CPFSK, TCM, LLR, and Approximate (soft
demod) LLR

Error Detection and Correction: APP, BCH, RS, LDPC, Viterbi, and Hamming

RF Impairments: I/Q Imbalance, Memoryless Nonlinearity, Phase Noise and Phase/Frequency offset

Channel Models: AWGN, Binary Symmetric, and Multipath Rayleigh and Rician Fading

Symbol and Carrier Synchronization Methods: Early-Late, Gardner, Mueller-Muller, Squaring models, 2-P Power
method, and M-Power method

Equalization Algorithms: CMA, LMS, NLMS, Signed LMS, MLSE, RLS, and RLS-DFE

Performance Measurements: Eye Diagram, Scatter Plot, BER Calculation, EVM, MER, and Signal Trajectory

Modeling Communication Systems

Modern communication system design requires a multidomain environment in which RF, baseband digital, and
analog domain experts can work together to evolve a design from concept to implementation. Communications
Blockset is used by PHY systems engineers, algorithm designers, baseband communications engineers, and RF
system architects to create multidomain communication system models that represent real-world impairments
and allow the designer to explore architectural and implementation tradeoffs.

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A multidomain model illustrating the nonlinear effect of an RF amplifier on a QPSK modulated communication system.

When used with Simulink, Communications Blockset enables a designer to create a multidomain model that
accounts for nonlinearities of analog components and subsystems while also modeling digital baseband
algorithms. This capability enables the engineer to fully explore and understand the impact of real-world effects
on the behavior of the baseband communications model.

Performance Characterization

Characterizing the performance of a communications system requires extensive simulation over a range of
signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs). Often this characterization must be done for two or more candidate architectures
before finding the desired solution. Communications Blockset lets you easily construct various independent
architectures, which you then can characterize.

Communications test bench for characterizing and comparing various implementations of a Viterbi decoder.

In addition to providing the capability for standard bit error rate (BER) calculations, the blockset also provides
other measurements, such as error vector magnitude (EVM) and modulation error rate (MER), that are useful for
characterizing modern communication systems.

To accelerate system simulation and BER testing in the more challenging higher signal-to-noise regimes,
MathWorks parallel computing products enable you to exploit multicore and multiprocessor environments.

Advanced Techniques: MIMO and OFDM

The complexity of multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) and orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing

(OFDM) techniques challenges the engineer to manage numerous parallel transmitting and receiving chains
within a single system, which are further complicated with the need to utilize hundreds or thousand of carriers.

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 Communications Blockset provides orthogonal space-time block encoding and decoding blocks to enable an
engineer to quickly begin exploring the benefits of MIMO techniques. The native abilities of MATLAB and
Simulink for hierarchical representation of a design facilitate the modeling of complex OFDM systems.

IEEE 802.16-2004 OFDM Model, including the space-time block coding (STBC) for MIMO and WiMAX applications.

Resources
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www.mathworks.com/trialrequest www.mathworks.com/training
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