PURBANCHAL UNIVERSITY

KHWOPA ENGINEERING COLLEGE

Libali-2, Bhaktapur, Nepal DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRONICS & COMMUNICATION ENGINEERING

SOFTWARE DEFINED RADIO WITH 16-QAM IMPLEMENTATION

(Course Code: BEG439EC)

A PROJECT PROPOSAL

Submitted by

DINESH MALEKAR (640449) RUPESH SHRESTHA(640469) SURENDRA GIRI(640475)

In partial fulfillment for the award of the degree of

BACHELOR IN ELECTRONICS & COMMUNICATION ENGINEERING

January 2011

ABSTRACT

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title Abstract 1. Introduction. 2. Objectives... 3. Goal 4. Scope and Application... 5. Feasibility of Problem 6. Functional Block Diagram. 7. Major Components with Cost Estimation.. 8. Gantt Chart. 9. Conclusion.. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Page No.

1. Overview
A software defined radio is a radio transmitter/receiver that uses digital signal processing (DSP) for coding/decoding and modulation/demodulation. Using digital signal processing for the radio allows for greater flexibility and accuracy when designing radios. This project will focus on the design and implementation of a digital software radio. The project will use QAM (Quadrature Amplitude Modulation). The project will also focus on model based design with Simulink and FPGA based software radio design. It will also contain RF front end analog design for transmitter and receiver.

2. Background 2.1. Origin of Idea

Today the radio technology has developed to the GSM, WCDMA and 4G technologies are emerging. These progress must be credited to the research and development in digital communication , digital signal processing and software radios. These technologies have benefited general public life, space research, scientific research, military research, etc. So this has led us to be interested in a flexible reconfigurable radio system that can be used to comply different radio technology and standards. Through our quest and study we came to a common conclusion on the design of a software defined radio. A Software Defined Radio is a reconfigurable hardware platform that provide the technology needed to realize the digital wireless communication infrastructure. Digital communication systems adopt more sophisticated coding and modulation technologies to meet everincreasing demand of audio, video and data services. SDR is a solution for rapid integration of various emerging standard and technologies. So we decided to design a communication radio system on FPGA that will mainly focus in implementing QAM transmitter and QAM receiver. Quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) is a modulation scheme in which two sinusoidal carriers, one exactly 90 degrees out of phase with respect to the other, are used to transmit data over a given physical channel. Because the orthogonal carriers occupy the same frequency band and differ by a 90 degree phase shift, each can be modulated independently, transmitted over the same frequency band, and separated by demodulation at the receiver.16QAM is achieved by modulating two 4-level PAM signals onto orthogonal carriers.For a given available bandwidth, QAM enables data transmission at twice the rate of standard pulse amplitude modulation (PAM) without any degradation in the bit error rate (BER). QAM and its derivatives are used in both mobile radio and satellite communication systems.

2.2. Attempts so far made by others to address the issues

Software Defined Radio is not a new concept. With the development of high speed and performance DSPs and FPGAs, SDR has increased to a sophisticated technology. Most of the research, so far made on the QAM modulation are specifically done using GNU Radio and USRP. Ettus Researchs USRP products have laid Universities and students to research and test on different coding and modulation technologies. So basically most of the radio projects based of software are based upon USRP. In Nepal, the software defined radio project has not been carried out in the undergraduate level in Purbanchal and Tribhuvan University. This will be a new project and challenge to us as well

2.3. Issues
Most SDR projects use high speed ADCs and DACs which basically removes the complexity in RF front ends. But in our case there is a 5msps ADC and a low speed DACs available in the Spartan 3e starter kit which we are going to use, so we need a RF mixer to apply the heterodyne principle on both transmitter and radio side. This will be an added complexity in the project. Multi path effect and imaging problems are found in most of the software radio project. So the project needs to address carrier synchronization and frame synchronization as well.

2.4. Scopes of the work

This project will teach us a simple communication link to build on and test on. Since it is an RF project, there will be certain hindrance because of the tools and technology available in the college and market as well, it will be an important project, if succeeded. This project will lay out the foundation for following communication projects of the juniors. The projects will be able to use this project as the test bed to test on and research on different communication projects. The 16-QAM implementation can be replaced with other modulation schemes and add channel coding and decoding, and several other features can be changed and modded in the software part, provided the constraints in fpga resources available in the board.

3. Problem Statement
The project is basically to design a software defined radio in a Spartan 3e xcs500 fpga available in the Spartan 3e starter kit board. 16-QAM modulation scheme will be implemented. There is a requirement of a good RF front ends. A good system model is to be designed so there is high SNR and low BER. It should be synthesized in the fpga and the transmitter and receiver should be tested by sending the information signals. The information should be provided and receive to/ from the fpga via RS232 communication.

4. Objectives
4.1. General Objectives y To understand digital communication with QAM modulation y To learn Model based design y To learn Digital Signal Processing with FPGA 4.2. Specific Objectives y To establish a VHF RF link y To use digital modulation scheme 16-QAM y To implement Software Radio with FPGA

5. System Block Diagram

PC 1 TX

RS232

QAM modulator

RRC Filter FPGA

Channel Encoder

DAC-IP

P A

LO

C H A N N E L

RS232 PC 2 RX

QAM Demodulator

RRC Filter FPGA

Channel Decoder

ADC IP

LNA

BPF

Equalization

LO

Fig1. System Block diagram for software defined radio Figure 1 is the simplified block diagram of one way communication link of software defined radio. In this communication link PC1 sends the information signal to the TX FPGA via RS232 communication. In Tx FPGA, the information signal is modulated in QAM modulation scheme. Then, modulated signal is send to RRC filter to remove ISI (Inter symbol interference). Now the signal is passed through channel encoder which helps in the detection and correction of error. Now the digital signal is converted to analog signal which is then up converted to high frequency signal which is sent to antenna for transmission. In the receiver, the receiving antenna receives the RF signal which is band pass filtered. The signal is then amplified and down converted via mixer. Now the analog RF signal is passed into the FPGA via onboard ADC. The digital signal is channel decoded to correct the errors. Now it is passed to RRC filter and QAM demodulated with frame and carrier synchronization (Equalization). Now the PC 2 receives the sent information.

6. Methodology
The project will be divided into two parts: RF front end design part and software radio design part. The software radio design part will follow following model based design work flow with Simulink, System Generator, Xilinx ISE, modelsim and other tools.
Matlab / Simulink File used -Configuration file -VHDL -IP -Constraints file

System Generator

System Verification

Synthesis

Functional Simulation

Implementation

Timing Simulation

HDL Cosimulation Black Box Model Sim

Download

In Circuit Verification

Fig 3. System generator based design flow Design, simulation and testing of the software radio design will be done using System Generator, a system level modeling tool from Xilinx. This tool can be used for designing and testing DSP systems for Xilinx FPGAs in a visual data flow environments such as MATLAB Simulink. The System Generator based design flow is shown figure 3. The system model is created in the MATLAB environment using Xilinx library blocksets. This diagram shows one of three ways to design a system. This is a typical design flow for HDL Co-Simulation. This diagram shows that we can use Black Box and include users VHDL code or IP core along with Xilinx System Generators blocks in the design and generate a synthesizable design which can be implemented using Xilinx ISEs Project Navigator. It also uses ModelSim block which is a helper block to invoke ModelSim simulator and actually simulate the design. The simulators output is fed back to Simulink and the results can be displayed using Simulinks sinks. The RF front end design will be carried out with research and reference to ARRL Handbook and other online references. This basically consist of designing antenna and Power amplifier, Low noise amplifier and Mixer design. These hardware design will be tested and finally fabricated in a PCB.

7. Software Tools
1. 2. 3. 4. Altium ( for PCB design) Matlab 2010b + Simulink ( for model design ) Xilinx ISE 13.2 + System Generator( for synthesis) ModelSim ( for verification)

8. Hardware Tools
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Function Generator Oscilloscope LC meter Spectrometer Bench Power Supply

9. Expected Outcome
The expected outcome is a software defined radio with a good communication link. It is expected to meet the following minimum specifications: Carrier Frequency: 50Mhz Bandwidth: 1.5 Mhz Bit Error Rate: Low

10. Gantt Chart

Time Activities Analog Mixer Design RF Front End design for receiver(LNA + Antenna) RF Front End design for Transmitter(PA + Antenna) Create 16-QAM Modulator Model design + simulation Create 16-QAM Demodulator Model design + simulation Integration of Receiver and transmitter with Channel + Carrier and Symbol synchronization Serial Interfacing with FPGA ADC interfacing with FPGA DAC interfacing with FPGA Interface Design in MATLAB System Integration System Debugging Documentation
1 February 2 3 4 1 March 2 3 4 1 April 2 3 4

11. Budget Estimate

Particulars Spartan 3E starter board Antenna design(Aluminium frame + co-axial cable) Transistors, Mixer Ferrite beads, RF Transformer, Inductors, Capacitors USB to Serial cable PCB Etching Other components Qty 2 Cost (dept.) 3,000/4,000/3,000/1,200/3,000/4,000/Total cost 18,200/2

12. Conclusion

13. References
Books: 1. 2. Bhasker, J. VHDL Primer. Prentice Hall, 1999. Haykin, Simon. Communication Systems 4th ed. New York: John Wiley & Sons Inc., 2001. Reed, Jeffrey H. Software Radio: A Modern Approach to Radio Engineering. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2002. Rosu, Iulian. RF Technical Articles, http://www.qsl.net/va3iul/ Xilinx User Guide. Retrieved on December 27 2011 from http://www.xilinx.com / products/software/sysgen/app_docs/user_guide.htm

3.

4. 5.

6. J. Hwang, B. Milne, N. Shirazi, J. Strommer, System Level Tools for DSP in FPGAs, Xilinx Inc., 2001 7. T. Rappaport, Wireless Communications Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ, 1996. Principles & Practice, 2nd edition. Prentice-