Laboratory 4: Digital Communications

Cory J. Prust, Ph.D.

Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department
Milwaukee School of Engineering
Last Update: 19 September 2018

Contents
0 Laboratory Objectives and Student Outcomes 2
0.1 Laboratory Objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
0.2 Student Outcomes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

1 Background 3

2 Observing Digital Carrier Modulated Waveforms 3

3 Frequency Calibration 4

4 Bit Error Rate Simulation for Binary Digital Transceiver 7

5 BPSK Receiver - Carrier Synchronization and Symbol Timing Recovery 10

6 Differential BPSK - Text Message Communication 13

6.1 DBPSK Modulation and Demodulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
6.2 DBPSK Simulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
6.3 DBPSK Receiver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

A Binary Digital Carrier Modulation 19

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0 Laboratory Objectives and Student Outcomes
0.1 Laboratory Objectives
This laboratory will assist students in understanding fundamental concepts of digital communication systems.
The activities will focus on passband systems such as those used in modern wireless digital communications.
Students will investigate various forms of digital modulation and examine the functional blocks required to
realize functional systems. Simulation will be used to visualize digital communication waveforms, as well
as verify theoretical system performance. Students utilize SDR hardware to explore actual wireless data
transmissions and implement real-time digital communication systems.

0.2 Student Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this laboratory, the student will:
ˆ Identify and characterize common forms of digital carrier modulation based on time-domain and
frequency-domain measurements.
ˆ Explain the ideal receiver structure for digital communication systems.

ˆ Simulate the bit error performance of a digital communication system and compare to theoretical
predictions.

ˆ Explain the influence of noise and interference on the performance of a digital communication system.

ˆ Explain the importance of carrier synchronization in a modern digital communication system.

ˆ Explain the importance of symbol synchronization (timing recovery) in a modern digital communication
system.

ˆ Implement a digital communication systems using SDR hardware and verify its operation over a wireless
channel.

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1 Background
Appendix A provides a summary of mathematical representations for amplitude-shift keying (ASK), phase-
shift keying (PSK), and frequency-shift keying (FSK) waveforms.

2 Observing Digital Carrier Modulated Waveforms

In this part of the laboratory you will use your personal SDR to observe digital carrier modulated waveforms.
Your instructor will broadcast radio-frequency signals in the laboratory in the 902MHz to 928MHz frequency
band.
The broadcast consists of multiple digital communication signals, each having a distinct carrier frequency
and frequency band (i.e., the transmission uses frequency division multiplexing). The carriers are separated
by approximately 30kHz. The communication signals are binary ASK, binary FSK, or binary PSK.
Using Simulink models from previous laboratory exercises, observe the communication signals in both the
time-domain and frequency-domain.

Question 2.1: Take a screen capture of the Spectrum Analyzer window showing the
instructor’s broadcast signal.
Question 2.2: Identify and characterize each of the digital communication signals within your
instructor’s broadcast signal. Your submittal must include screen captures of Spectrum
Analyzer and Time Scope windows for each signal. Identify the modulation used in each signal.
Determine the bit rate for each signal, and indicate how the bit rate can be determined from
both the time-domain and frequency-domain plots. Discuss, compare, and contrast the salient
features seen in the plots.
Question 2.3: You should have found that one of communication signals in your instructor’s
broadcast utilized binary Amplitude Shift Keying (ASK). Because ASK is essentially an
amplitude modulated large-carrier (AM-LC) waveform, it can be easily demodulated using
non-coherent techniques. Using your AM-LC receiver from Lab 2, recover the actual baseband
message. Submit a screen capture of the Simulink model and a Time-Scope window showing the
message waveform.

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3 Frequency Calibration
Many communication systems require synchronous operation between the transmitter and receiver. Coherent
digital communication, which requires the carrier signals in the transmitter and receiver to have the same
frequency and phase, is an example of such a system.
In this portion of the lab you will calibrate your personal SDR device to a real-world radio-frequency signal.
The intent is to correct for any large frequency offset between your personal SDR and this reference signal.
Such a calibration is often an important first step towards achieving synchronous operation. Further steps,
which we will see in Section 5, are necessary to establish and maintain truly synchronous operation.
The primary source of frequency offsets is the accuracy and/or stability of the oscillators used in the SDR
hardware. The frequency variation of an oscillator is usually specified in parts per million (ppm). The
maximum frequency variation, ∆f , measured in Hz is
fc × ppm
∆f =
106
where fc is the center frequency and ppm is the peak variation (expressed as ±). For example, an oscillator
specified to have a 2 ppm frequency accuracy operating at 100 MHz would have a peak deviation of 200 Hz.
Therefore, the actual oscillator frequency would be somewhere in the range 99.9998 MHz to 100.0002 MHz.
You will calibrate the frequency of your personal SDR device using real-world signals of opportunity. In
particular, we will use the pilot tone from local over-the-air (OTA) digital television broadcasts. According
to the American Television Systems Committee (ATSC) standards [1], digital television broadcasts in the
United States must include a pilot tone 309440.559 Hz above the lower edge of the transmission band. The
following table lists several OTA digital television broadcasts in the Milwaukee area1 :

TV Channel RF Channel Lower Band Edge (MHz) ATSC Pilot (MHz) Upper Band Edge (MHz)
6 (FOX) 33 (UHF) 584 584.309440559 590
10, 36 (PBS) 36 (UHF) 602 602.309440559 608
58 (CBS) 46 (UHF) 662 662.309440559 668

Figure 1 shows a spectrum analyzer capture of the digital television broadcast of the local PBS station in
Milwaukee. Note that the SDR receiver was tuned to the lower band edge of the transmission and that
the instantaneous bandwidth is 16MHz. Therefore, the entire digital television broadcast is present in the
positive frequencies of the capture. The strong peak is the ATSC Pilot signal.
We will calibrate your SDR device to the ATSC Pilot in RF Channel 36, which is at 602.309440559 MHz.
To calibrate:

1. Begin with the Spectrum Analyzer model from earlier labs. Configure for an instantaneous bandwidth
of 240e3 Hz.
2. Tune the center frequency to 602.3 MHz. This will place the ATSC pilot near 10kHz in the Spectrum
Analyzer window.
3. Measure the frequency of the ATSC Pilot. Some hints:

ˆ Use the Zoom In feature to zoom the spectrum analyzer to the location of the ATSC Pilot.
ˆ In the Spectrum Settings -> Trace options panel, increase the number of Averages.
1 You can find other broadcasts in your area using the search tools at https://otadtv.com/

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Figure 1: Example spectrum analyzer window showing digital television broadcast Channel 36 (602MHz).
Receiver tuned to 602MHz and instantaneous bandwidth of 16MHz.

ˆ In the Spectrum Settings -> Main options panel, modify the RBW (Hz) parameter to 10.
RBW stands for Resolution Bandwidth, which defines the smallest positive frequency that can be
resolved by the spectrum analyzer. By default, the RBW setting of AUTO provides a resolution of
the instantaneous bandwidth divided by 1024. For the suggested 240e3 Hz bandwidth, this gives
RBW = 240e3/1024 = 234.37 Hz. Changing RBW to 10Hz will make the ATSC pilot peak more
distinct, especially when zoomed in to a small frequency range. Be patient with the Spectrum
Analzyer window, as a smaller RBW requires that it process more samples.
ˆ Enable the Peak Finder option, which will automatically detect peaks in the spectrum and display
the corresponding frequencies.

An example spectrum analyzer window is shown in Figure 2.

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 Figure 2: Example spectrum analyzer window showing measurement of ATSC Pilot frequency.

Question 3.1: Submit a screen capture of the Spectrum Analyzer window showing the full
240e3 Hz bandwidth. Submit a second screen capture of the Spectrum Analyzer window after
zooming into the ATSC Pilot.
Question 3.2: What is the offset of your SDR receiver relative to the ATSC Pilot? Give your
answer in Hz and in ppm.
Question 3.3: Using the ppm offset you calculated in the previous problem, what is the
frequency offset in Hz when your SDR device is tuned to 900MHz?
Question 3.4: Repeat the frequency calibration process for the ATSC Pilot in RF Channel 46.
What is the offset of your SDR receiver relative to this ATSC Pilot? Give your answer in Hz
and in ppm.
Note: You may find different results when calibrating to different real-world signals. In our case,
the oscillators used to generate ATSC pilot frequencies also have errors. A high precision source
would be needed for an absolute calibration.

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 4 Bit Error Rate Simulation for Binary Digital Transceiver
During lecture we examined a Simulink model that simulated a binary phase-shift keying (BPSK) commu-
nication system. You will now extend this example by simulating its bit error performance and compare the
results to the theoretical prediction for probability of bit error of a BPSK system.
Recall from lecture that for equiprobable symbols, the probability of symbol error (or equivalently, the
probability of bit error) for coherent BPSK is
r !
2Eb
Pe = Q
N0

where Eb is the average energy per bit, Q(·) is the Q-function, and we have assumed that the received
waveform is corrupted by an additive white Gaussian noise process with zero mean and power spectral
density N0 /2. Note that this result assumes the optimum receiver structure discussed during lecture.
Figure 3 gives a MATLAB script for calculating and plotting the bit error probability for BPSK as a function
of Eb /N0 .

1 %% e x a m p l e _ p l o t _ P b _ v s _ E b N o _ B P S K . m
2 % Example script that plots bit error probability curve
3 % for BPSK .
4 %
5 % Cory J . Prust , Ph . D .
6 % Last Modified : 7/18/2018
7
8 clear all
9 close all
10
11 %% set range for Eb / No values
12 EbN0_dB = 0:0.1:12;
13 EbN0 = 10.^( EbN0_dB /10) ; % convert to linear units
14
15 %% compute probability of bit error
16 Pe = qfunc ( sqrt (2* EbN0 ) ) ;
17
18 %% plot
19 semilogy ( EbN0_dB , Pe )
20 grid on
21 xlabel ( ' E_b / N_0 ( dB ) ' )
22 ylabel ( ' probability of bit error ' )

Figure 3: MATLAB script for plotting theoretical bit error probability for BPSK.

Construct the BPSK Simulink model shown in Figure 4. Open a new Simulink model and construct the
model as follows:
ˆ The Bernoulli Binary Generator block generates random binary numbers using a Bernoulli distri-
bution. This block acts as our message source in the simulation. Set the Sample Time to 0.001, which
gives a bit rate of 1000 bits per second. Set the Samples per frame to 1000, which specifies that the
model will operate using vectors (or frames) containing 1000 bits2 .
ˆ The BPSK Modulator Baseband block applies BPSK modulation to the message bits, producing
the baseband representation of the communication signal.
2 To learn more about how Simulink uses frames, see the documentation at

https://www.mathworks.com/help/dsp/ug/sample-and-frame-based-concepts.html and
https://www.mathworks.com/help/dsp/ug/inspect-sample-and-frame-rates-in-simulink.html

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 Figure 4: Simulink model for BPSK communication.

ˆ The Ideal Rectangular Pulse Filter translates the baseband symbols into rectangular pulse shapes.
Set the Pulse length to 8, which will produce a rectangular pulse 8 samples long for each BPSK
symbol. Therefore, the block increases the signal sampling rate by a factor of 8. Ensure the Input
processing is configured for Columns as frames and Rate options is configured for Enforce single-rate
processing.
ˆ The AWGN Channel block adds white Gaussian noise to the input signal, thus modeling the effects
of a noisy communication channel. Set the Symbol period to 1/1000. Set the Eb/No parameter to 15.

ˆ The Integrate and Dump block implements the ideal correlation receiver, or equivalently the ideal
matched filter, for rectangular pulse shapes. Set the Integration period to 8 samples, which con-
figures the block to integrate each received pulse (8 samples long) and produce an output value corre-
sponding to each pulse.
ˆ The Gain block, set to 1/8 normalizes the output value to ±1 (without noise).

ˆ The BPSK Demodulator Baseband block demodulates the input using BPSK. For each input
value, the block decides which BPSK was sent and outputs the corresponding binary number.
ˆ The Error Rate Calculation block compares the message data at the input to the transmitter to
the received message data at the output of the receiver. Set Output data to Port and attach to a
Display block. This configuration will display the error rate, the number of errors, and the total of
symbols that were compared.

Experiment with the model by adding Time Scope, Spectrum Analyzer, Eye Diagram, and Constel-
lation Diagram blocks. Be sure you understand how the model operates before proceeding.
Hint: You may find it helpful to change the Time Scope to a “stem” plot by selecting View -> Style and
changing the Plot type setting.

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Question 4.1: Add a Time Scope block and display the output of the Ideal Rectangular
Pulse Filter block. What is its average signal power?
Question 4.2: Add a Time Scope block and display the input to the AWGN Channel
block, the output of the AWGN Channel block, and the output of the Gain block. In the
AWGN Channel block, set the Input signal power to the value you calculated in the
previous problem and set Eb/N0 to 12dB. Set the remaining parameters based on your
understanding of the simulation. Run the simulation, and take a screen capture of the Time
Scope block. Explain and interpret the plots.
Question 4.3: Add Eye Diagram and Constellation Diagram blocks to the signal at the
input of the BPSK Demodulator Baseband block. Set the AWGN Channel block for
Eb/N0 of 12dB. Run the simulation, and take screen captures of the eye diagram and signal
constellation. Repeat for Eb/N0 of 6dB. Explain and interpret the plots. Comment on how the
plots change as a function of Eb /N0 .
Question 4.4: You will now use the model to simulate the system performance over a range of
Eb/N0 values.
ˆ Run the simulation for Eb/N0 values of 0dB to 12dB in 1dB steps.
ˆ Set the simulation time to ensure the results are meaningful. This is especially important
when very few bit errors are expected.
ˆ Observe and record the error rate for each run.
ˆ Plot bit error rate vs Eb /N0 and compare to the theoretical prediction. Comment on the
results.

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5 BPSK Receiver - Carrier Synchronization and Symbol Timing
Recovery
The simulation in Section 4 uses a baseband representation of a BPSK communication system. That is,
the process of modulating the message information onto a high frequency sinusoidal carrier, as is typically
required in wireless communication, was omitted from our simulation. As we have seen in lecture, the
frequency upconversion process (translating the baseband message to a high-frequency carrier) done in
the transmitter can be exactly undone by the frequency downconversion process (translating the message
information imparted on the high-frequency carrier down to baseband) in the receiver. Therefore, our
simulations are valid for wireless systems under the assumption that the frequency translation processes are
ideal. For coherent communication systems, the key challenge is synchronization between the transmitter
and receiver. Ensuring coherent operation can be a significant challenge!
In this part of the laboratory you will observe and investigate coherent digital modulation techniques using
real-world wireless signals. In particular, you will observe:

ˆ Carrier Synchronization: the process of ensuring that the receive carrier is synchronized, in both
frequency and phase, to the transmit carrier.
ˆ Symbol Timing Recovery: the process of ensuring that the receiver precisely knows the symbol
timing so that it may determine when to sample the recovered message for making symbol decisions.

Both of these processes are essential for coherent communication. Symbol timing recovery, but not carrier
synchronization, is required in non-coherent communication systems.
Because our laboratory hardware consists of software-defined radios, these processes are implemented through
adaptive software algorithms. In traditional radio systems, they were realized through analog circuitry.
Our focus will be on explaining (and seeing!) the importance of these processes within a coherent digital
communication system, rather than the algorithms or circuits through which they are implemented. Students
interested in learning more are encouraged to consult the course textbook or take a follow-on course in
communication systems.
Download the BPSK Simulink model provided by your instructor. The model is shown in Figure 5 The
blocks in the model have been pre-configured for this laboratory exercise.
IMPORTANT: For the BPSK receiver to work properly, the carrier frequencies of the transmitter and
receiver must be relatively close to each other (ideally, no more than a few hundred Hz to perhaps 1kHz
apart). Compensate the center frequency of the RTL-SDR Receiver block in the model according to the
calibration procedure you performed in Section 3. You can accomplish this through either the Frequency
Correction (ppm) setting or by de-tuning the center frequency according to your calibration. Doing so
provides a coarse frequency correction. A fine frequency correction will be applied through an adaptive
algorithm in the Simulink model.
Except for the modification to the RTL-SDR Receiver block described above, please do not modify the
configuration of any other blocks without first consulting your instructor. Your instructor will discuss each
of the blocks in the receiver in detail. In summary:
ˆ The BPSK symbols are being transmitted at 8000 bits per second.

ˆ The receiver model includes a center frequency offset correction. Alternatively, correct for frequency
offset through the Frequency Correction (ppm) setting of the RTL-SDR Receiver block.

ˆ The receive gain is controlled via a Slider Gain block, making it easy to adjust the receive gain while
the model is running.

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 Figure 5: Simulink model for a BPSK receiver using the RTL-SDR device.

ˆ The FIR Decimation block reduces the sample rate of the receive data by a factor of 3. The output
of the RTL-SDR Receiver block is configured for 240e3 samples per second, therefore the decimation
reduces the rate to 240e3/3 = 80e3 samples per second. This gives 10 samples per BPSK symbol in
the receive data. Confirm the sample rate, and the frequency offset correction, by carefully viewing
the Spectrum Analyzer plot.
ˆ The AGC block implements an automatic gain control system. This block adaptively adjusts its gain
to give a constant signal level at its output. Such a block is common in systems in which the receiver
input signal level changes due to variation in the communication channel.
ˆ The Carrier Synchronizer block adjusts for carrier frequency and phase offsets in the incoming signal.
This block will compensate for offsets that remain after coarse calibration of the carrier frequencies.
ˆ The Raised Cosine Receive Filter block filters the input signal using a raised cosine pulse shape
filter. The block is configured to match the pulse shape used in your instructor’s transmitter, and
therefore implements a matched filter.
ˆ The Symbol Synchronizer block adjusts for symbol clock drift in the incoming signal, ensuring that
incoming pulses are sampled (for purposes of deciding which symbol was sent) at the “opening” of the
eye. The block outputs exactly one sample per symbol interval.

ˆ The BPSK Demodulator Baseband block demodulates its input signal and outputs the recovered
bit sequence, which can be viewed on the Display block.

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Question 5.1: Carefully observe the Eye Diagram plots at the input and output of the
Carrier Synchronizer block. Take screen captures of each. Explain and interpret the plots.
Question 5.2: Carefully observe the Constellation Diagram plots at the input and output of
the Carrier Synchronizer block. Take screen captures of each. Explain and interpret the
plots.
Question 5.3: Carefully observe the Constellation Diagram plots at the input and output of
the Symbol Synchronizer block. Take screen captures of each. Explain and interpret the
plots.
Question 5.4: Your task in this question is to observe the effects of reduced signal-to-noise
ratio (SNR) at the input to the receiver. You can reduce the SNR in several ways, such as:
ˆ decreasing the Gain of the RTL-SDR Receiver
ˆ placing an object near/over the receive antenna
ˆ move your receiver to a different location within (or even outside) the laboratory

Carefully examine the effects of reduced SNR on Constellation Diagram and Eye Diagram
plots. Take screen captures of your findings. Explain and interpret the plots.

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6 Differential BPSK - Text Message Communication
In Section 5 we saw coherent reception of a BPSK communication signal. Generally speaking, phase-shift
keyed signals cannot be detected non-coherently. However, a technique known as differential phase-shift
keying allows detection of phase-shift keyed symbols without a fully coherent receiver. As you will see below,
demodulating a DBPSK symbol is accomplished by using the immediately prior symbol as a phase reference.
In this portion of the laboratory you will explore differential binary phase-shift keying (DBPSK) by receiving
and decoding a DBPSK communication signal containing an ASCII text message.

6.1 DBPSK Modulation and Demodulation

We will consider a DBPSK modulator that forms its communication signal using the following two operations:
1. The binary message data is differentially encoded. Let {bk } denote the binary message data and {dk }
denote the differentially encoded message. One example of differential encoding operates as follows:
ˆ if the current symbol bk is a 0, then leave the symbol dk the same as the previous symbol dk−1
ˆ if the current symbol bk is a 1, then change the symbol dk with respect to the previous symbol
dk−1
This example of differential encoding is illustrated in the table below where the initial encoded symbol
(at k = −1) is arbitrarily chosen to be 1.

Table 1: Differential encoding example.

k -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
{bk } 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 0
{dk } 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 1

2. The differentially encoded message is phase-shift keyed. For the case of BPSK with rectangular pulse
shapes, the complex envelope is

z(t) = Am(t)

where m(t) has values ±1 over each symbol interval based on {dk }. The passband BPSK waveform is

s(t) = <{z(t) exp(j2πfc t)}

= <{Am(t) exp(j2πfc t)}
= Am(t) cos(2πfc t)

A cos(2πfc t), m(t) = 1
=
−A cos(2πfc t), m(t) = −1

A cos(2πfc t), m(t) = 1
=
A cos(2πfc t + π), m(t) = −1

The key result here is that the message information is encoded in the phase difference between consecutive
BPSK symbols. The DBPSK receiver then examines the relative phase between consecutive symbols to
recover the message.
We now consider our standard model for an SDR receiver. Because the receive carrier is not synchronized
to the transmit carrier, we model the receiver as having frequency offset ∆f and phase offset φ. Therefore,

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the receiver output is

ẑ(t) = LPF{s(t)e−j(2π(fc −∆f )t+φ) }

= LPF{Am(t) cos(2πfc t)e−j(2π(fc −∆f )t+φ) }
..
.
1
= Am(t)ej(2π∆f t−φ)
2
Consider the very fortunate, but highly improbable, case in which ∆f = 0 and φ = 0 which gives
1
ẑ(t) = Am(t)
2
This case corresponds to coherent detection. Notice that, as expected, the differentially encoded symbols
are perfectly recovered! This case is illustrated in the (noisy) constellation diagram shown in Figure 6(a).

(a) (b) (c)

Figure 6: DBPSK constellations for (a) coherent detection, (b) carrier phase error, and (c) carrier frequency
error.

Next consider another highly improbable case where ∆f = 0 and φ 6= 0. That is, the receive carrier has only
a phase error. The receiver output is
1
ẑ(t) = Am(t)ejφ
2
which means that the symbols have been rotated in the I/Q space by angle φ. However, the message bits
are recoverable since the symbols retain the proper relative phase (π radians). This case is illustrated in the
constellation diagram shown in Figure (b).
Finally, consider the practical and likely case where ∆f 6= 0 and φ 6= 0. That is, the receive carrier has both
a frequency and phase error. The receiver output is
1
ẑ(t) = Am(t)ej(2π∆f t−φ)
2
which means that the symbols are undergoing rotation in the I/Q space at the rate 2π∆f radians per
second. So long as ∆f is small compared to the symbol rate, the phase change between consecutive symbols
will remain close to either 0 or π, thus preserving the differential encoding. This case is illustrated in the
constellation diagram shown in Figure (c).

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6.2 DBPSK Simulation
Construct the DBPSK Simulink model shown in Figure 7. Several salient points and suggestions:
ˆ The model simulates DBPSK using only symbols. It does not include pulse shaping in the transmitter
or matched filtering in the receiver (although you are free to add these elements). Set the bit rate to
8000 bits per second.
ˆ The DBPSK Modulator Baseband block applies differential encoding followed by BPSK mod-
ulation to the binary message generated by the Bernoulli Binary Generator block. It uses the
differential encoding scheme shown in Table 1. Carefully examine the Time Scope plot to see the
message bits and the differentially encoded symbols.

ˆ The Phase/Frequency Offset block is used to apply frequency offsets ∆f and phase offsets φ to
the received symbols. Experiment with these offsets, paying special attention to the Constellation
Diagram plot.
ˆ At what frequency offset do you begin to see large numbers of errors? Why?

ˆ The Constant block controls the channel noise power. Experiment to see the impact of channel noise.

Figure 7: Simulink model for a DBPSK communication.

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6.3 DBPSK Receiver
In this portion of the lab your instructor will broadcast a communication signal using DBPSK modulation
that contains an ASCII text message. Your task is to decode the DBPSK symbols and recover the text!
Construct the Simulink model shown in Figure 8. Some salient points regarding the DBPSK broadcast and

Figure 8: Simulink model for a DBPSK receiver using the RTL-SDR device.

the receiver model:

ˆ The DBPSK symbols are being transmitted at 8000 symbols per second.

ˆ The transmitter uses square-root Raised Cosine pulse shapes.

ˆ RTL-SDR Receiver configuration:

– Sampling rate: 240e3

– Output data type: single
– Samples per frame: 30000
– The center frequency must be corrected according to the calibration performed in this labora-
tory. The receiver model includes a center frequency offset correction. Alternatively, correct for
frequency offset through the Frequency Correction (ppm) setting of the RTL-SDR Receiver
block.
ˆ The FIR Decimation block reduces the sample rate of the receive data by a factor of 3. The output
of the RTL-SDR Receiver block is configured for 240e3 samples per second, therefore the decimation
reduces the rate to 240e3/3 = 80e3 samples per second. This gives 10 samples per bit in the receive
data. Confirm the sample rate, and the frequency offset correction using a Spectrum Analyzer
block.
ˆ The model includes a Digital Filter Design block, configured as a lowpass filter, to filter the received
signal. It is suggested to use a 40th order FIR Equiripple filter. It is up to you to set the pass and
stop frequencies of the filter. While running the model, confirm that this filter is properly passing the
DBPSK signal using a Spectrum Analyzer block.

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 ˆ The model includes a Symbol Synchronizer block to ensure that the received symbols are sampled
at the proper time. The block outputs exactly one sample per symbol interval. This process is required
in all digital communication systems, regardless of whether they are coherent or noncoherent. Set the
Samples per symbol to 10.
ˆ The Constellation Diagram will show the signal constallation for the received DBPSK symbols.
You may also want to add a Eye Diagram block.
ˆ The To Workspace block writes data to the MATLAB workspace. Set the Limit data points to
last parameter to 1000, which will result in the values pertaining to the last 1000 DBPSK symbols
begin saved to the MATLAB workspace. Set Save format to Structure.

– After running the model, you will see a structure named yout in the MATLAB workspace. You
can save the MATLAB workspace, and therefore your recorded data, using the save function in
MATLAB. You can then restore the workspace at a later time using the load function.
– The actual DBPSK symbols are located within the structure at yout.signals.values
Some hints and suggestions for recovering the ASCII text:

1. Write a MATLAB script for recovering the ASCII text message. This script can utilize recorded/saved
data from the Simulink model shown in Figure 8. You are not required to implement real-time decoding
in Simulink.
2. Remember that the received bits are differentially encoded, and therefore you will need to first decode
them. You can calculate the angle associated with each symbol using the angle function in MATLAB.
You might also find the wrapToPi and wrapTo2Pi functions helpful.
3. Your instructor will provide detailed information regarding the data frame. In particular, you must
identify the start of the data frame so that you properly group the bits into ASCII characters. This is
accomplished using a message preamble.

4. The following example MATLAB script shows how to convert between ASCII characters and a vector
of bits.

1 % % Convert text into a vector of bits

2 a = dec2bin ( ' Test Message \ n ' ,8) ; % get binary rep resenta tion ; gives character array
3 numChars = size (a ,1) ; % get number of characters
4
5 a = a - '0 '; % converts char array into matrix of numbers
6 a = reshape ( a . ' ,8* numChars ,1) ; % reshape matrix into a vector ; 8 bits per
character
7
8 stem ( a ) % plot vector of bits
9
10 % % Recover text from vector of bits
11 b = reshape (a , 8 , numChars ) . ' ; % reshape vector into matrix ; 8 bits per row
12 b = num2str ( b ) ; % convert to char array
13 b = bin2dec ( b ) ; % convert to decimal
14 fprintf ( char ( b ) ) ; % print characters

Figure 9: MATLAB example for converting between ASCII characters and vectors of binary data.

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Question 6.1: Carefully observe the Signal Constellation plot at the output of the Symbol
Synchronizer block. Take a screen capture. Explain and interpret what is seen in the plot.
Question 6.2: Describe in detail your method for decoding the differentially encoded symbols.
Include and explain the MATLAB code you wrote to perform the decoding. Include plots that
help explain your approach.
Question 6.3: Provide a stem plot of the recovered message bit sequence. This plot must show
the message preamble and a complete data frame. Annotate the plot, identifying the preamble.
Question 6.4: What is the text message? Provide the complete MATLAB code listing you
used in this portion of the lab.

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A Binary Digital Carrier Modulation
1. Amplitude-shift keying (ASK), also known as on-off keying (OOK), can be represented as
s(t) = Am(t) cos(2πfc t) (1)
where m(t) is a baseband signal that takes on values of either 0 or +1 during each bit interval. The
complex envelope is
g(t) = Am(t) (2)

2. Binary phase-shift keying (BPSK) can be represented as


A cos(2πfc t), for t in the time interval when a 0 is sent
s(t) = (3)
A cos(2πfc t + π), for t in the time interval when a 1 sent
= Am(t) cos(2πfc t) (4)
where m(t) is a baseband signal that takes on values ±1 during each bit interval. The complex envelope
is
g(t) = Am(t) (5)

3. Frequency-shift keying (FSK) can be represented as


A cos(2πfc1 t), for t in the time interval when a 0 is sent
s(t) = (6)
A cos(2πfc2 t), for t in the time interval when a 1 sent
= Am(t) cos(2πfc1 t) + A(1 − m(t)) cos(2πfc2 t) (7)
where m(t) is a baseband signal that takes on values of either 0 or +1 during each bit interval. Note
that in this form, FSK can be interpreted as the sum of two ASK signals.
Alternatively, FSK can be expressed as a frequency modulated signal of the form
 Z t 
s(t) = A cos 2πfc t + kf m(λ)dλ (8)
∞

where m(t) is a baseband signal that takes on values ±1 during each bit interval. The complex envelope
is
g(t) = Aejθ(t) (9)
where
Z t
θ(t) = kf m(λ)dλ (10)
∞

4. Recall that for passband signal s(t) having complex envelope g(t),
s(t) = <{g(t)ej2πfc t } (11)
where g(t) is a baseband signal. If g(t) has power spectral density SG (f ) then s(t) has power spectral
density
1
SS (f ) = [SG (f − fc ) + SG (−f − fc )] (12)
4
Therefore, the power spectral density of ASK, PSK, and FSK signals contain frequency shifted copies
of the baseband signal power spectral density.

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References
[1] American Television Systems Committee (ATSC). ATSC standards.
https://www.atsc.org/standards/atsc-standards/.
[2] Mathworks. Communications Toolbox. Online Resource. https://www.mathworks.com/products/communications.html.
[3] Mathworks. USRP Support Package from Communications Toolbox. Online Resource.
http://www.mathworks.com/discovery/sdr/usrp.html.

[4] Mathworks. RTL-SDR Support Package from Communications Toolbox. Online Resource.
https://www.mathworks.com/hardware-support/rtl-sdr.html.
[5] Leon W. Couch III. Modern Communication Systems. 1995.

[6] Simon Haykin. Communication Systems. 4th edition, 2001.

[7] B.P. Lathi and Zhi Ding. Modern Digital and Analog Communication Systems. 5th edition, 2019.

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