THE APPLICATION OF REAL-TIME SOFTWARE IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF LOW-COST SATELLITE RETURN LINKS

Digital Signal Processors (DSPs) have evolved to a level where it is feasible for digital modems with relatively low data rates to be implemented entirely with software algorithms. With current technology it is still necessary for analogue processing between the RF input and a low frequency IF but, as DSP technology advances, it will become possible to shift the interface between analogue and digital domains ever closer towards the RF input. The software radio concept is a long-term goal which aims to realise software-based digital modems which are completely flexible in terms of operating frequency, bandwidth, modulation format and source coding. The ideal software radio cannot be realised until DSP, Analogue to Digital (A/D) and Digital to Analogue (D/A) technology has advanced sufficiently. Until these advances have been made, it is often necessary to sacrifice optimum performance in order to achieve real-time operation. This Thesis investigates practical real-time algorithms for carrier frequency synchronisation, symbol timing synchronisation, modulation, demodulation and FEC. Included in this work are novel software-based transceivers for continuous-mode transmission, burst-mode transmission, frequency modulation, phase modulation and orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM). Ideal applications for this work combine the requirement for flexible baseband signal processing and a relatively low data rate. Suitable applications for this work were identified in low-cost satellite return links, and specifically in asymmetric satellite Internet delivery systems. These systems employ a high-speed (>>2Mbps) DVB channel from service provider to customer and a low-cost, low-speed (32-128 kbps) return channel. This Thesis also discusses asymmetric satellite Internet delivery systems, practical considerations for their implementation and the techniques that are required to map TCP/IP traffic to low-cost satellite return links

Signal processing topics in multicarrier modulation : frequency offset correction for OFDM and multiuser interference cancellation for MC-CDMA

Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) is discussed as a special form of multi-carrier modulation (MCM). One major problem of the OFDM system is the sensitivity to an unknown frequency offset at the receiver. To improve the performance of the OFDM system, correction of the frequency offset is required before decision making. An adaptive method of frequency offset correction is presented. The adaptation algorithm used here is based on the LMS and the estimation is proven unbiased. A multiuser communications system having similar signal structure to the OFDM system, termed as multi-carrier code division multiple access (MC-CDMA), is discussed. The MC-CDMA system is susceptible to multiuser interference. Although orthogonal multiuser codes are used, the frequency selective fading might destroy the orthogonality between different codes and result in multiuser interference. The conventional decorrelator can be used to cancel such interference completely but has the disadvantage of enhancing noise power. An adaptive decorrelation algorithm, known as the Bootstrap algorithm, is implemented to separate interference from the desired user\u27s signal. Such algorithm is shown to perform better than the conventional decorrelator particularly in the low interference region

Design and development of mobile channel simulators using digital signal processing techniques

A mobile channel simulator can be constructed either in the time domain using a tapped delay line filter or in the frequency domain using the time variant transfer function of the channel. Transfer function modelling has many advantages over impulse response modelling. Although the transfer function channel model has been envisaged by several researchers as an alternative to the commonly employed tapped delay line model, so far it has not been implemented. In this work, channel simulators for single carrier and multicarrier OFDM system based on time variant transfer function of the channel have been designed and implemented using DSP techniques in SIMULINK. For a single carrier system, the simulator was based on Bello's transfer function channel model. Bello speculated that about 10Βτ(_MAX) frequency domain branches might result in a very good approximation of the channel (where в is the signal bandwidth and τ(_MAX) is the maximum excess delay of the multi-path channel). The simulation results showed that 10Bτ(_MAX) branches gave close agreement with the tapped delay line model(where Be is the coherence bandwidth). This number is π times higher than the previously speculated 10Bτ(_MAX).For multicarrier OFDM system, the simulator was based on the physical (PHY) layer standard for IEEE 802.16-2004 Wireless Metropolitan Area Network (WirelessMAN) and employed measured channel transfer functions at the 2.5 GHz and 3.5 GHz bands in the simulations. The channel was implemented in the frequency domain by carrying out point wise multiplication of the spectrum of OFDM time The simulator was employed to study BER performance of rate 1/2 and rate 3/4 coded systems with QPSK and 16-QAM constellations under a variety of measured channel transfer functions. The performance over the frequency selective channel mainly depended upon the frequency domain fading and the channel coding rate

Acoustic data transmission for embedded software platforms: an empirical study

As microcontrollers become increasingly powerful at a lower cost, they continue to expand to new fields of applications, in particular those under the process of a digital transformation. These systems are often packed with a broad array of complementary subsystems, that can be selectively enabled to further facilitate their integration in larger designs. Due to this immense malleability, they often enable creative problem-solving approaches that not only serve to improve the product’s overall functionality, but may also help to drive down costs even further. This thesis is based on the design and implementation of an embedded software modem system, consisting of a non hardware-native communication interface. The interface is based on the transmission of audio signals and can thus be often implemented with little to no additional hardware costs by utilizing the preexisting functionality of the platform’s features. Under the constraints of the limited computational capabilities of embedded processors, the system works as an efficient communication layer that can be easily integrated into broader software systems concurrently running on these devices. In contrast with signal propagation of wired interfaces, the wireless transmission of acoustic signals brings forth a new set of challenges, which are tackled using sensible strategies based on well-established telecommunication’s theory. Nevertheless, the design approach is largely platform independent, with configurable performance parameters that can be adapted to the available computational resources and system specifications. The proposed architecture is based on the OFDM signalling scheme with QAM-16 carrier modulation and the implementation results show that the system can reliably support up to 32kb/s message transmission speeds for an average interface setup

Channel estimation, data detection and carrier frequency offset estimation in OFDM systems

Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) plays an important role in the implementation of high data rate communication. In this thesis, the problems of data detection and channel and carrier frequency offset estimation in OFDM systems are studied. Multi-symbol non-coherent data detection is studied which performs data detection by processing multiple symbols without the knowledge of the channel impulse response (CIR). For coherent data detection, the CIR needs to be estimated. Our objective in this thesis is to work on blind channel estimators which can extract the CIR using just one block of received OFDM data. A blind channel estimator for (Single Input Multi Output) SIMO OFDM systems is derived. The conditions under which the estimator is identifiable is studied and solutions to resolve the phase ambiguity of the proposed estimator are given.A channel estimator for superimposed OFDM systems is proposed and its CRB is derived. The idea of simultaneous transmission of pilot and data symbols on each subcarrier, the so called superimposed technique, introduces the efficient use of bandwidth in OFDM context. Pilot symbols can be added to data symbols to enable CIR estimation without sacrificing the data rate. Despite the many advantages of OFDM, it suffers from sensitivity to carrier frequency offset (CFO). CFO destroys the orthogonality between the subcarriers. Thus, it is necessary for the receiver to estimate and compensate for the frequency offset. Several high accuracy estimators are derived. These include CFO estimators, as well as a joint iterative channel/CFO estimator/data detector for superimposed OFDM. The objective is to achieve CFO estimation with using just one OFDM block of received data and without the knowledge of CIR

Towards low-cost gigabit wireless systems at 60 GHz

The world-wide availability of the huge amount of license-free spectral space in the 60 GHz band provides wide room for gigabit-per-second (Gb/s) wireless applications. A commercial (read: low-cost) 60-GHz transceiver will, however, provide limited system performance due to the stringent link budget and the substantial RF imperfections. The work presented in this thesis is intended to support the design of low-cost 60-GHz transceivers for Gb/s transmission over short distances (a few meters). Typical applications are the transfer of high-definition streaming video and high-speed download. The presented work comprises research into the characteristics of typical 60-GHz channels, the evaluation of the transmission quality as well as the development of suitable baseband algorithms. This can be summarized as follows. In the first part, the characteristics of the wave propagation at 60 GHz are charted out by means of channel measurements and ray-tracing simulations for both narrow-beam and omni-directional configurations. Both line-of-sight (LOS) and non-line-of-sight (NLOS) are considered. This study reveals that antennas that produce a narrow beam can be used to boost the received power by tens of dBs when compared with omnidirectional configurations. Meanwhile, the time-domain dispersion of the channel is reduced to the order of nanoseconds, which facilitates Gb/s data transmission over 60-GHz channels considerably. Besides the execution of measurements and simulations, the influence of antenna radiation patterns is analyzed theoretically. It is indicated to what extent the signal-to-noise ratio, Rician-K factor and channel dispersion are improved by application of narrow-beam antennas and to what extent these parameters will be influenced by beam pointing errors. From both experimental and analytical work it can be concluded that the problem of the stringent link-budget can be solved effectively by application of beam-steering techniques. The second part treats wideband transmission methods and relevant baseband algorithms. The considered schemes include orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), multi-carrier code division multiple access (MC-CDMA) and single carrier with frequency-domain equalization (SC-FDE), which are promising candidates for Gb/s wireless transmission. In particular, the optimal linear equalization in the frei quency domain and associated implementation issues such as synchronization and channel estimation are examined. Bit error rate (BER) expressions are derived to evaluate the transmission performance. Besides the linear equalization techniques, a low-complexity inter-symbol interference cancellation technique is proposed to achieve much better performance of code-spreading systems such as MC-CDMA and SC-FDE. Both theoretical analysis and simulations demonstrate that the proposed scheme offers great advantages as regards both complexity and performance. This makes it particularly suitable for 60-GHz applications in multipath environments. The third part treats the influence of quantization and RF imperfections on the considered transmission methods in the context of 60-GHz radios. First, expressions for the BER are derived and the influence of nonlinear distortions caused by the digital-to-analog converters, analog-to-digital converters and power amplifiers on the BER performance is examined. Next, the BER performance under the influence of phase noise and IQ imbalance is evaluated for the case that digital compensation techniques are applied in the receiver as well as for the case that such techniques are not applied. Finally, a baseline design of a low-cost Gb/s 60-GHz transceiver is presented. It is shown that, by application of beam-steering in combination with SC-FDE without advanced channel coding, a data rate in the order of 2 Gb/s can be achieved over a distance of 10 meters in a typical NLOS indoor scenario

An investigation into the use of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing in packet radio

Bibliography: leaves 56-58.The concept of Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing has been around since the 1960s. It has resurfaced over the last decade as being the modulation scheme of choice in some newer technologies like Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) and Asynchronous Digital Subscriber lines (ADSL). Amateur packet radio started in 1978 and has attracted thousands of enthusiasts from around the world. The interest in packet radio has waned over the years due advances in the data transmission capabilities oflandline systems and also more widespread access to the Internet. The purpose of this thesis was to develop a simple software simulation model to determine whether or not OFDM could be used to increase the data rates currently available in packet radio systems. The thesis starts out with an introduction to packet radio and OFDM in Chapter 1. A slightly more detailed discussion on OFDM is given in Chapter 2 in order to develop a basic specification for the proposed OFDM model. Chapters 2,3 and 4 discuss the development of the Transmitter model, the Receiver model and the Channel model respectively using the Simulink software package. Chapter 6 discusses the problem of Peak-to-Average Power Ratios (PAPR) in OFDM and explores the use of A-law companding to reduce this problem. In Chapter 7, the developed models are simulated and their performance compared to theoretical expectations. The full system is also simulated in this chapter in order to ascertain the possible data rate through the modelled packet radio channel. Conclusions regarding the application of OFDM to packet radio are presented in Chapter 8

Emulation of Narrowband Powerline Data Transmission Channels and Evaluation of PLC Systems

This work proposes advanced emulation of the physical layer behavior of NB-PLC channels and the application of a channel emulator for the evaluation of NB-PLC systems. In addition, test procedures and reference channels are proposed to improve efficiency and accuracy in the system evaluation and classification. This work shows that the channel emulator-based solution opens new ways toward flexible, reliable and technology-independent performance assessment of PLC modems