Rapid prototyping and validation of FS-FBMC dynamic spectrum radio with simulink and ZynqSDR

This paper presents the research carried out in developing and targeting a novel real-time Dynamic Spectrum Access (DSA) Frequency Spread Filter Bank Multicarrier (FS-FBMC) transmitter prototype to programmable ‘ZynqSDR’ Software Defined Radio (SDR) hardware, and introduces a series of experiments used to validate the design’s ‘cognitive’ DSA capabilities. This transmitter is a proof of concept, that uses DSA techniques to enable Secondary Users (SUs) to access the band traditionally used for FM Radio broadcasting (88-108 MHz), and establish data communication channels in vacant parts of the FM Radio Primary User (PU) spectrum using a multicarrier modulation scheme with a Non Contiguous (NC) channel mask. Once implemented on the hardware, the transmitter is subjected to various FM Radio environments sampled from around Central Scotland, and it is demonstrated that it can dynamically adapt its NC transmitter mask in real time to protect the FM Radio signals it detects. A video is presented of this dynamic on-hardware spectral reconfiguration, and the reader is encouraged to view the video to appreciate the responsiveness of the design. An investigation into potential FBMC guardband sizes is carried out, with initial findings indicating a guardband of 200 kHz (either side of an FM Radio station) is required in order to prevent interference with the PUs. This paper also demonstrates the capabilities of the MATLAB®/ Simulink ZynqSDR workflow, and provides a case study and reference design that we feel other researchers working in this field can benefit from

Software Defined Radio with Zynq Ultrascale+ RFSoC

This book introduces Zynq Ultrascale+ RFSoC, a technology that brings real, single-chip Software Defined Radio (SDR) to the marketplace. RFSoC devices are the first adaptive SoCs (Systems-on-Chip) to monolithically integrate multiple RF signal chains along with Arm application and real-time, multicore processors and programmable logic. RFSoC is not so much a radio on a chip, but almost an entire base station on a chip! We anticipate that the book will be of interest and use across a number of technical areas. It serves as an introduction to the family of RFSoC devices and its key features and programmability. The book explores SDR concepts and architecture and key DSP algorithms. A selection of hands-on exercises via Jupyter Lab notebooks accompany the book and are available from the companion GitHub repositor