Introduction SDR in Digital Communications Methodology Results and Discussions Conclusions and Future Work

BER Experimental Measurements in the 2.4 GHz

and 5.85 GHz Bands using Software Defined
Radios

Ignacio G. Bugueño-Córdova1 Felipe A. Bahamonde-Muñoz1

Cesar A. Azurdia-Meza1
1 Dept. of Electrical Engineering, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile

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Introduction SDR in Digital Communications Methodology Results and Discussions Conclusions and Future Work

Outline

1 Introduction

2 SDR in Digital Communications

3 Methodology

4 Results and Discussions

5 Conclusions and Future Work

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Introduction SDR in Digital Communications Methodology Results and Discussions Conclusions and Future Work

Outline

1 Introduction

2 SDR in Digital Communications

3 Methodology

4 Results and Discussions

5 Conclusions and Future Work

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Introduction SDR in Digital Communications Methodology Results and Discussions Conclusions and Future Work

Communication systems have become an essential part of our daily

lives, given to the exponential growth and evolution of technology.

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Introduction SDR in Digital Communications Methodology Results and Discussions Conclusions and Future Work

Communication systems have become an essential part of our daily

lives, given to the exponential growth and evolution of technology.
To achieve this, multiple communications systems have been
developed over the years.

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Introduction SDR in Digital Communications Methodology Results and Discussions Conclusions and Future Work

Communication systems have become an essential part of our daily

lives, given to the exponential growth and evolution of technology.
To achieve this, multiple communications systems have been
developed over the years.
Current systems have acquired relevant importance in the last years
due to the significant advantages that they present with respect to
analog systems.

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Introduction SDR in Digital Communications Methodology Results and Discussions Conclusions and Future Work

Figure 1: Evolution of Mobile Technologies.

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Introduction SDR in Digital Communications Methodology Results and Discussions Conclusions and Future Work

Multiple studies and models emerge from day to day, having a large
mathematical component, that are difficult to compare
experimentally.

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Introduction SDR in Digital Communications Methodology Results and Discussions Conclusions and Future Work

Multiple studies and models emerge from day to day, having a large
mathematical component, that are difficult to compare
experimentally.
In this context experimentation arises through the use of SDRs,
which is a platform to develop digital communication systems that
can be implemented via software.

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Introduction SDR in Digital Communications Methodology Results and Discussions Conclusions and Future Work

Multiple studies and models emerge from day to day, having a large
mathematical component, that are difficult to compare
experimentally.
In this context experimentation arises through the use of SDRs,
which is a platform to develop digital communication systems that
can be implemented via software.
The purpose of this paper is to present a methodology using USRPs
that allows to validate experimental BER curves in a real channel
for a single carrier system, and using QPSK in the 2.4 GHz and 5.85
GHz bands.

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Introduction SDR in Digital Communications Methodology Results and Discussions Conclusions and Future Work

Outline

1 Introduction

2 SDR in Digital Communications

3 Methodology

4 Results and Discussions

5 Conclusions and Future Work

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Introduction SDR in Digital Communications Methodology Results and Discussions Conclusions and Future Work

One way to emulate large-scale communication systems on a small

scale is through the use of radio communication systems.

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Introduction SDR in Digital Communications Methodology Results and Discussions Conclusions and Future Work

One way to emulate large-scale communication systems on a small

scale is through the use of radio communication systems.
Traditionally, the communication devices were limited by the static
parameters at the hardware level, preventing the emulation of
systems of interest.

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Introduction SDR in Digital Communications Methodology Results and Discussions Conclusions and Future Work

One way to emulate large-scale communication systems on a small

scale is through the use of radio communication systems.
Traditionally, the communication devices were limited by the static
parameters at the hardware level, preventing the emulation of
systems of interest.
SDRs arise, define as radio communication system where
components are implemented by means of software on a personal
computer or embedded system.

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Introduction SDR in Digital Communications Methodology Results and Discussions Conclusions and Future Work

Figure 2: USRP 2921.

Figure 3: SDR Platform Hack Figure 4: USRP 2974

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Introduction SDR in Digital Communications Methodology Results and Discussions Conclusions and Future Work

It is possible to emulate different communication systems with

different configurations, on a small scale, without the need to
physically change the hardware of the equipment.

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Introduction SDR in Digital Communications Methodology Results and Discussions Conclusions and Future Work

It is possible to emulate different communication systems with

different configurations, on a small scale, without the need to
physically change the hardware of the equipment.
There are many cases of the use of SDR in communication systems:

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Introduction SDR in Digital Communications Methodology Results and Discussions Conclusions and Future Work

It is possible to emulate different communication systems with

different configurations, on a small scale, without the need to
physically change the hardware of the equipment.
There are many cases of the use of SDR in communication systems:

Design of a prototyping platform for vehicular communications

with VLC using SDR

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Introduction SDR in Digital Communications Methodology Results and Discussions Conclusions and Future Work

It is possible to emulate different communication systems with

different configurations, on a small scale, without the need to
physically change the hardware of the equipment.
There are many cases of the use of SDR in communication systems:

Design of a prototyping platform for vehicular communications

with VLC using SDR
Construction of an architecture based on SDR for 5G IoT
network

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Introduction SDR in Digital Communications Methodology Results and Discussions Conclusions and Future Work

It is possible to emulate different communication systems with

different configurations, on a small scale, without the need to
physically change the hardware of the equipment.
There are many cases of the use of SDR in communication systems:

Design of a prototyping platform for vehicular communications

with VLC using SDR
Construction of an architecture based on SDR for 5G IoT
network
A fully functional prototype proposed for a low-cost satellite
gateway based on an embedded SDR platform

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Introduction SDR in Digital Communications Methodology Results and Discussions Conclusions and Future Work

It is possible to emulate different communication systems with

different configurations, on a small scale, without the need to
physically change the hardware of the equipment.
There are many cases of the use of SDR in communication systems:

Design of a prototyping platform for vehicular communications

with VLC using SDR
Construction of an architecture based on SDR for 5G IoT
network
A fully functional prototype proposed for a low-cost satellite
gateway based on an embedded SDR platform
Design and implementation of a LTE-WiFi aggregation system
based on SDR.

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Introduction SDR in Digital Communications Methodology Results and Discussions Conclusions and Future Work

The use of SDRs mainly focuses in digital communications systems:

to study the different modulation techniques, analyzing frequency
interference, measuring the performance of OFDM-based systems,
among others.

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Introduction SDR in Digital Communications Methodology Results and Discussions Conclusions and Future Work

The use of SDRs mainly focuses in digital communications systems:

to study the different modulation techniques, analyzing frequency
interference, measuring the performance of OFDM-based systems,
among others.
Based on this, the present work aims to propose a methodology for
measuring the performance of digital communications systems,
implementing wireless links through the use of SDR, along with the
development of the corresponding system, to obtain the system’s
BER curves.

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Introduction SDR in Digital Communications Methodology Results and Discussions Conclusions and Future Work

Outline

1 Introduction

2 SDR in Digital Communications

3 Methodology

4 Results and Discussions

5 Conclusions and Future Work

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Introduction SDR in Digital Communications Methodology Results and Discussions Conclusions and Future Work

The goal of this paper is to present an experimental methodology in a

wireless communication system in order to obtain BER curves using SDRs.
In order to determine the BER curve associated to the modulation scheme:

The communication channel must be studied.

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Introduction SDR in Digital Communications Methodology Results and Discussions Conclusions and Future Work

The goal of this paper is to present an experimental methodology in a

wireless communication system in order to obtain BER curves using SDRs.
In order to determine the BER curve associated to the modulation scheme:

The communication channel must be studied.

The transmission medium must be analyzed and modeled.

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Introduction SDR in Digital Communications Methodology Results and Discussions Conclusions and Future Work

The goal of this paper is to present an experimental methodology in a

wireless communication system in order to obtain BER curves using SDRs.
In order to determine the BER curve associated to the modulation scheme:

The communication channel must be studied.

The transmission medium must be analyzed and modeled.
SDRs arise, define as radio communication system where
components are implemented by means of software on a personal
computer or embedded system.

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Introduction SDR in Digital Communications Methodology Results and Discussions Conclusions and Future Work

Frequency Spectrum of the Communication Channel

The first part of this methodology consists of analyzing the frequency spec-
trum of the wireless communication channel, in such a way as to determine
the prior state of the channel. For the present work, the frequency bands
of 2.4 GHz and 5.85 GHz, associated to the Wi-Fi operational bands, will
be studied. The analysis of the frequency spectrum allows to obtain infor-
mation regarding the state of the channel in terms of channel congestion
and thermal noise.

Figure 5: Frequency spectrum analyzer.

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Introduction SDR in Digital Communications Methodology Results and Discussions Conclusions and Future Work

Friis Transmission Exponent

It is necessary to determine the path loss exponent, which models the

propagation loss of the medium. Based on the Friis equation, the analytic
solution of the Friis propagation loss model exponent has the form:
 
ln Pt GPrt Gr
θ= λ

. (1)
ln 4πd

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Introduction SDR in Digital Communications Methodology Results and Discussions Conclusions and Future Work

Friis Transmission Exponent

Taking into consideration that the values of Gt , Gr and d are known, a

mapping must be made between the transmitted power and the received
power by the SDR USRP 2921, in a specific scenario, to determine the
value of the exponent in the communication channel.

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Introduction SDR in Digital Communications Methodology Results and Discussions Conclusions and Future Work

Friis Transmission Exponent

BER is defined as the number of bit errors divided by the total

number of transmitted bits for a certain time interval.

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Introduction SDR in Digital Communications Methodology Results and Discussions Conclusions and Future Work

Friis Transmission Exponent

BER is defined as the number of bit errors divided by the total

number of transmitted bits for a certain time interval.
Extending the BER calculation of a modulation with a particular
gain to any wide range of gains, a BER curve can be elaborated
with these set points, a graph corresponding to the error probability
rate versus noise power levels.

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Introduction SDR in Digital Communications Methodology Results and Discussions Conclusions and Future Work

Friis Transmission Exponent

BER is defined as the number of bit errors divided by the total

number of transmitted bits for a certain time interval.
Extending the BER calculation of a modulation with a particular
gain to any wide range of gains, a BER curve can be elaborated
with these set points, a graph corresponding to the error probability
rate versus noise power levels.
For each noise level it is important to generate a sufficient number
of samples, in such a way that the samples associated with the BER
is statistically representative.

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Introduction SDR in Digital Communications Methodology Results and Discussions Conclusions and Future Work

Wireless Communication Link Development

In this way, from the transmitter and receiver base code provided by
LabVIEW, a digital communication system is elaborated, with the
focus of generating BER curves.

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Introduction SDR in Digital Communications Methodology Results and Discussions Conclusions and Future Work

Wireless Communication Link Development

In this way, from the transmitter and receiver base code provided by
LabVIEW, a digital communication system is elaborated, with the
focus of generating BER curves.
In this proposed code, the transmitter can adopt digital phase
modulation schemes, different pulse shaping filter, adopt various
message packets sizes, various gain ranges, duration of each
transmission in each gain, and frequency band selection of
operation, among other parameters.

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Introduction SDR in Digital Communications Methodology Results and Discussions Conclusions and Future Work

Wireless Communication Link Development

Figure 6: Digital communication system: transmitter.

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Introduction SDR in Digital Communications Methodology Results and Discussions Conclusions and Future Work

Wireless Communication Link Development

Figure 7: Digital communication system: receiver.

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Introduction SDR in Digital Communications Methodology Results and Discussions Conclusions and Future Work

Wireless Communication Link Development

Figure 8: Proposed digital communication system.

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Introduction SDR in Digital Communications Methodology Results and Discussions Conclusions and Future Work

Outline

1 Introduction

2 SDR in Digital Communications

3 Methodology

4 Results and Discussions

5 Conclusions and Future Work

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Introduction SDR in Digital Communications Methodology Results and Discussions Conclusions and Future Work

Frequency Spectrum of the Communication Channel

(a) 2.4 GHz band. (b) 5.85 GHz band.

Figure 9: USRP frequency spectrum analyzer

In Fig. 10.a it is possible to see that the 2.4 GHz band encounters a lot of
interference, as expected, not the case of the 5.85 GHz band (Fig. 10.b),
which practically does not present any disturbances. It is expected that the
interference signals in the 2.4 GHz band will impact negatively the BER
curve.
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Introduction SDR in Digital Communications Methodology Results and Discussions Conclusions and Future Work

Friis Transmission Exponent

Once the channel state has been analyzed, the Friis transmission compo-
nent is obtained and it is possible to map the gain of the SDR with the
power actually transmitted. For this, the power transmitted in the wired
case and the power received in the wireless case are measured for each
level of gain in LabVIEW (from 0 to 30).

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Introduction SDR in Digital Communications Methodology Results and Discussions Conclusions and Future Work

Friis Transmission Exponent: Wired Link

(a) Wired link. (b) 30 dB Attenuator.

Figure 10: Friis Transmission Exponent scenario.

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Introduction SDR in Digital Communications Methodology Results and Discussions Conclusions and Future Work

Friis Transmission Exponent: Wired Link

Figure 11: Spectrum analyzer of the wired link for determining the Friis the
transmission exponent.

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Introduction SDR in Digital Communications Methodology Results and Discussions Conclusions and Future Work

Friis Transmission Exponent: Wireless Link

Figure 12: Friis Transmission Exponent Wireless Link: Receiver.

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Introduction SDR in Digital Communications Methodology Results and Discussions Conclusions and Future Work

Friis Transmission Exponent: Wireless Link

Figure 13: Spectrum analyzer of the wireless link for determining the Friis the
transmission exponent.

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Introduction SDR in Digital Communications Methodology Results and Discussions Conclusions and Future Work

Friis Transmission Exponent

Once the experiment was done, it is possible to see the result obtained
from the mapping for both experiments, from where it is easy to see that
the wired case does not present interference, not so in the case where the
omnidirectional antenna was used.

Figure 14: Power curves mapping for determining the Friis transmission exponent.

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Introduction SDR in Digital Communications Methodology Results and Discussions Conclusions and Future Work

Wireless Communication Link Development

To obtain the BER curves, the transmitter and receiver were placed at
a distance of 10 m with line of sight. In general, 3 different tests were
performed related to different roll-off factors. Once the parameters have
been chosen, the signal to be transmitted is designed, using packet data
frame with a random message that remains fixed for each repetition and
experiment. Then, samples are taken where changes are made in the
transmitted gain (from 0 to 30) to change the Eb /N0 ratio

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Introduction SDR in Digital Communications Methodology Results and Discussions Conclusions and Future Work

Wireless Communication Link Development

Figure 15: Experimental BER for QPSK Digital Modulation, with α = 0.22.

In Fig. 15, the 2.4 GHz band has a worse performance than the 5.85
GHz band in terms of BER. This can be explained through the spectrum
analyzer, where the channel was found to have more interference.
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Introduction SDR in Digital Communications Methodology Results and Discussions Conclusions and Future Work

Wireless Communication Link Development

Figure 16: Experimental BER for QPSK Digital Modulation, with α = 0.35.

In 5.85 GHz band, the whole curve has a better BER than the curve in
Fig. 15. This might attributed to the multiple factors that affect the
transmission scheme and the channel, taking into consideration that this
was an experimental work.
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Introduction SDR in Digital Communications Methodology Results and Discussions Conclusions and Future Work

Wireless Communication Link Development

Figure 17: Experimental BER for QPSK Digital Modulation, with α = 0.5.

As expected, a lower BER was obtained in Fig. 17 for a roll-off factor equal
to 0.5. This is because in the time-domain an increase in the roll-off factor
implies smaller relative magnitudes in the filter’s sidelobes. This implies a
lower BER due to to intersymbol interference (ISI).
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Introduction SDR in Digital Communications Methodology Results and Discussions Conclusions and Future Work

Outline

1 Introduction

2 SDR in Digital Communications

3 Methodology

4 Results and Discussions

5 Conclusions and Future Work

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Introduction SDR in Digital Communications Methodology Results and Discussions Conclusions and Future Work

Conclusions and Future Work

The use of USRP radios is done for validating experimental work

and comparing it to theoretical results, both in scientific and
educational fields.

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Introduction SDR in Digital Communications Methodology Results and Discussions Conclusions and Future Work

Conclusions and Future Work

The use of USRP radios is done for validating experimental work

and comparing it to theoretical results, both in scientific and
educational fields.
This work has allowed a new way of empirically testing experiments
related to communications through the use of SDRs.

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Introduction SDR in Digital Communications Methodology Results and Discussions Conclusions and Future Work

Conclusions and Future Work

The use of USRP radios is done for validating experimental work

and comparing it to theoretical results, both in scientific and
educational fields.
This work has allowed a new way of empirically testing experiments
related to communications through the use of SDRs.
Regarding the BER curves obtained, interference was probably the
main cause of a lower BER.

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Introduction SDR in Digital Communications Methodology Results and Discussions Conclusions and Future Work

Conclusions and Future Work

The use of USRP radios is done for validating experimental work

and comparing it to theoretical results, both in scientific and
educational fields.
This work has allowed a new way of empirically testing experiments
related to communications through the use of SDRs.
Regarding the BER curves obtained, interference was probably the
main cause of a lower BER.
As future work, it would be interesting to develop the experiments
in an environment as isolated as possible (free space), in order to
fully obtain the behavior of the signal to be studied.

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Introduction SDR in Digital Communications Methodology Results and Discussions Conclusions and Future Work

Thanks!
QA?
ignacio.bugueno@ing.uchile.cl

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