HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

----

PROJECT REPORT
UNDERSTANDING WIRELESS COMMUNICATION SYSTEM AND
IMPLEMENTING SIMPLE SYSTEMS ON GNU RADIO
Instructor: Assoc. Prof. Đỗ Trọng Tuấn
Group 3

Liyanaarachchige Dinali
20170289 EEE K61
Thushanga Jayasinghe
Đỗ Thu Hà 20161213 EEE K61

Tạ Thị Thanh Lâm 20162333 EEE K61

Kim Trung Hiếu 20161515 EEE K61

Ha Noi, 19/11/2020
Contents
PREFACE ........................................................................................................................................................ 4
LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................................................ 5
TABLE OF TASKS FOR MEMBER ..................................................................................................................... 6
I. Wireless Communication - Overview.................................................................................................... 7
I.I Features of Wireless Communication .............................................................................................. 7
I.II General structure of a communication system .............................................................................. 7
I.III Advantages ...................................................................................................................................... 8
I.IV Types of Paths ................................................................................................................................. 8
a. Direct-path ................................................................................................................................... 8
b. Multi-path .................................................................................................................................... 8
c. Multipath propagation ............................................................................................................... 9
I.V Characteristics of Wireless Channel ............................................................................................... 9
I.VI Transmission Limitations ............................................................................................................... 9
a. Attenuation .................................................................................................................................. 9
b. Distortion ..................................................................................................................................... 9
c. Dispersion .................................................................................................................................. 10
d. Noise ........................................................................................................................................... 10
e. Scope of performance deterioration, which affects the output ............................................. 11
II. Simulation on GNU Radio ................................................................................................................... 12
II.I AM Transmission ........................................................................................................................... 12
a. What is amplitude modulation?............................................................................................... 13
b. Amplitude demodulation .......................................................................................................... 14
c. Advantages & disadvantages of amplitude modulation, AM................................................ 14
d. Derivatives of Amplitude Modulation ..................................................................................... 15
e. AM overview.............................................................................................................................. 15
f. Flow graph ................................................................................................................................. 15
II.II Modulation .................................................................................................................................... 18
a. Definition: .................................................................................................................................. 18
b. Types of modulation ................................................................................................................. 19
c. Modulation and demodulation................................................................................................. 20
d. Why use modulation? ............................................................................................................... 20
 e. MPSK modulation: ................................................................................................................... 21
f. Modulation Sequence................................................................................................................ 22
g. With Channel Impairments ..................................................................................................... 26
h. Transmission Channel .............................................................................................................. 28
II.III Demodulation............................................................................................................................... 30
a. Definition: .................................................................................................................................. 30
b. Need of demodulation ............................................................................................................... 31
c. Difference between Modulation and Demodulation .............................................................. 31
d. QPSK and 16-QAM Demodulation ......................................................................................... 31
e. Channel Model with Timing Recovery ................................................................................... 34
f. With Equalizer .......................................................................................................................... 37
g. Decoding..................................................................................................................................... 41
II.4 Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) ............................................................. 44
a. Introduction: ............................................................................................................................. 44
b. Data on OFDM .......................................................................................................................... 45
c. Perks ........................................................................................................................................... 45
d. Block diagram ........................................................................................................................... 46
e. Simulation .................................................................................................................................. 46
f. Results ........................................................................................................................................ 47
II.5 Image Transfer............................................................................................................................... 48
Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................... 50
References .................................................................................................................................................. 51
 PREFACE
With the extremely strong development of information technology in general
and wireless communication systems in particular, the demand for electronic and
telecommunication systems is growing rapidly and strongly. Therefore, it has
design requirements for the manufacture of wireless communication systems with
small and compact dimensions that still meet the required function that the noise
can be avoided as little as possible and suitable for current use needs and aims. The
subject “Wireless Communication” helps us understand more about using Gnu
Radio software to simulate some simple communication systems, know what is
good communication systems and how to mitigate the noise and interference. We
would like to send our most sincere thanks to Assoc. Prof. Do Trong Tuan for
supporting and supervising us during the course. Due to lacking of time and
experience in terms of deeply diving into new software, so our project is inevitable
shortcomings.
Ultimately, we would like to send our sincere thanks to the teachers in the
Institution, the students of previous year and especially to Assoc. Prof. Do Trong
Tuan who enthusiastically guided and explained in detail throughout the course of
study to help us complete this topic.
We sincerely thank you!
 LIST OF FIGURES
FIGURE 1. 1 GENERAL STRUCTURE OF A COMMUNICATION SYSTEM. ......................................................7
FIGURE 1. 2 THE SIGNAL WITH BURST ERRORS ............................................................................................. 10
FIGURE 2. 1 AMPLITUDE MODULATION ........................................................................................................... 13
FIGURE 2. 2 AM TRANSCEIVER FLOW GRAPH [1]........................................................................................... 16
FIGURE 2. 3 AM RECEIVER FLOW GRAPH ........................................................................................................ 17
FIGURE 2. 4 AM TRANSCEIVER AND RECEIVER WAVEFORM ..................................................................... 18
FIGURE 2. 5 WAVEFORM OF THE SIGNAL AFTER THREE TYPES OF MODULATION .............................. 19
FIGURE 2. 6 MPSK MODULATION FLOWGRAPH ............................................................................................. 21
FIGURE 2. 7 MPSK MODULATION SIMULATION RESULTS ........................................................................... 22
FIGURE 2. 8 MODULATION SEQUENCE FLOWGRAPH ................................................................................... 23
FIGURE 2. 9 MODULATION SEQUENCE SIMULATION RESULTS ................................................................. 25
FIGURE 2. 10 MODULATION WITH CHANNEL IMPAIRMENTS FLOWGRAPH ........................................... 27
FIGURE 2. 11 MODULATION WITH CHANNEL IMPAIRMENTS SIMULATION RESULTS ......................... 28
FIGURE 2. 12 TRANSMISSION CHANNEL FLOWGRAPH ................................................................................ 30
FIGURE 2. 13 TRANSMISSION CHANNEL SIMULATION RESULTS .............................................................. 30
FIGURE 2. 14 DEMODULATION BLOCK DIAGRAM ........................................................................................ 31
FIGURE 2. 15 QAM AND QPSK DEMODULATION FLOWGRAPH [1] ............................................................ 33
FIGURE 2. 16 QPSK DEMODULATION WAVEFORM ....................................................................................... 33
FIGURE 2. 17 QAM DEMODULATION WAVEFORM ........................................................................................ 34
FIGURE 2. 18 CHANNEL MODEL WITH TIMING RECOVERY FLOWGRAPH [1] ........................................ 35
FIGURE 2. 19 CHANNEL MODEL WITH TIMING RECOVERY SIMULATION RESULTS ............................. 36
FIGURE 2. 20 SYMBOLS AFTER AND BEFORE ADDING TIMING RECOVERY .......................................... 37
FIGURE 2. 21 CHANNEL MODEL ADDING EQUALIZER FLOWGRAPH [1] ................................................. 39
FIGURE 2. 22 SIMULATION RESULTS BEFORE ADDING EQUALIZER........................................................ 39
FIGURE 2. 23 SIMULATION RESULTS AFTER ADDING EQUALIZER ........................................................... 40
FIGURE 2. 24 SIMULATION RESULTS AFTER ADDING EQUALIZER .......................................................... 41
FIGURE 2. 25 CHANNEL MODEL WITH DECODING FLOWGRAPH [1] ........................................................ 43
FIGURE 2. 26 OFDM FIGURE ................................................................................................................................ 44
FIGURE 2. 27 GUARD INTERVAL ON OFDM SIGNALS .................................................................................... 45
FIGURE 2. 28 BLOCK DIAGRAM OF OFDM ........................................................................................................ 46
FIGURE 2. 29 HELLO WORLD SCREEN CAPTURE ............................................................................................ 47
FIGURE 2. 30 OFDM FLOW CHART [3] ................................................................................................................ 47
FIGURE 2. 31 SIMULATED RESULT .................................................................................................................... 48
FIGURE 2. 32 IMAGE TRANSFER FLOW GRAPH ............................................................................................... 48
FIGURE 2. 33 INPUT IMAGE .................................................................................................................................. 49
FIGURE 2. 34 OUTPUT IMAGE .............................................................................................................................. 49
 TABLE OF TASKS FOR MEMBER
No. Task Assign Support
Synthesize materials and
1 documents relating to Hà, Dinali Lâm,Hiếu
project

Research the following

2 Hiếu, Dinali Lâm, Hà
documents and paper

3 Study the whole system Hà, Lâm Dinali, Hiếu

Dinali, Lâm, Hà,

4 Study detailed block
Hiếu

5 Work in AM transmission Dinlai Hiếu, Hà, Lâm

6 Work in Modulation Lâm , Dinali Hà

7 Work in Demodulation Hà, Lâm Dinali

8 Work in OFDM Hiếu Dinali

9 Work in Image Transfer Hà, Dinali Lâm

Lâm, Hiếu, Hà,

10 Draw and simulate system
Dinali

Dinali, Hiếu, Hà,

11 Presentation slides
Lâm

Lâm, Dinali, Hà,

12 Report writing
Hiếu
 I. Wireless Communication - Overview
Wireless communication involves the transmission of information over a
distance without the help of wires, cables or any other forms of electrical
conductors.
I.I Features of Wireless Communication
 The transmitted distance can be anywhere between a few meters (for
example, a television's remote control) and thousands of kilometers (for
example, radio communication).
 Wireless communication can be used for cellular telephony, wireless access
to the internet, wireless home networking, and so on.
 Other examples of applications of radio wireless technology include GPS
units, garage door openers, wireless computer mice, keyboards and
headsets, headphones, radio receivers, satellite television, broadcast
television and cordless telephones.
I.II General structure of a communication system

Figure 1. 1 General structure of a communication system.

 a. The information source provides an analog source signal and feeds it into the
source ADC (analog to Digital converter). Generating the message.
b. The Source coder: Reduce the amount of source data to be transmitted. Used
to save the required transmission time and bandwidth. (Removal of
redundancy information in the source signal)
c. The Channel coder: Adds redundancy to protect data against transmission
errors.
d. The Baseband Modulator: Process of assigning a data bit to an symbol.
(messages to symbols)
e. The Propagation Channel: Attenuates the signal and leads to delay and
frequency dispersion. Furthermore, the environment adds noise (AWGN)
Additive White Gaussian Noise and co – channel interference.’
f. The Source Decoder: Reconstruct the source signal from the rules of source
coding. Final data will be reproduced.

I.III Advantages

 Cost effectiveness
 Flexibility
 Convenience
 Speed
 Accessibility
 Constant connectivity

I.IV Types of Paths

The path followed by the signals to get to the receiver, are two types, such as −
a. Direct-path
The transmitted signal, when reaches the receiver directly, can be termed as
a direct path and the components presents that are present in the signal are called
as direct path components.
b. Multi-path
The transmitted signal when reaches the receiver, through different directions
undergoing different phenomenon, such a path is termed as multi-path and the
components of the transmitted signal are called as multi-path components.
 c. Multipath propagation
In wireless media, signals propagate using three principles, which are reflection,
scattering, and diffraction.
 Reflection occurs when the signal encounters a large solid surface, whose
size is much larger than the wavelength of the signal, e.g., a solid wall.
 Diffraction occurs when the signal encounters an edge or a corner, whose
size is larger than the wavelength of the signal, e.g., an edge of a wall.
 Scattering occurs when the signal encounters small objects of size smaller
than the wavelength of the signal.
One consequence of multipath propagation is that multiple copies of a signal
propagation along multiple different paths, arrive at any point at different times.
Therefore, the signal received at a point is not only affected by the inherent
noise, distortion, attenuation, and dispersion in the channel but also
the interaction of signals propagated along multiple paths.
They are reflected, diffracted and scattered by the environment, and arrive at the
receiver shifted in amplitude, frequency and phase with respect to the direct path
component.
I.V Characteristics of Wireless Channel

 Path loss
 Fading
 Interference
 Doppler shift

I.VI Transmission Limitations

The various limitations that affect electromagnetic wave transmissions.
a. Attenuation
The strength of signal falls with distance over transmission medium. The extent
of attenuation is a function of distance, transmission medium, as well as the
frequency of the underlying transmission.
b. Distortion
Since signals at different frequencies attenuate to different extents, a signal
comprising of components over a range of frequencies gets distorted, i.e., the
shape of the received signal changes.
 A standard method of resolving this problem (and recovering the original shape)
is to amplify higher frequencies and thus equalize attenuation over a band of
frequencies.
c. Dispersion
Dispersion is the phenomenon of spreading of a burst of electromagnetic energy
during propagation. Bursts of data sent in rapid succession tend to merge due to
dispersion.
d. Noise
The most pervasive form of noise is thermal noise, which is often modeled
using an additive Gaussian model. Thermal noise is due to thermal agitation of
electrons and is uniformly distributed across the frequency spectrum.
Other forms of noise include −
 Inter modulation noise (caused by signals produced at frequencies that are
sums or differences of carrier frequencies)
 Crosstalk (interference between two signals)
 Impulse noise (irregular pulses of high energy caused by external
electromagnetic disturbances).
While an impulse noise may not have a significant impact on analog data, it has
a noticeable effect on digital data, causing burst errors.

Figure 1. 2 The signal with burst errors

The above figure clearly illustrates how the noise signal overlaps the original
signal and tries to change its characteristics.
 e. Scope of performance deterioration, which affects the output
The major cause: mobile channel impairments
To resolve this, there are three popular techniques –

1)Equalizer

An equalizer within a receiver compensates for the average range of expected

channel amplitude and delay characteristics. In other words, an equalizer is a filter
at the mobile receiver whose impulse response is inverse of the channel impulse
response. Such equalizers find their use in frequency selective fading channels.

2)Diversity

Diversity is another technique used to compensate fast fading and is usually

implemented using two or more receiving antennas. It is usually employed to
reduce the depths and duration of the fades experienced by a receiver in a flat
fading channel.

3)Channel Coding

Channel coding improves mobile communication link performance by adding

redundant data bits in the transmitted message. At the baseband portion of the
transmitter, a channel coder maps a digital message sequence in to another
specific code sequence containing greater number of bits than original contained
in the message. Channel Coding is used to correct deep fading or spectral null.
 II. Simulation on GNU Radio
II.I AM Transmission
Amplitude modulation or AM as it is often called, is a form of modulation used
for radio transmissions for broadcasting and two way radio communication
applications.
Although one of the earliest used forms of modulation it is still used today,
mainly for long, medium and short wave broadcasting and for some aeronautical
point to point communications.
One of the key reasons for the use of amplitude modulation was its ease of use.
The system simply required the carrier amplitude to be modulated, but more
usefully the detector required in the receiver could be a simple diode based circuit.
This meant that AM radios did not need complicated demodulators and costs were
reduced - a key requirement for widespread use of radio technology, especially in
the early days of radio when ICs were not available.
Amplitude modulation is used in a variety of applications. Even though it is not
as widely used as it was in previous years in its basic format it can nevertheless
still be found.

 Broadcast transmissions: AM is still widely used for broadcasting on the

long, medium and shortwave bands. It is simple to demodulate and this
means that radio receivers capable of demodulating amplitude modulation
are cheap and simple to manufacture. Nevertheless, many people are moving
to high quality forms of transmission like frequency modulation, FM or
digital transmissions.
 Air band radio: VHF transmissions for many airborne applications still use
AM. It is used for ground to air radio communications as well as two-way
radio links for ground staff as well.
 Single sideband: Amplitude modulation in the form of single sideband is
still used for HF radio links. Using a lower bandwidth and providing more
effective use of the transmitted power this form of modulation is still used
for many points to point HF links.
 Quadrature amplitude modulation: AM is widely used for the
transmission of data in everything from short range wireless links such as
Wi-Fi to cellular telecommunications and much more. Effectively it is
formed by having two carriers 90° out of phase.
  These form some of the main uses of amplitude modulation. However, in its
basic form, this form of modulation is being used less as a result of its
inefficient use of both spectrum and power.

a. What is amplitude modulation?

In order that a radio signal can carry audio or other information for broadcasting
or for two-way radio communication, it must be modulated or changed in some
way. Although there are a number of ways in which a radio signal may be
modulated, one of the easiest is to change its amplitude in line with variations of
the sound.
In this way the amplitude of the radio frequency signal varies in line with the
instantaneous value of the intensity of the modulation. This means that the radio
frequency signal has a representation of the sound wave superimposed in it.

Figure 2. 1 Amplitude Modulation

From the diagram, it can be seen that the envelope of the signal follows the
contours of the modulating signal.
 b. Amplitude demodulation
Amplitude modulation, AM, is one of the most straightforward ways of
modulating a radio signal or carrier. It can be achieved in a number of ways, but
the simplest uses a single diode rectifier circuit.
Other methods of demodulating an AM signal use synchronous techniques and
provide much lower levels of distortion and improved reception where selective
fading is present.
One of the main reasons for the popularity of amplitude modulation has been the
simplicity of the demodulation. It enables costs to be kept low - a significant
advantage in producing vast quantities of very low cost AM radios.
c. Advantages & disadvantages of amplitude modulation, AM
As with any technology there are advantages and disadvantages to be
considered. The summary below gives a highlight of the basic pro's and con's.

 Advantages
It is simple to implement
it can be demodulated using a circuit consisting of very few components
AM receivers being very cheap as no specialized components are needed.
 Disadvantages
It is not efficient in terms of its power usage
It is not efficient in terms of its use of bandwidth, requiring a bandwidth equal to
twice that of the highest audio frequency
It is prone to high levels of noise because most noise is amplitude based and
obviously AM detectors are sensitive to it.
Although in the current technological climate, AM in its basic form is not nearly
as effective as other modes that can be used, it is still retained in many areas like
broadcasting, because of the number of users. However, it is likely that with time,
its use will decrease still further and ultimately many AM transmissions will cease.
However, its derivatives like quadrature amplitude modulation are widely used as
they offer a very effective form of modulation, especially for data transmission.
 d. Derivatives of Amplitude Modulation
Although the use of amplitude modulation is decreasing, it nevertheless forms
the basis of other forms of modulation that are still being widely used, or their use
is increasing.

 Single sideband, SSB: Single sideband is widely used for HF

communications. It is formed by taking a signal that has the carrier and
one sideband removed. In this way it becomes far more efficient in terms
of both spectrum and power.
 Quadrature amplitude modulation, QAM: This form of modulation is
essentially derived from two carriers that are 90° out of phase and adding
information, either analogue or digital. Quadrature Amplitude Modulation
is widely used for carrying many digital signals, everything from Wi-Fi to
Mobile phone communications and very much more.
e. AM overview
AM has advantages of simplicity, but it is not the most efficient mode to use,
both in terms of the amount of space or spectrum it takes up, and the way in which
it uses the power that is transmitted. This is the reason why it is not widely used
these days both for broadcasting and for two-way radio communication.
Even the long, medium and short wave broadcasts will ultimately change
because of the fact that amplitude modulation, AM, is subject to much higher
levels of noise than are other modes.
For the moment, its simplicity, and its widespread usage, mean that it will be
difficult to change quickly, and it will be in use for many years to come
f. Flow graph
• AM Transceiver: takes the audio signal as an input and delivers amplitude
modulated wave to the antenna as an output to be transmitted.
 Figure 2. 2 AM transceiver flow graph [1]

 AM Receiver: The AM super heterodyne receiver takes the amplitude

modulated wave as an input and produces the original audio signal as an
output
 Figure 2. 3 AM receiver flow graph
 Waveform
 Figure 2. 4 AM transceiver and receiver waveform
II.II Modulation
a. Definition:
Modulation is the process of converting data into radio waves by adding
information to an electronic or optical carrier signal. A carrier signal is one with a
steady waveform -- constant height, or amplitude, and frequency. Information can
be added to the carrier by varying its amplitude, frequency, phase, polarization --
for optical signals -- and even quantum-level phenomena like spin.
Modulation is usually applied to electromagnetic signals: radio waves,
lasers/optics and computer networks. Modulation can even be applied to a direct
current -- which can be treated as a degenerate carrier wave with a fixed amplitude
and frequency of 0 Hz -- mainly by turning it on and off, as in Morse code
telegraphy or a digital current loop interface. The special case of no carrier -- a
response message indicating an attached device is no longer connected to a remote
system -- is called baseband modulation.
Modulation can also be applied to a low-frequency alternating current -- 50-60
Hz -- as with power line networking.
 b. Types of modulation
There are many common modulation methods, including the following -- a very
incomplete list:
 Amplitude modulation (AM), in which the height -- i.e., the strength or
intensity -- of the signal carrier is varied to represent the data being added to the
signal.
 Frequency modulation (FM), in which the frequency of the carrier waveform
is varied to reflect the frequency of the data.
 Phase modulation (PM), in which the phase of the carrier waveform is varied
to reflect changes in the frequency of the data. In PM, the frequency is unchanged
while the phase is changed relative to the base carrier frequency. It is similar to
FM.
 Polarization modulation, in which the angle of rotation of an optical carrier
signal is varied to reflect transmitted data.
 Pulse-code modulation, in which an analog signal is sampled to derive a data
stream that is used to modulate a digital carrier signal.
 Quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM), which uses two AM carriers to
encode two or more bits in a single transmission.

Figure 2. 5 Waveform of the Signal after three types of modulation

 AM, FM and PM
Radio and television broadcasts and satellite radio typically use AM or FM.
Most short-range two-way radios -- up to tens of miles -- use FM, while longer-
range two-way radios -- up to hundreds or thousands of miles -- typically employ a
mode known as single sideband (SSB).
More complex forms of modulation include phase-shift keying (PSK) and QAM.
Modern Wi-Fi modulation uses a combination of PSK and QAM64 or QAM256 to
encode multiple bits of information into each transmitted symbol.
c. Modulation and demodulation
Modulation is the process of encoding information in a transmitted signal, while
demodulation is the process of extracting information from the transmitted signal.
Many factors influence how faithfully the extracted information replicates the
original input information. Electromagnetic interference can degrade signals and
make the original signal impossible to extract. Demodulators typically include
multiple stages of amplification and filtering in order to eliminate interference.
A device that performs both modulation and demodulation is called a modem --
a name created by combining the first letters of Modulator and Demodulator.
A computer audio modem allows a computer to connect to another computer or
to a data network over a regular analog phone line by using the data signal to
modulate an analog audio tone. A modem at the far end demodulates the audio
signal to recover the data stream. A cable modem uses network data to modulate
the cable service carrier signal.
Sometimes a carrier signal can carry more than one modulating information
stream. Multiplexing combines the streams onto a single carrier -- e.g., by
encoding a fixed-duration segment of one, then of the next, for example, cycling
through all the channels before returning to the first -- a process called time-
division multiplexing (TDM). Another form is frequency-division multiplexing
(FDM), where multiple carriers of different frequencies are used on the same
medium.
d. Why use modulation?
Multiple carriers of different frequencies can often be transmitted over a single
media, with each carrier being modulated by an independent signal. For example,
Wi-Fi uses individual channels to simultaneously transmit data to and from
multiple clients.
e. MPSK modulation:
The M-PSK Modulator Baseband block modulates an input signal using
M-Ary Phase Shift Keying (PSK) and returns a complex baseband output.
 Flow graph

Figure 2. 6 MPSK modulation flowgraph

 Waveform
 Figure 2. 7 MPSK modulation simulation results
f. Modulation Sequence
 Flow graph
 Figure 2. 8 Modulation sequence flowgraph
The simulation is run with a random number generator as an input. The source is
set to repeat, creating a continuous signal to allow analysis. The range of the
random number generator is set from 0 to 256. The GNU-Radio documentation
suggests a maximum value that is one greater than the desired value. Since the
output values are bytes, a conversion block is used to change the values from
unsigned characters to floating point values. This enables the generated signal to
conform to something readable on an oscilloscope. The signal is also passed to a
modulation block which performs the phase shift keying (PSK). There are two
signal paths, one for analysis of the input signal, and one for the modulated output.
As this is a simulation, throttle blocks are necessary and placed in both signal
paths. Four different outputs will analyze both the input signal and the modulated
signal. For the input signal, a histogram and an oscilloscope will be used. For the
modulated signal, a constellation plot as well as the spectral waveform will be
used. The outputs are shown using “QT GUI” processing blocks. Figure 2.5.
shows the oscilloscope and histogram outputs.
 Waveform
 Figure 2. 9 Modulation sequence simulation results
For the time signal in Figure 2.5., with the scaling set large enough, the periodic
nature of the signal is noticeable. Even though the source is a pseudo random
number generator, when in repeat mode the random sequence is no longer random.
Although not evident in this report, the histogram plot appears static. This is due to
the fact that the number sequence repeats at 100 and the plot shows every 1000
values. When the frame size is changed to something other than a multiple of 100,
the graph becomes quite active. In the second path, the signal first passes through a
“Constellation Modulator” block. There are several ways to implement PSK in
GNU-Radio. This was chosen, not only because of the ease of choosing the PSK
schemes, but because it implements differential encoding within the block.
Without this, in the case of BPSK for example, the received data could be inverted.
Some form of synchronization is needed between transmitter and receiver.
Differential encoding allows for this unambiguous signal reception. Because of
exclusive-or operations on the data, what is transmitted depends, not only on the
current bit, but the previous one as well. The “Constellation Modulator” block is
controlled via the “Constellation Object” block. Any changes in the type of keying
being performed, occurs here. For this report, QPSK was designated and is shown
in all diagrams. The output of the “Constellation Modulator” block is fed to a
Constellation Sink to view the Constellation Plot (Figure 2.5.) and a Frequency
sink for spectral analysis (Figure 2.5.). The samples per symbol was increased to
32 (far greater than necessary) to show the transitions between constellation points.
The constellation plot shows distinct separation between the four phase values of
the QSPK signal. The spectral plot shows a fairly smooth and narrow baseband
signal that rolls off into the noise.
 g. With Channel Impairments
That first stage example only dealt with the mechanics of transmitting a
QPSK signal. We'll now look into the effects of the channel and how the signal is
distorted between when it was transmitted and when we see the signal in the
receiver. The first step is to add a channel model, which is done using the example
mpsk_stage2.grc below. To start with, we'll use the most basic Channel Model
block of GNU Radio.
This block allows us to simulate a few main issues that we have to deal with.
The first issue with receivers is noise. Thermal noise in our receiver causes noise
that we know of as Additive White Gaussian Noise (AWGN). We set the noise
power by adjusting the noise voltage value of the channel model. We specify the
voltage here instead of power because we need to know the bandwidth of the
signal in order to calculate the power properly. One of the defining aspects of GNU
Radio is the independence of the blocks, so the channel model doesn't know
anything about the incoming signal. We can calculate the noise voltage from a
desired power level knowing the other parameters of the simulation.
Another significant problem between two radios is different clocks, which
drive the frequency of the radios. The clocks are, for one thing, imperfect, and
therefore different between radios. One radio transmits nominally at fc (say, 450
MHz), but the imperfections mean that it is really transmitting at fc + f_delta_1.
Meanwhile, the other radio has a different clock and therefore a different offset,
f_delta_2. When it's set to fc, the real frequency is at fc + f_delta_2. In the end, the
received signal will be f_delta_1 + f_delta_2 off where we think it should be (these
deltas may be positive or negative).
Related to the clock problem is the ideal sampling point. We've up-sampled
our signal in the transmitter and shaped it, but when receiving it, we need to
sample the signal at the original sampling point in order to maximize the signal
power and minimize and inter-symbol interference. Like in our stage 1 simulation
after adding the second RRC filter, we can see that among the 4 samples per
symbol, one of them is at the ideal sampling point of +1, -1, or 0. But again, the
two radios are running at different speeds, so the ideal sampling point is an
unknown.
The second stage of our simulation allows us to play with these effects of
additive noise, frequency offset, and timing offset. When we run this graph we
have added a bit of noise (0.2), some frequency offset 0.025), and some timing
offset (1.0005) to see the resulting signal.
 Flow graph
Figure 2. 10 Modulation with channel impairments flowgraph
 Waveform
 Figure 2. 11 Modulation with channel impairments simulation results
The constellation plot shows us a cloud of samples, far worse that what we
started off with in the last stage. From this received signal, we now have to undo
all of these effects.
h. Transmission Channel
There are 3 problems:
1. Gaussian Noise
2. The transmitter and receiver have different clocks
3. Large timing offset between origin and destination
There are a few differences from the original flow graph in this version. First,
there is no output for the pre-modulated signal. Second, a “Channel Model”
processing block has been added. This will enable the simulation of the typical
issues that occur during transmission. Our concern is with three things, noise,
timing, and frequency drift. For each of these, a “QT GUI Range” processing block
is added. These will allow dynamic simulation of the corresponding issue. Lastly,
the output of the channel will be shown in constellation, time, and frequency plots.
The purpose of this portion is look into the effects of the channel and how the
signal becomes distorted after it is transmitted and before it is seen at the receiver.
The first issue is noise. Thermal noise in the hardware causes noise that is
commonly known as additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN). The noise power is
set by adjusting the noise voltage of the “Channel Model.” The voltage is specified
instead of power because of its independence to the signal. This is necessary
because the “Channel Model” knows nothing about the incoming signal. The
second problem to be resolved occurs because the transmitter and receiver have
different clocks, which drive the frequencies of both devices. Imperfections in both
clocks cause the specified frequencies to be skewed. Additionally, a lack of
synchronization between the two compounds the issue. The end result is a timing
offset between origin and destination. A related issue to the timing offset is the
problem of finding the ideal sampling point. To minimize the ISI, we need to
sample the signal as close to the original sampling point as possible. Figure 2.9.
show the modulated signal prior to any channel effects. The time signal is clean, as
well as the spectral plot. The constellation plot shows some spreading due to over
sampling.
 Flow graph
 Figure 2. 12 Transmission channel flowgraph
 The signal without White Gaussian Noise

Figure 2. 13 Transmission channel simulation results

Figure 2.9. show the effects of additive white Gaussian noise. The time signal
is clearly distorted, as well as the constellation plot. The spectral plot is effectively
being swallowed by the noise.
II.III Demodulation
a. Definition:
The process of recovering the original signal from the modulated wave is known
as demodulation or detection. At the broadcasting station, modulation is done to
transmit the audio signal over larger distances to a receiver. When the modulated
wave is picked up by the radio receiver, it is necessary to recover the audio signal
from it. This process is accomplished in the radio receiver and is called
demodulation.
 Figure 2. 14 Demodulation Block Diagram
b. Need of demodulation
The wireless signal consists of radio frequency (high frequency) carrier wave
modulated by audio frequency (low frequency). The diaphragm of a telephone
receiver or a loud speaker cannot vibrate with high frequency. Moreover, this
frequency is beyond the audible range of human ear. So, it is necessary to separate
the audio frequencies from radio- frequency carrier waves.
c. Difference between Modulation and Demodulation
Modulation is the process of imposing data information on the carrier, while
demodulation is the recovery of original information at the distant end from the
carrier.
Modem is the device that performs both modulation and demodulation.
Both processes try to achieve transfer information with the minimum distortion,
minimum loss and efficient utilization of spectrum.
Even though there are different methods for modulation and demodulation
processes, each has its own advantages and disadvantages. For example, AM is
used in shortwave and radio wave broadcasting; FM is mostly used in high-
frequency radio broadcasting, and pulse modulation is known for digital signal
modulation.
d. QPSK and 16-QAM Demodulation
The first stage is transmitting the QPSK signal. We generate a stream of bits
and modulate it onto a complex constellation. To do this, we use the Constellation
Modulator block, which uses a Constellation Rect. Object and other settings to
control the transmitted signal.
The constellation object allows us to determine how the symbols are coded.
The modulator block can then use this modulation scheme with or without
differential encoding. The constellation modulator expects packed bytes, so we
have a random source generator providing bytes with values 0 - 255.
When dealing with the number of samples per symbol, we want to keep this
value as small as possible (minimum value of 2). Generally, we can use this value
to help us match the desired bit rate with the sample rate of the hardware device
we'll be using. Since we're using simulation, the samples per symbol is only
important in making sure we match this rate throughout the flowgraph. We'll use 4
here, which is greater than what we need, but useful to visualize the signal in the
different domains.
Finally, we set the excess bandwidth value. The constellation modulator uses
a root raised cosine (RRC) pulse shaping filter, which gives us a single parameter
to adjust the roll-off factor of the filter, often known mathematically as 'alpha'. The
below flow graph below generates the following figure showing different values of
the excess bandwidth. Typical values are between 0.2 (red trace) and 0.35 (green
trace).
 Flow graph
 Figure 2. 15 QAM and QPSK Demodulation flowgraph [1]
 QPSK waveform

Figure 2. 16 QPSK Demodulation waveform

 QAM waveform
 Figure 2. 17 QAM Demodulation waveform
e. Channel Model with Timing Recovery
We will start off with timing recovery. We're trying to find the best time to
sample the incoming signals, which will maximize the Signal to Noise Ratio
(SNR) of each sample as well as reduce the effects of Inter Symbol Interference
(ISI).
We can illustrate the ISI problem using the example flowgraph
symbol_sampling.grc where we simply create four separate symbols of 1's in row
then filter them. The first stage of filtering performs up-sampling to the 'sps'
samples per symbol and uses a root raised cosine filter. We follow this with
another root raised cosine filter that does no rate changes. The second RRC filter
here converts the signals from using the non-Nyquist RRC filter to a Nyquist raised
cosine (RC) filter as we discussed in the first stage of this tutorial. The output,
shown in the figures below, shows the differences between the RRC- and RC-
filtered symbols. Without Nyquist filtering, we can see how at the ideal sampling
point of each symbol, the other symbols have some energy. If we summed these
symbols together like we would in a continuous stream of samples, the energy of
those other samples add together and distort the symbol at that point. Conversely,
in the RC filtered output, the energy from the other samples are at 0 at the ideal
sampling point for the given symbol in time. That means that if we sample at
exactly the correct sample point, we only get energy from the current symbol with
no interference from the other symbols in the stream. Again, what we're seeing is
how the timing recovery applies a matched filter to satisfy the Nyquist ISI
criterion.
=> Reduce Timing Offset
 Flow graph

Figure 2. 18 Channel model with Timing recovery flowgraph [1]

 Waveform

Figure 2. 19 Channel model with Timing recovery simulation results

 Figure 2. 20 Symbols After and before adding Timing Recovery
Figure 3.4. and Figure 3.5. shows the constellation plots before after
synchronization. The first plot has been given a very large timing offset. The
results resemble a noisy signal. Additionally, the oversampling adds more disarray
to the plot. In the second plot not only does the synchronization clean things up,
but the down sampling to one sample per symbol gives four distinct clusters that
correspond to our four symbols.
f. With Equalizer
GNU Radio comes with two easily usable equalizers. The CMA Equalizer and
the LMS DD Equalizer. The CMA, or Constant Modulus Algorithm, is a blind
equalizer, but it only works on signals that have a constant amplitude, or modulus.
This means that digital signals like MPSK are good candidates since they have
points only on the unit circle (think back to the experiment we did where we
locked the signal timing but had a frequency offset; what we were seeing was the
unit circle).
The CMA algorithm accepts the number of taps to use in the equalizer, which
will be based on some combination of an educated guess, known best practices,
and maybe some actual knowledge of the channel itself. We want to keep this
number small to reduce the overhead of the algorithm while making sure there are
enough degrees of freedom to correct for our channel.
In the mpsk_stage4.grc example, we use the CMA algorithm with 11 taps. This
is a simulation, and that number has worked well in the past. Play around with it
and see how it affects performance, both from a computational and signal
standpoint.
We can watch the CMA algorithm converge. Note, too, that since we have both
a clock sync and equalizer block, they are converging independently, but the one
stage will affect the next stage. Hence, there is some interaction going on here
while both are locking on to the signal. In the end, though, we can see the effect of
the time-locked multipath signal before and after the equalizer. Before the
equalizer, we have a very ugly signal, even without noise. The equalizer nicely
figures out how to invert and cancel out this channel so that we have a nice, clean
signal again. We can also see the channel itself and how it flattens out nicely after
the equalizer.
 Flow graph
Figure 2. 21 Channel model adding Equalizer flowgraph [1]

Figure 2. 22 Simulation results before adding Equalizer

 Figure 2. 23 Simulation results after adding Equalizer

Since the CMA equalizer is only capable of converging to the unit circle, it can
lock at any given phase. For this reason, the signal flow graph needs to correct for
any phase offset as well as any frequency offset. For this, the “Costas Loop”
processing block will be used. The Costas Loop can synchronize to both BPSK and
QPSK.
The output “samples per symbol” was altered to create the appearance of
interference. Both the constellation and spectral plots are cleaned up. The
frequency spectrum in particular has a constant, “equalized” shape.
 Figure 2. 24 Simulation results after adding Equalizer
We can watch the CMA algorithm converge. Note, too, that since we have both
a clock sync and equalizer block, they are converging independently, but the one
stage will affect the next stage. So there is some interaction going on here while
both are locking on to the signal. In the end, though, we can see the effect of the
time-locked multipath signal before and after the equalizer. Before the equalizer,
we have a very ugly signal, even without noise. The equalizer nicely figures out
how to invert and cancel out this channel so that we have a nice, clean signal again.
We can also see the channel itself and how it flattens out nicely after the equalizer.
Play with the taps provided to the channel model block to change the multipath.
The current taps were simply randomly generated to provide a multipath profile
with no real mathematical basis for them
g. Decoding
The next step in the demodulation process was the decoding procedure. In this
part, the symbols from the constellation plot are converted back to bits. Several
processing blocks are used to complete the simulation, although not all will be
used in the final flow graph. First, the Costas Loop is followed by a demodulator
block. The symbols are then mapped to their binary equivalents. Since differential
encoding was used before modulation, differential decoding is used now. The
actual constellation was not transmitted. Instead, differential symbols were, and are
now converted. Since the symbols represent multiple bits, an “Unpack” processing
block is used. The final step is to convert the byte values into floating point values
so that the signal can be viewed on a time plot.
The flow graph uses the Differential Decoder block to translate the differential
coded symbols back to their original symbols due to the phase transitions, not the
absolute phase itself. But even out of here, our symbols are not exactly right. This
is the hardest part about demodulation, really. In the synchronization steps, we had
basic physics and math on our side. Now, though, we have to interpret some
symbol based on what someone else said it was. We, basically, just have to know
this mapping. And luckily, we did, so we use the Map block to convert the symbols
from the differential decoder to the original symbols we transmitted. At this point,
we now have the original symbols from 0-3, so let’s unpack those 2 bits per
symbol into bits using the unpack bits block. Now, we have the original bit stream
of data!
But how do we know that it's the original bit stream? To do so, we'll compare to
the input bit stream, which we can do because this is a simulation and we have
access to the transmitted data. But of course, the transmitter produced packed bits,
so we again use the unpack bit block to unpack from 8-bits per byte to 1-bit per
byte. We then convert these streams to floating point values of 0.0 and 1.0 simply
because our time sinks only accept float and complex values. Comparing these two
directly would show us... nothing. Why? Because the receiver chain has many
blocks and filters that delay the signal, so the received signal is some number of
bits behind. To compensate, we have to delay the transmitted bits by the same
amount using the Delay block. You can then adjust the delay to find the correct
value and see how the bits synchronize. You can also subtract one signal from the
other to see when they are synchronized as the output will be 0. Adding noise and
other channel affects can then be easily seen as bit errors whenever this signal is
not 0.
 Flow graph
 Figure 2. 25 Channel model with decoding flowgraph [1]
 Waveform

Figure 3.9. Channel model with decoding simulation results

 The Rx and Tx bits( Data 0 and Data 1) is more stable , the amplitude decreases
2 times. The symbols concentrate on 4 main region points. After adding decoding
the channel model work well.
II.4 Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM)
a. Introduction:
The nature of future wireless applications demands high data rates. Naturally
dealing with ever-unpredictable wireless channel at high data rate communications
is not an easy task. The idea of multi-carrier transmission has surfaced recently to
be used for combating the hostility of wireless channel and providing high data rate
communications. OFDM is a special form of multi-carrier transmission where all
the subcarriers are orthogonal to each other. OFDM promises a high user data rate
transmission capability at a reasonable complexity and precision. At high data
rates, the channel distortion to the data is very significant, and it is somewhat
impossible to recover the transmitted data with a simple receiver. A very complex
receiver structure is needed which makes use of computationally expensive
equalization and channel estimation algorithms to correctly estimate the channel,
so that the estimations can be used with the received data to recover the originally
transmitted data. OFDM can drastically simplify the equalization problem by
turning the frequency-selective channel into a flat channel. A simple one-tap
equalizer is needed to estimate the channel and recover the data. Future
telecommunication systems must be spectrally efficient to support a number of
high data rate users. OFDM uses the available spectrum very efficiently which is
very useful for multimedia communications. For all of the above reasons, OFDM
has already been accepted by many of the future generation systems

Figure 2. 26 OFDM figure

 b. Data on OFDM
 The data is transmitted in parallel across carriers.
 Split into many parallel "sub streams".
 The overall data rate is that of the original stream.

Figure 2. 27 Guard interval on OFDM signals

c. Perks
Time dispersion represents a distortion of the signal that is manifested by the
spreading of the modulation symbols in the time domain, also known as delay
spread, and this is reflected by the ISI phenomenon. This is also reflected in
frequency domain, by the inverse proportionality relation between coherence
bandwidth and delay spread, i.e., the higher the delay spread, the lower the
coherence bandwidth, and therefore the higher the channel frequency selectivity.
For broadband multimedia communications the coherence bandwidth of the
channel is always smaller than the modulation bandwidth. Thus, in such
conditions, the frequency selectivity effect cannot be avoided, which has a random
pattern at any given time. This fading occurs when the channel introduces time
dispersion and the delay spread is larger than the symbol period. Frequency-
selective fading is difficult to compensate because the fading characteristics are
random and may not be easily predictable. When there is no dispersion and the
delay spread is less than the symbol period, the fading will be flat, thereby
affecting all frequencies in the signal equally. Practically flat fading is easily
estimated and compensated with a simple equalization.
A single-carrier system suffers from ISI problem when the data rate is very
high. According to previous discussions, we have seen that with a symbol duration
, ISI occurs when > . Multichannel transmission has surfaced to
solve this problem. The idea is to increase the symbol duration and thus reduce the
effect of ISI. Reducing the effect of ISI yields an easier equalization, which in turn
means simpler reception techniques [2].
Wireless multimedia solutions require up to tens of Mbps for a reasonable
QoS. If we consider single-carrier high-speed wireless data transmission, we see
that the delay spread at such high data rates will definitely be greater than the
symbol duration even considering the best-case outdoor scenario. Now, if we
divide the high data rate channel over a number of subcarriers, then we have larger
symbol duration in the subcarriers and the delay spread is much smaller than the
symbol duration .
d. Block diagram
 IFFT: Convert signal from frequency domain to time domain
 FFT: Convert signal from time domain to frequency domain.

Figure 2. 28 Block diagram of OFDM

e. Simulation
 Transmit text file to a receiver via a simple OFDM system.
 'HelloWorld'
 Figure 2. 29 Hello world screen capture

Figure 2. 30 OFDM flow chart [3]

f. Results
 Desired target
 'HelloWorld' in the receiver
 Figure 2. 31 Simulated result
II.5 Image Transfer
a. Flowgraph

Figure 2. 32 Image transfer flow graph

 b. The simulation results
 Input Image

Figure 2. 33 Input image

 Output Image

Figure 2. 34 Output image

Interpretation: The receive image have the same the image parameter with the
transmit image. It turns out to get hold of the successful result when the desired
signal (image) is transmitted with the quality as same as the origin.
 Conclusion
To sum up, our group works most of basic examples on the Gnu Radio
tutorial and on the documents which we found. It still has some problems with
some small block as creating our own embedded block using Python code on
various operating systems, we have been striving our utmost in terms of enhancing
skills. But through doing and practicing on Gnu Radio software we already got
some knowledges about wireless communication systems which is going to help us
in the future well.
References

[1] [Online]. Available: wiki.gndradio.org.

[2] Nicola Marchetti, Muhammad Imadur Rahman, Sanjay Kumar and Ramjee Prasad, "OFDM: Principles
and challenges," 2009.

[3] Steve Jordan, Bhaumil Patel, "Image transfer and Software Defined Radio using USRP and GNU
Radio".