Wollo University

Kombolcha Institute of Technology College of Informatics

MSc. in Computer Networks and Communications

Network Design, Model and Simulation

Group Project

BER performance of QAM-4 and QPSK as a function of Eb/No or SNR dB

over AWGAN & fading channel and Simulink model of QAM-16

ID No

Prepared By 1 Zekarias Mulugeta SGSE/0460/12

2 Ousman Ali SGSE/0454/12

Submitted to: Dr. Alemu.J

Date: 26-Dec-20
Table of Contents
Introduction ........................................................................................................................................... 1
BER PERFORMANCE OF QPSK & QAM-4 ................................................................................................... 2
Compare the BER performance of QPSK & QAM-4 as a function of Eb/No or SNR dB over AWGAN &
fading channel and compare them with their theoretical BER .................................................................. 4
SIMULINK model of QAM-16 ................................................................................................................... 8
Reference .............................................................................................................................................. 10
Appendix ............................................................................................................................................... 11

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Introduction
In the recent times for fast growing wireless technologies, the performance of the transmitting and
receiving systems is very important. A tremendous technological development during the previous
two decades has provided a potential growth in the field of digital communication and lot of latest
applications and technologies are coming up every day due to valid reason Digital modulation
schemes contribute to the evolution of mobile communications by increasing the capacity, speed as
well as the quality of the wireless network

Digital modulation schemes provide more information carrying capacity, better quality
communication, data security and RF spectrum sharing to accommodate more services. So we have
to analyze the parameters, component, and structures of the channels.

The bit-error rate is the main performance parameter of a digital communication system .The
performance of channel can be evaluated from bit error rate (BER) versus signal to noise ratio
(SNR) curve. Noise means unwanted energy or noise may interfere the signal at any point in
communication system which will affect when signal is weak. In this assignment we incorporate
communication systems of the additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) channel, and fading channel
for understanding basic performance relationships.

In this assignment we see BER performance of QPSK and QAM-4 in different parameter and how
to design block diagram of QAM-16 by using MATLAP simulation tools

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BER PERFORMANCE OF QPSK & QAM-4

In this assignment we compare the BER performance of QPSK and QAM-4 base on as a function of
Eb/No or SNR dB over AWGAN & fading channel and compare them with their theoretical BER
by using MATLAP simulation tool and include the system model of QAM-16 using Simulink

MATLAB (matrix laboratory) is a fourth-generation high-level programming language and

interactive environment for numerical computation, visualization and programming. It allows
matrix manipulations; plotting of functions and data; implementation of algorithms; creation of user
interfaces; interfacing with programs written in other languages, including C, C++, Java, and
FORTRAN; analyze data; develop algorithms; and create models and applications..

Simulink is a simulation and model-based design environment for dynamic and embedded systems,
integrated with MATLAB. Simulink, also developed by Math Works, is a data flow graphical
programming language tool for modeling, simulating and analyzing multi-domain dynamic systems.
It is basically a graphical block diagramming tool with customizable set of block libraries.

2. AWGN Channel

Channel is the most important issue for any kind of communication system. Communication
channel Performance depends on noise. Additive white Gaussian Noise comes from many natural
sources such as vibration of atoms in conductor, shot noise, radiation from earth and other warm
object and from celestial sources such as the Sun. There are various kinds of communication
channel.

The modulated signals pass through it without any amplitude loss and phase distortion. So in such
case, fading does not exist but the only distortion that exists is introduced by the AWGN. The
received signal is simplified to

𝑟(𝑡) = 𝑥(𝑡) + 𝑛(𝑡) … … . . (1)

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Where, n (t) represents the noise, has Gaussian distribution with 0 mean and variance as the Noise
power and

(𝑡) represent transmitted signal.

3 Fading channel

In wireless communications, fading is variation of the attenuation of a signal with various variables.
These variables include time, geographical position, and radio frequency. Fading is often modeled
as a random process. A fading channel is a communication channel that experiences fading. In
wireless systems, fading may either be due to multipath propagation, referred to as multipath-
induced fading, weather (particularly rain), or shadowing from obstacles affecting the wave
propagation, sometimes referred to as shadow fading

4. Bit Error Rate

In a digital transmission, BER is the number of bits with errors divided by the total number of bits
that have been transmitted, received or processed over a given time period. That is

𝑁𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑏𝑖𝑡𝑠 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑒𝑟𝑟𝑜𝑟

𝐵𝐸𝑅 =
𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑏𝑖𝑡𝑠 𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑡

Bit error rate is a key parameter that is used in assessing the systems performance that transmits
digital data from one location to another. When data is transmitted over a data link, there is a
possibility of errors being introduced into the system. As a result, it is necessary to assess the
performance of the system, and BER provides an ideal way in which this can be achieved. BER
assesses performance of a system including the transmitter, receiver and the medium between the
two.

SNR is defined as the ratio of a signal power to noise power and it is normally expressed in decibel
(dB).

𝑠𝑖𝑔𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑝𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟
The mathematical expression of SNR is = 10 log10 𝑛𝑜𝑖𝑠𝑒 𝑝𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 db

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5. Digital modulation

There are three basic types of modulation methods for transmission of digital signal. The methods
are based on three attributes of a sinusoidal signal, amplitude, frequency and phase. The
corresponding digital modulation methods are: amplitude shift keying (ASK), frequency shift
keying (FSK) and phase shift keying (PSK).

Compare the BER performance of QPSK & QAM-4 as a function of Eb/No or

SNR dB over AWGAN & fading channel and compare them with their
theoretical BER

QAM (Quadrature Amplitude Modulation):-is the combination of analog and digital modulation
method. In order to transmit two analog message signals/two digital bit streams, it modulates the
amplitude of the two carrier waves with the help of amplitude shift keying (ASK).

There are two sinusoid carrier wave does not remain in phase with each other exhibiting the
difference of 90° and therefore called quadrature carriers or quadrature components. In the case of
digital QAM, a definite number of minimum of two phases and least of two amplitudes are
employed. As the amplitude of the modulated carrier is consistent initiates the designing of the PSK
modulators using QAM principles but not considered as QAM.

QAM modulation scheme highly used in digital telecommunication systems. To achieve more
spectral efficiencies in QAM, the suitable constellation size is fixed and restricted by the linearity of
the communication channels and the degree of the noise.

QPSK (Quadrature Phase-Shift Keying) is a kind of Phase Shift Keying. Here quadrature is added to the
standard PSK where 2 bits are modulated at one time by choosing one among the four probable carrier phase
shifts (0, 90, 180, or 270 degrees). It can carry double information as standard PSK using the same
bandwidth. It is mainly used for satellite transmission of MPEG 2 video, cable modems, video conferencing,
cellular phone systems, and other types of digital communication over Radio Frequency carrier.

There are various names of QPSK such as quaternary PSK, 4-PSK, or 4QAM. The QPSK diagram
is constructed using four points over the constellation diagram, placed with equal spacing around

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the circle. Using four phases, the encoding in QPSK involves 2 bits in each symbol with grey
coding to reduce the bit error rate (BER).

Figure 1 probability of BER error rate of QAM-4 and QPSK

The BER Performance of 4-QAM and QPSK over an AWGN channel are shown to be the same
QPSK is identical to 4-QAM or 4-PSK. That is, the same constellation can be referred to by
different names. So there is no difference. both QPSK and 4-QAM are different as in QPSK all
symbols lie on the unit circle and in QAM the symbols lie on straight line that form a square, But,
both QPSK and 4-QAM use same symbol sets so both QAM and QPSK performs same function.

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FIGURE 2 Bit Error rate of QPSK OVER AWGN and Rayleigh fading

This figure shows that theoretical BER performance of QPSK. The BER has been plotted as a
function of Eb/No for different (AWGN and Rayleigh fading channel.)
This program and figure shows, which computes the bit error rate of QPSK scheme over Rayleigh
fading channel and shows in comparison with its performance over AWGN channel.
It is observed that the BER for a Rayleigh fading channel is much higher than the BER for an
AWGN channel. Because of different obstacle like noise BER performance of fading channel is
greater than AWGN Chanel

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Figure 3 QPSK in AWGN and Rayleigh fading plot with bit error rate vs. signal to noise ratio

This figure shows plot bit error rate performance with signal to noise ratio using AWGN channel
and Rayleigh fading channel.
This program is used to calculate the Bit Error Rate (BER) of QPSK in an Additive White Gaussian
Noise (AWGN) channel. The modulation and demodulation is done at baseband. Complex numbers
are used to model the in-phase and quadrature components of a QPSK signal.
bit error rate is high during Rayleigh fading channel compared to AWGN channel .

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 SIMULINK model of QAM-16

The 16 qam bits per symbol are 4 (four). This means in 16-QAM each symbol represents 4 bits as
mentioned in the 16-QAM constellation diagram above.

This modulation technique is a combination of both Amplitude and phase modulation techniques.
QAM is better than QPSK in terms of data carrying capacity. QAM takes benefit from the concept
that two signal frequencies; one shifted by 90 degree with respect to the other can be transmitted on
the same carrier. For QAM, each carrier is ASK/PSK modulated. Hence data symbols have
different amplitudes and phases.
S(t)= d1(t) cos(2*pi*fc*t)+ d2(t) sin(2*pi*fc*t)

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FIGURE ASIMULINK MODEL OF QAM 16

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FIGURE BER error rate of QAM-16

Reference
[1] Bit Error Rate (BER) Comparison of AWGN Channels for Different Type’s Digital Modulation Using
MATLAB Simulink Md. Golam Sadeque*

[2]Bernard Sklar, “Raleigh fading channel in mobile communication system part I:

characterization”, IEEE

Communications Magazine Volume 35 issue 7 1997.

[3] Fuqin Xiong, “Digital Modulation Techniques”, Second Edition, Artech House, 2006.

[4] Anurag Sharma and Anita Garhwal, “Performance analysis of physical layer of wimax system
using

Simulink” Anurag Sharma, et al International Journal of Computer and Electronics Research,

Volume 2,

Issue 2, April 2013

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Appendix
CODE FOR QPSK MODULATION REYLIGN CHANNEL
clear; clc;
N = 10^5; % Total no of of bits per simulation per SNR_dB
bitstrm1 = []; %initialisation of matrices
bitstrm2 = [];
for i = 1:N
bitstrm1 = [bitstrm1 (-1+2*round(rand(1,1)))]; %creating random data for INPHASE component
bitstrm2 = [bitstrm2 (-1+2*round(rand(1,1)))]; %creating random data for QUADRATURE component
end
Data = [bitstrm1; bitstrm2]; %putting the two random bitstreams together
Eb_No_dB = [0:20]; % multiple Eb/N0 values
for i = 1:length(Eb_No_dB)

sig = sqrt(1/10^(Eb_No_dB(i)/10)); % noise variance

n = sig*(randn(2,N) + 1i*randn(2,N)); % Additive white gaussian noise prototype

h = randn(2,N) + 1i*randn(2,N); % Rayleigh channel

y = h.*Data + n; % bit-streams corrupted by Rayleigh channel & AWGN

y_rcv = y./h; % equalization of received data by channel information at the receiver

Data_rcv = (real(y_rcv(1,:))); (real(y_rcv(2,:))); % Regenerating the received bits by threshold comparison

Err(i) = sum(sum(round(Data) ~= round(Data_rcv))); % computing the bit error in each simulation

end

simBer = Err/(2*N); % average BER on total no. of bits simulated

EbNo_lin = 10.^(Eb_No_dB/10);
theoryBer_AWGN = 0.5*erfc(sqrt(EbNo_lin/2)); % theoretical BER of QPSK over AWGN channel

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theoryBer_Rayl = 0.5.*(1-sqrt(EbNo_lin./(EbNo_lin+1))); % theoretical BER of QPSK over Rayleigh channel
% plotting the simulated results
semilogy(Eb_No_dB,theoryBer_AWGN,'g--*');
hold on
semilogy(Eb_No_dB,theoryBer_Rayl,'b-');
semilogy(Eb_No_dB,simBer,'m--*');
axis([0 20 10^-5 0.5])
legend('QPSK over AWGN channel- Theoretical','QPSK over Rayleigh channel- Theoretical', 'QPSK over Rayleigh
channel- Simulation');
xlabel('Eb/No, dB');
ylabel('Bit Error Rate');
title('BER for QPSK modulation in Rayleigh channel');

Code for BER QPSK in AWGN channel

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