ECE4513 Digital Communication Systems

Laboratory
Dennis Silage, PhD
silage@temple.edu

BER Performance of M-FSK and BASK

In this Laboratory you will investigate the bit error rate (BER) performance for a
digital communication system with both M-FSK and BASK. M-FSK and BASK are
distinct digital modulation techniques that encode a log2 M or binary bits. The
unconventional modulation here is that although there are four frequencies and
two amplitudes, only two bits are encoded.

The M-FSK digital communication system for M = 4 is shown in MS Figure 3.18

but uses a constant amplitude.

MS Figure 3.18

The BASK digital communication system is shown in MS Figure 3.4 but uses a
constant frequency, unipolar modulation with zero as a level and constant
frequency.

Task 1. In this what-if of digital communication design a di-bit is to be used to

encode both the frequency and amplitude of a modulated signal. The protocol is
as follows where fC is the nominal carrier frequency of 200 kHz and fd is the
frequency deviation with four frequencies and two amplitudes.

di-bit 00 frequency fC + fd amplitude A1

01 frequency fC fd amplitude A1
10 frequency fC + 2 fd amplitude A2
11 frequency fC 2 fd amplitude A2
 MS Figure 3.4

The data rate rb kb/sec, frequency deviation fd kHz and the amplitudes A1 and A2
will be assigned by the Laboratory Assistant on Canvas.

The source encoder produces di-bits from the Random Integer Generator at the
data rate rb kb/sec from equally likely binary data. The transmitter consists of both
FSK and ASK modulators and must be shown to be properly configured. You are
to provide a PSD display of the transmitter output indicating clearly the
appropriate FSK frequencies and ASK amplitudes. Alternatively, and in partial
support, the ASK amplitudes can be shown and verified using a temporal display
of the transmitted signal.

Task 2. The channel is AWGN. The power in the M-FSK and BASK transmitted
signal must be calculated for AWGN for equally likely data.

Task 3. The correlation receiver for the M-FSK and BASK digital communication
system must first process the FSK frequencies and can be initiated by modifying
the 4-FSK receiver in MS Figure 3.18. The BASK variation can then be
processed for di-bit symbol detection in several ways, including a MATLAB
Function Block as shown in MS Figure 3.18. Describe you receiver development
in detail.

Obtain the BER performance for the FSK and ASK digital communication system
over a suitable range of SNR using 10 000 bits.

Task 4. The BER performance of this unconventional M-FSK and BASK digital
communication system is to be critically compared to that for two conventional di-
bit digital communication system with your parameters of a data rate rb kb/sec, a
frequency deviation fd kHz and the amplitudes A1 and A2

a) 4-ASK digital communication system with amplitudes A1 and A2 at the

nominal carrier frequency fC = 200 kHz

b) a 4-FSK digital communication system with frequency deviation fd and 2fd.

from the nominal carrier frequency fC = 200 kHz.
This means that you are to develop these two additional digital communication
systems for your protocol based on your parameters of data rate rb kb/sec,
frequency deviation fd kHz and the amplitudes A1 and A2 and obtain their actual
and theoretical BER performance for comparison over a suitable range of SNR
using 10 000 bits.

Note that the power in the transmitted signal must be recalculated for AWGN in
each of these cases. The 4-ASK digital communication system with polar
amplitudes A1 and A2 is not described in the MS text and requires a new
analysis of Pb.

Task 5. Critically compare the PSD of the unconventional FSK and ASK digital
communication system with that for the 4-ASK and 4-FSK digital communication
systems developed in Task 4.

Can you visualize any apparent degradation in the PSD which might (or might
not) explain the BER performance obtained for the M-FSK and BASK digital
communication system compared to that for the 4-ASK and 4-FSK digital
communication systems developed in Task 4?

This Laboratory is for the weeks of November 6th, November 13th and November
27th (after Fall Break) and is due no later than Friday December 8, 2017. Note
that this final Laboratory is for three weeks with five tasks and will be graded
appropriately.

Fall 2017