SOURCEFORGE » RALF » 2016 Channel emulation for satellite communications

h1. Methodology 

In this section, we describe the methodology used to develop the geostationary satellite channel emulator. In order to make easier to monitor the project progress, we divide the project into the following phases:

1. Learning the LabVIEW programming concepts with a tutorial in order to build a basic system;

2. Studying an example of QPSK modulation from the LabVIEW Modulation Toolkit;

3. Developing a QPSK communication system based on the LabVIEW example;

* develop one module for each of the main components of the communication system: transmitter, channel and receiver

* develop an additive white gaussian noise (AWGN) channel

* implement the propagation delay effect in the communication system

* add a tool to visualize the received symbol constellation

4. Testsing and validating the developed QPSK communication system via simulations. Testing, debugging and documentation;

5. Writing the preliminary report;

6. Studying the LabVIEW FPGA Module in order to run the developed communication system on FPGA;

7. Integrating the DVB-S2 modems in our communication system by replacing the transmitter and receiver modules;

* The transmitter module is replaced by a DVB-S2 modem.

* The receiver module is replaced by a DVB-S2 modem.

* Both the transmitter and the receiver are replaced by DVB-S2 modems.

8. Learning the hardware architectures of lab devices, including the modem, NI PXIe and Ethernet switch;

9. Studying an example of channel streaming modulation in the LabVIEW;

10. Studying the related software architecture for the initialization and configuration;

11. Modifying and implementing the Labview example for acquisition of the QPSK signal;

12. Testing and validating the signal via visualization and monitoring. Testing, debugging and documentation;

13. Modifying and implementing the Labview example for noise and delay generation;

14. Testing and validating the synchronization via visualization and monitoring. Testing, debugging and documentation;

15. Analyzing the results and performance;

16. Writing the final report.