PDF |
As part of the NI Digital Communications Bundle courseware, this lab material covers a complete set of hands-on laboratory experiments focusing on software-defined radio and wireless communications concepts. The labs feature such topics as modulation and demodulation; pulse shaping; energy detection; equalization; frame detection; introduction to orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM); frequency correction and sync; and OFDM channel coding. |
The student-oriented print manual has 10 labs, which include an introduction, a pre-lab, and a lab. A professor’s DVD features an example syllabus; lab materials; lab solutions manual; NI LabVIEW software VIs organized by lab; starting point templates for LabVIEW software (for individual labs); solution VIs that are used by the student but have password-protected elements; homework; assignments; solutions; and lecture notes.
Also included in the Digital Communications Bundle are two NI USRP hardware transceivers and the LabVIEW Modulation Toolkit. A LabVIEW license is a recommended component of this bundle.
>> View the Complete Digital Communications Bundle
For questions specific to these course materials please e-mail: niusrp@ni.com
1. Overview of Digital Wireless Communication: Physical Layer Exploration Lab using the NI USRP
Digital Wireless Communication: Physical Layer Exploration Lab using the NI USRP by Dr. Robert Heath provides a ready-to teach set of laboratory courseware. The result of five years of development, this complete laboratory course
teaches the principles of wireless digital communication using a digital signal processing (DSP) approach. It consists of 8 labs, each consisting of three components: a prelab, a laboratory experiment, and lab report. In the prelab the students design and implement their algorithms in LabVIEW code and test it in a simulator before doing the laboratory experiment. This models conventional design practices where communication algorithms are tested in simulation before being tested over a wireless link.
Teaching Approach
The laboratory experiments were designed to be completed in a time period of up to three hours. In the lab, the code from the prelab is run over the wireless link, some experiments are performed, and the results are recorded. The lab report is the final component of the lab, ad provides the student an opportunity to discuss what was lab observations and to answer several questions related to wireless communication engineering.
No background in digital communication is assumed, though it would be helpful. The utility of a DSP approach is due to the band-limited nature of wireless systems. Consequently with a high enough sampling rate, thanks to Nyquist's theorem, it is possible to represent the band-limited continuous-time wireless channel from its samples. This allows the transmitted signal to be represented as a discrete-time sequence, the channel as a discrete-time linear time-invariant system, and the received signal as a discrete-time sequence.
Course Outline
The labs, outlined in table 1, explore both single carrier and multicarrier transmission. Single carrier transmission uses quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) and raised-cosine pulse-shaping. Over the course of the labs, complexity is added to the receiver design including functions like detection, channel estimation, equalization, frame synchronization, and carrier synchronization. In later labs, the system is extended to incorporate multicarrier modulation in the form of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) with coding.
| Lab | Description |
| 1.1 | AWGN Simulator |
| 1.2 | Modulation /Demodulation |
| 2.1 | Pulse Shaping |
| 2.2 | Pulse Shaping |
| 3 | Energy Detection |
| 4 | Equalization |
| 5 | Frame Detection |
| 6 | Intro to OFDM |
| 7 | Frequency Correction & Sync |
| 8 | OFDM Channel Coding |
Table 1. Lab Progression
Adopting the Course Materials
The instructor's kit for Digital Wireless Communication: Physical Layer Exploration Lab using the NI USRP by Dr. Robert Heath is published by NTS Press and distributed exclusively by National Instruments as part of the NI USRP Digital Communications Bundle, part number 781908-01. The kit includes a copy of the student lab manual and the instructor resource CD that contains an instructors guide, PDF prelab and laboratory solutions, LabVIEW VI exercises, LabVIEW VI solutions, and lecture notes.
