Simulation & Design of Software-Defined Radios

November 28, 2007

presented by:

David Leiss and Greg Jue, Agilent Technologies

Copyright 2007 Agilent Technologies, Inc.

Agenda
SDRs: Overview, Challenges, and New Methodology Evaluate an RF System with an FPGA based 16-QAM legacy Waveform Evaluate System Performance with a new Commercial Off the Shelf (COTS) OFDMA Mobile WiMAX Waveform Compare both Waveforms Susceptibility to RF Interference FPGA Implementation and Test of an OFMDA Mobile WiMAX Waveform

"WiMAX" is a trademark of the WiMAX Forum

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What Is a Software-Defined Radio?

Lots of definitions, but some key trends: Radio where hardware is reconfigurable and will work with multiple software-defined waveforms Baseband and digital IF may be implemented with FPGAs, ASICs, DSP New communications waveforms can be quickly introduced into the system without requiring taking the hardware out of service for extended periods of time. The Software Communications Architecture (SCA) enables programmable radios to load waveforms, run applications, and be networked into an integrated system.

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Simulation & Design of Software-Defined Radios November 28th 2007

Ad-Hoc Network Operations and Impairments

Interference Sources

MultiPath Comms/Data Network

Overlapping Wireless Network

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Simulation & Design of Software-Defined Radios November 28th 2007

SDR Physical Layer Design & Test Challenges

Simulation is useful to evaluate waveform compatibility, but involves both baseband and RF. How can they be evaluated together? How can new waveforms, such as COTS WiMAX OFDMA, be evaluated before implementing hardware? How can new waveforms be evaluated with real-world field scenarios (e.g. interferers, jammers, etc..) before field deployment? How can custom waveform interoperability be tested with off-theshelf test solutions after hardware implementation?
Simulation & Design of Software-Defined Radios November 28th 2007

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New SDR Design and Test Methodology Helps Address these Challenges:
Capture and use baseband hardware waveforms* to design the SDR RF system. Evaluate baseband and RF together in simulation. Leverage COTS reference waveforms* (such as WiMAX OFDMA) to evaluate RF system compatibility before implementing hardware Evaluate real-world scenarios (such as RF interferers) in simulation before deploying hardware to the field Test waveform* interoperability with off-the-shelf test solutions by leveraging simulation inside of test equipment
*Note: Waveforms shown in this presentation are physical layer IQ waveforms, not full SDR DSP implementations
Page 6 Simulation & Design of Software-Defined Radios November 28th 2007

Agenda
Overview SDRs: Overview, Challenges, and New Methodology Evaluate an RF System with an FPGA based 16-QAM legacy Waveform Evaluate System Performance with a new COTS OFDMA Mobile WiMAX Waveform Compare both Waveforms Susceptibility to RF Interference FPGA Implementation and Test of an OFMDA Mobile WiMAX Waveform

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Simulation & Design of Software-Defined Radios November 28th 2007

Addressing Physical Layer Design & Test Challenges

Challenge: Simulation is useful to evaluate waveform compatibility, but involves both baseband and RF. How can they be evaluated together? Solution: Capture and use baseband hardware waveforms to design the SDR RF system. Evaluate baseband and RF together in simulation.

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Simulation & Design of Software-Defined Radios November 28th 2007

ADS Overview
Time Domain Based RF Envelope Co-Simulation
RF Frontend RF/Analog Downconverter Digital Receiver Digital DeMod

Simulation Level System

Behavioral RF/Analog Subsystem

Typically Models Described by their Behavior, i.e. Gain, NF, TOI, Mixer Spurs, etc.
Circuit CoSim EM CoSim Network Analyzer & IC-CAP Verilog - A

Circuit

Component Level Models, Lumped and Distributed components, transistors, etc.

Transistor

Measurement Based Models

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Simulation & Design of Software-Defined Radios November 28th 2007

ADS Overview
Numeric Domain Based Co-Simulation
RF Frontend RF/Analog Downconverter Digital Receiver Digital DeMod

Numeric models, Floating Point, Fixed Point, Complex, Matrix, etc.

Baseband Float, Fixed, Matrix, Cx

HDL / MATLAB / C++

Co-simulate with MATLAB HDL and C++

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Simulation & Design of Software-Defined Radios November 28th 2007

ADS Overview
Instrument Based Co-Simulation
RF Frontend RF/Analog Downconverter Digital Receiver Digital DeMod

ESG / MXG

DUT

MXA

PSA

Infiniium

Logic Analyzer

ADS software and all these instruments, and many others, use this 89600 series VSA software.

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Simulation & Design of Software-Defined Radios November 28th 2007

Using ADS with FPGA Hardware

From ADS one can read and write directly to & from instruments:
16900 Logic Analyzer with Pattern Generator Board
Download/Write Digital Stimulus from ADS to FPGA

Download/ Write from ADS ADS

Capture/Read Into ADS ADS

16900 Logic Analyzer

Capture/Read Digital Output from FPGA into ADS

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Simulation & Design of Software-Defined Radios November 28th 2007

FPGA QAM 16 Block Diagram

I
0 deg IF LO 90 deg

BB Filter Symbol Encoder

Q
BB Filter

Digital IF/FPGA
Capture and read FPGA waveform into ADS to design RF system

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Simulation & Design of Software-Defined Radios November 28th 2007

FPGA Test Setup

FPGA Board

16900 series Logic Analyzer with 89601 VSA Software

Simulation & Design of Software-Defined Radios November 28th 2007

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Capture FPGA Waveform and Design Transmitter

3rd Order Spectral Regrowth

Transfer captured FPGA signal to ADS

EVM ~ 4.5 %

ADS also has HDL cosimulate capabilities

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OR

Simulation & Design of Software-Defined Radios November 28th 2007

Add Channel Model and Design Receiver

Transfer captured FPGA signal into simulation

EVM ~ 14.5 %

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Simulation & Design of Software-Defined Radios November 28th 2007

Agenda
Overview SDRs: Overview, Challenges, and New Methodology Evaluate an RF System with an FPGA based 16-QAM legacy Waveform Evaluate System Performance with a new COTS OFDMA Mobile WiMAX Waveform Compare both Waveforms Susceptibility to RF Interference FPGA Implementation and Test of an OFMDA Mobile WiMAX Waveform

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Simulation & Design of Software-Defined Radios November 28th 2007

Addressing Physical Layer Design & Test Challenges

Challenge: How can new waveforms, such as COTS WiMAX OFDMA, be evaluated before implementing hardware?

Solution: Leverage COTS reference waveforms (such as WiMAX OFDMA) to evaluate RF system compatibility before implementing hardware

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Simulation & Design of Software-Defined Radios November 28th 2007

802.16e Mobile WiMAX OFDMA COTS

OFDMA= Orthogonal Frequency Division Mult. Access Data transmitted on multiple subcarriers for each symbol- variable FFT sizes (512,1024,..) Less susceptible to narrowband interference and multipath
Nulls create orthogonality between subcarriers

Parallel burst structure- multiple users (Multiple Access) are assigned unique subcarrier mapping vs. time
Symbol number
k+ 2 k+3

Logical Sub-channels User 1 User 2

[ [

Physical subcarriers

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

k+1

k+4

k+5

k+6

n n+3 n+6

n+1 n+4 n+7

n+2 n+5 n+8

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Simulation & Design of Software-Defined Radios November 28th 2007

Customizing COTS Technologies for SDRs

Parameterized Signal Sources and Receivers
RateCode=3 (16 QAM) RateCode=4 (64 QAM)

Bandwidth=10 MHz

Bandwidth=20 MHz

Sources and Receivers have parameters which can be modified

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Customizing COTS Technologies for SDRs

Flexible Parameterized Signal Sources and Receivers
Example: Replace ADS Bit Source with a customized MATLAB source

Sources and Receivers have parameters which can be easily modified

Existing Sources and Receivers can be modified and saved to create custom systems
Simulation & Design of Software-Defined Radios November 28th 2007

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Evaluate Performance with WiMAX COTS Waveform

Wideband SDR has susceptibility to As you watch the more demonstration interference think about potential performance A wide bandwidth means more noise at the issues A2D with the system and what could veryinter-modulation early in the Due tobe thedone transmitter products the system will be degraded design process toEVM fix them. due to inter-channel interference (ICI)

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Simulation & Design of Software-Defined Radios November 28th 2007

System Simulation Results with WiMAX OFDMA COTS Waveform

EVM ~ 5.6% versus ~ 14.5 % for uncoded 16 QAM

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Simulation & Design of Software-Defined Radios November 28th 2007

Other COTS Wireless Libraries in ADS

http://eesof.tm.agilent.com/products/wireless_libraries.html

CDMA GSM DTV 3GPP WCDMA CDMA2000

EDGE WLAN CDMA2000 1XEV TDSDMA HSPA

Fixed WiMAX Mobile WiMAX 802.11n WiMedia 3GPP LTE

Other possible sources of signals and measurements: The ADS MATLAB Co-Simulation Elements: Agilent Instruments:

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Simulation & Design of Software-Defined Radios November 28th 2007

Agenda
Overview SDRs: Overview, Challenges, and New Methodology Evaluate an RF System with an FPGA based 16-QAM legacy Waveform Evaluate System Performance with a new COTS OFDMA Mobile WiMAX Waveform Compare both Waveforms Susceptibility to RF Interference FPGA Implementation and Test of an OFMDA Mobile WiMAX Waveform

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Simulation & Design of Software-Defined Radios November 28th 2007

Addressing Physical Layer Design & Test Challenges

Challenge: How can new waveforms be evaluated with real-world field scenarios (e.g. interferers, jammers, etc..) before field deployment? Solution: Evaluate real-world scenarios (such as RF interferers) in simulation before deploying hardware to the field

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Simulation & Design of Software-Defined Radios November 28th 2007

Evaluate Effects of Interferers on QAM16 System

Interference Source Transmitter

3.4 GHz

Receiver

DSP 16QAM Source

Channel Model

DSP 16QAM DeMod

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Simulation & Design of Software-Defined Radios November 28th 2007

Effects of Interferers on QAM16

Swept QPSK Interference Frequency and Power using VSA Software

Interference Source Receiver

Channel Model

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Simulation & Design of Software-Defined Radios November 28th 2007

Next: Evaluate Effects of Interferers on OFDMA System

Interference Type=QPSK Fc=3385 to 3415 MHz Pwr= -150 to -70 dBm Interference Source Transmitter
3.4 GHz

OFDMA Src BW=10 MHz Fctr=25 MHz Pwr 0 dBm

Receiver

Channel DSP ~30 dBm Model OFDMA Source Path Model Length=200M Loss103 dB Suburban Env.

DSP OFDMA DeMod

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Simulation & Design of Software-Defined Radios November 28th 2007

Effects of Interferers on WiMAX OFDMA

Receiver

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Simulation & Design of Software-Defined Radios November 28th 2007

Effects of Interferers on WiMAX OFDMA Interference Frequency Sweep

QPSK Interference Source Freq = 3380 to 3420 MHz Power = -100 dBm

16 QAM

Interference Source Receiver

WiMax

Channel Model

ADS 802.16e (WiMAX) EVM Measurement Component

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Simulation & Design of Software-Defined Radios November 28th 2007

Effects of Interferers on WiMAX OFDMA Interference Power Level Sweep

QPSK Interference Source Freq = 3402 MHz Power = -120 to -95 dBm

Interference Source Receiver

Channel Model

Note: The 16 QAM based waveform system had an EVM of approximately 15% in this region.

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Simulation & Design of Software-Defined Radios November 28th 2007

Agenda
Overview SDRs: Overview, Challenges, and New Methodology Evaluate an RF System with an FPGA based 16-QAM legacy Waveform Evaluate System Performance with a new COTS OFDMA Mobile WiMAX Waveform Compare both Waveforms Susceptibility to RF Interference FPGA Implementation and Test of an OFMDA Mobile WiMAX Waveform

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Simulation & Design of Software-Defined Radios November 28th 2007

Addressing Physical Layer Design & Test Challenges

Challenge: How can custom waveform interoperability be tested with off-theshelf test solutions after hardware implementation?

Solution: Test waveform interoperability with off-the-shelf test solutions by leveraging simulation inside of test equipment

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Simulation & Design of Software-Defined Radios November 28th 2007

FPGA Implementation and Test Flow

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Simulation & Design of Software-Defined Radios November 28th 2007

ADS HDL Co-Simulation of SystemVue HDL

Agilent SystemVue

ADS HDL Co-Simulation Results : EVM ~ 1.1%

Generate HDL with HDS3

Co-Simulate with HDL in ADS and VSA SW

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Simulation & Design of Software-Defined Radios November 28th 2007

FPGA Implementation Test Setup

MXA Signal Analyzer with VSA SW and ADS ESG to Clock FPGA Board

16900 Logic Analyzer with VSA SW and ADS FPGA Board (DUT)

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Simulation & Design of Software-Defined Radios November 28th 2007

Close-Up of Mobile WiMAX Measurement

OFDMA Constellation

Spectrum

Measured EVM ~1.1% (versus ~1.1% simulated)

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Simulation & Design of Software-Defined Radios November 28th 2007

Software-Defined Instruments with ADS

ADS Adds Simulated RF Interferer to FPGA Signal Spectrogram Showing Interferer Freq. & Intensity vs. Time Interferer in WiMAX Spectrum ADS Slider to Control Interferer Freq. Offset and Power

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Simulation & Design of Software-Defined Radios November 28th 2007

Other Waveforms Implemented

HSPA TestModel5 (Wideband Code Domain Spread Spectrum) 3GPP LTE Downlink (OFDMA)

3GPP WCDMA

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Simulation & Design of Software-Defined Radios November 28th 2007

Summary
Capturing baseband hardware waveforms to design the SDR RF system was shown. Baseband and RF were evaluated together in simulation. A COTS WiMAX OFDMA reference waveform was used to evaluate RF system compatibility before the hardware implementation An RF interferer scenario was evaluated in simulation before implementing and deploying hardware The FPGA hardware implementation was testing using SoftwareDefined Instruments, leveraging simulation inside of off-the-shelf test equipment
Simulation & Design of Software-Defined Radios November 28th 2007

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Additional References
Web Links: Agilent EEsof EDA Home Page: http://eesof.tm.agilent.com/ EEsof SDR Applications: http://eesof.tm.agilent.com/applications/sdr.html EEsof Aerospace Defense Applications: http://eesof.tm.agilent.com/applications/aerospace-b.html EEsof Connected Solutions: http://eesof.tm.agilent.com/products/connected_solutions_main.html Application Notes: Software Defined Radio Measurement Solutions: http://cp.literature.agilent.com/litweb/pdf/5989-6931EN.pdf Connected Simulation and Test Solutions Using ADS: http://literature.agilent.com/litweb/pdf/5988-6044EN.pdf RF/IF-to-Digital Connected Solutions BER Using ADS: http://literature.agilent.com/litweb/pdf/5989-0024EN.pdf
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Thank You !

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Simulation & Design of Software-Defined Radios November 28th 2007