EE434
Project 2
EE 434 Project 2 – Foundations of GNU Radio
Objective: For this project, you will design, build, test, and analyze a simple analog FM
receiver and simple GFSK/GMSK digital transceiver that will utilize your Yagi
Antenna and operate in the FRS Radio Band of 462.55 – 467.75 MHz.
Design Constraints
This project serves as a foundation and demonstration of the power of Software-Defined Radio
in general, and GNU Radio in particular, for analog and digital communications. This project
has two components: (1) Receive, demodulate, and locate an instructor-created “pirate FM”
station that will be operating in the FRS band, and (2) Demonstrate successful
transmission/reception over a distance of at least 10 meters of a simple grayscale image provided
by the instructor.
For the first component, the instructor will establish a “pirate FM” station somewhere in the
basement of Rickover with the following parameters:
• Signal Type: CD Quality Audio
• RF Bandwidth: 100 kHz Max
• Β≈4
• Transmit Power: 1 Watt Max
The instructor reserves the right to create “distractor” stations anywhere in the FRS radio band.
You will need to correctly identify, demodulate (and playback for the instructor) the audio
signal, and then locate the source of the radio station.
For the second component, the instructor will provide an image file of a simple grayscale image,
along with Matlab routines to convert between the file and the image, as well as evaluate errors.
The image will be between 1 and 10 Mbits. Your system will need to transmit the image across
a distance of at least 10 meters with the minimum number of errors and for the fastest data rate
possible. Your system should use the built-in GFSK or GMSK modulators, operate in the FRS
Radio Band, and may make use of any of the following ideas:
• Packetizing and Retransmissions
• Forward Error Correction
• Eb/No, Constellation Size, and Rb tradeoffs
Note that the built-in GNU Radio functions may or may not prove useful. Offline error
correction processing in Matlab or Python is, however, an acceptable alternative.
EE434
Project 2
Requirements
You must quantitatively describe and document your design process for both the FM and Digital
transceiver. Real-time tweaking of the design during the demonstration phase is allowed, but the
final system should not significantly deviate from the original design.
Simulate the performance of your system in GNU Radio. Example FM Waveforms and Image
Files will be provided by the instructor.
The system will make use of your Yagi Antenna and must operate in the FRS Radio Band. Your
system will use the USRP B200 Software-Defined Radio Platform with no external hardware,
however it is not necessary to have access to the platform in order to simulate the system.
Many similar GNU Radio designs exist and are archived at various locations on the Web. You
may use these as reference designs, but direct copying will be considered an honor violation. In
any event, it is unlikely that someone else’s design will work for this problem, or that you will be
able to adequately explain its operation to the instructor.
EE434
Project 2
Grading
Be prepared to demonstrate and discuss the following:
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•
•
•
•
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The approach and tradeoffs you used in your system design and a quantitative approach
to your initial design.
Documentation of the iterative design process used to optimize the system performance.
The final GNU Radio Companion Block Diagrams.
Simulated performance in GNU Radio.
Demonstrated performance, both of identifying the FM Station and successful
transmission/reception.
Bonus points will be awarded to the team that can demonstrate the longest measurable
distance at an error rate of less than 1×10−3 .
EE434
Project 2
Just like the project report, each presentation should address the following three topics:
Introduction & Problem Statement. Provide a brief overview/need/motivation of your
project and address the need/motivation, goals, and objectives for the project.
Background. Provide a brief overview of any necessary background material. Use this section
to educate your audience on any specifics they will need to know to understand the technical
details of your project component (e.g., introduce propagation, channel models, link budgets,
etc.). Limit to a maximum of 1/3 of your presentation, or 3 slides.
Methodology/Approach. Describe briefly how you went about addressing your problem.
Analysis, simulation, design, and code examples should be presented in this section.
Results. 1-2 Slides that summarize the major findings and results of your work. Compare
predicted vs. measured data, predicted vs. actual performance, and share any results that
demonstrate whether your project was successful.
Discussion & Conclusion. Discuss what worked and what didn’t work. If something was
unsuccessful, explain why it was unsuccessful and what (if anything) needs to be
addressed/improved/corrected to make it successful. If you had success, explain how your
success fits into the broader context of the problem you are addressing.
EE434
Project 2
Team Members: ____________________________
Evaluator: _____________________
Score
(0–5)
Item
0
3
5
Introduction
Not given
Need, and objectives
presented but
incomplete
Clear & concise “forest
view” of project
x1=
Problem
Overview
Missing
Present but not
motivated or vague.
Mission and expected
outcome clearly motivated
and articulated
x1=
Background
Insufficient level of
detail for design
Incomplete description
of important material,
including channel
models, link budgets,
or system operations.
Wireless system operation
and associated models
clearly articulated and tied
together.
x2=
Engineering
Requirements
Missing
Present but not
justified, quantified, or
too abstract
Present, fully justified,
and appropriately formed
x2=
Methodology
Insufficient level of
detail for design
Some but not all of the
approach is described;
missing steps or
incomplete
information.
Clearly described
approach to analyzing the
problem space and
associated engineering
process.
x2=
Design
Architecture
Insufficient level of
detail for design
Some but not all
design decisions
sufficiently described.
Block diagrams &
functional descriptions
clearly provided. Design
decisions justified.
x3=
Engineering
Analysis
Barely substantiate
data, simulation, or
predicted results; no
discussion
performance
differences between
predicted and tested.
Some discussion of
data, simulation, or
predictions; delineated
the origin of some
performance
differences between
predicted and tested.
Clearly and concisely
discussed data,
simulation, and predicted
results and tied all three
together. Clearly
delineated the origin of
performance differences;
identified contributors.
x4=
Response to
Questions
Team is completely
thrown or defensive
Team struggled with
some questions but
maintained composure
Answered questions
readily and professionally
x1=
Slide Quality
Completely illegible
Some slides are
difficult to read
Slides are legible, correct,
and visually appealing
x2=
Presence
Mumbling and/or no
eye contact
Low energy but
understandable and
with eye contact
Dynamic and charismatic
x1=
Late, not prepared,
too long/short
Proper timing, but
presentation contains
typos, seems rough,
inadequate figure/slide
titles.
Presentation is polished,
professional, and clearly
delivered, clear & concise
titles.
x1=
Professionalism
Presentation
Score:
Weight
Sum:
Score