ECE 6640 Final Take Home, Due April 26. by 7:00 pm
No collaboration or help is allowed on this take-home exam, it must be your own work!
(1 [20 pts]) Complete the “Final_Written_Takehome” multiple choice test available on the web
site.
Print out the “Final_Written_Takehome” document and submit a completed paper copy.
(2 [20 pts]) Generate a Matlab simulation to show the bit error rate performance of the
convolutional codes provided in the paper {Conan, J., "The Weight Spectra of Some Short LowRate Convolutional Codes," Communications, IEEE Transactions on , vol.32, no.9,
pp.1050,1053, Sep 1984} using a hard-decision Viterbi Decoder
Use the Viterbi_Hard_Family.m file as a starting point for the simulation. Note the codes are
already present as t2 codes.
(3 [10 pts]) Using a soft-decision Viterbi Decoder simulation (Viterbi_Soft_Family.m), evaluate
the three different quantizer provided in the software. Based on simulation testing with multiple
codes (pick those that are appropriate, you need not run them all, but tell me which ones and why
you selected them) determine which quantizer performs the best and provide comparison plots of
the error rate to validate your selections. You must use the best performing quantizer for the
following simulation.
(4 [20 pts]) Generate a Matlab simulation to show the bit error rate performance of the
convolutional codes provided in the paper {Conan, J., "The Weight Spectra of Some Short LowRate Convolutional Codes," Communications, IEEE Transactions on , vol.32, no.9,
pp.1050,1053, Sep 1984} using a soft-decision Viterbi Decoder. Use the quantizer selected from
problem #2.
Use the Viterbi_Soft_Family.m as a starting point for the simulation. Note the codes are already
present as t2 codes.
(5 [10 pts]) Provide comparison simulation plots showing the difference between hard- and softdecision Viterbi decoding (problems #1 and #3). Can you quantify the expected performance
improvement using soft-decision decoding instead of hard-decision decoding? For example: At a
BER of 10-5 the soft Eb/N0 is XX dB less than hard.
(6 [30 pts]) Matlab has provided demonstration software simulations for Turbo Codes. The two
examples are available on the web site. The demonstrations only processes “frames” based on
one “noiseVar” noise variance value. As expected, we are more interested in observing symbol
and/or bit error rate performance over a range of Eb/N0 and BER, including BER performance
between 10-1 and 10-6 or less.
Starting with the TurboDemo simulations and the Comm_RectQAM.m simulation code
provided, create a simulation to evaluate 4, 16, 64 or 256 QAM BER performance using Turbo
Code encoding and decoding.
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ECE 6640 Final
Note: hMod appears to be the same, but “hDemod = comm.RectangularQAMDemodulator”
appears to require a different configuration in order to provide the appropriate data for the Turbo
Decoder operation.
Provide performance plots demonstrating correct operation for each QAM constellation and also
compare the TurboCode performance to the original non-encoded and decode BER performance.
For your solutions:
(a) Design, simulate and document in a written report the solution and results including all
required code to justify your results.
(b) Provide equations, figures, and plots that demonstrate that all elements of the problems have
been completed.
(c) Describes the Matlab code modifications needed to successfully accomplish the simulations.
Do not print the entire file, I only want to know what you did to accomplish the task.
(d) E-mail the Matlab *.m file code to me. The files must be received AND execute without
modification in order to receive credit. It is likely that I will execute your code to verify the
results that you submit. Therefore, if non-standard functions or sub-circuits are used, send them
as well.
(e) Provide references for all textbooks, articles or other references that you use.
Reminder: WMU STUDENT ACADEMIC CONDUCT POLICY
You are responsible for making yourself aware of and understanding the policies and procedures
in the graduate Catalogs that pertain to Academic Honesty. These policies include cheating,
fabrication, falsification and forgery, multiple submission, plagiarism, complicity and computer
misuse. If there is reason to believe you have been involved in academic dishonesty, you will be
referred to the Office of Student Conduct (previously the Office of Student Judicial Affairs). You
will be given the opportunity to review the charge(s). If you believe you are not responsible, you
will have the opportunity for a hearing. You should consult with me if you are uncertain about an
issue of academic honesty prior to the submission of an assignment or test.
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