MATLAB simulations of M-ary signalling using signal-space concept

Abstract

Studying modulation schemes for their bit error rate (BER) is of great importance in the field of communication engineering. Modulation schemes play a significant role in transmitting information over communication channels. The choice of a modulation scheme determines the quality of the signal and how well it can be detected and decoded at the receiver end. Additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) channels provide a good indication of the effects of noise in many real-world communication systems. The Gaussian distribution of the noise makes it easy to analyse and understand the impact of noise on the system, and the uncorrelated behaviour of the noise makes it a good model for many communication scenarios. Therefore, understanding different modulation schemes and their associated BER in an AWGN channel will be useful for designing communication systems that meet specific requirements like data rate, bandwidth, power, and transmission distance.

This project focuses on the simulation of M-ary signals for their error rates in AWGN channels using MATLAB. The project begins by introducing the basic concepts required for the simulation, including AWGN, signal space concepts, error rate calculations, modulation schemes, and signal receivers. This project involves the simulation and analysis of various M-ary signals, progressively from 1-Dimensional (1D) to 2D, and eventually 3D signal space plots. The project then focuses on verifying the factors in the available literature that affects the BER of various modulation schemes. In addition, the project provides a brief discussion of some modulation schemes and their considerations in communications engineering. The project then concludes with a summary of the findings and future work. Overall, this project provides a comprehensive understanding of the simulation of M-ary signals in an AWGN channel, including the effects of shifting and rotating signal space plots. It also provides valuable insights into the various modulation schemes used in communications engineering.