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Simulink Implementation of FrequencyHopping Communication System

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Journal of System Simulation

21 24
2009 12

Vol. 21 No. 24
Dec., 2009

Simulink Implementation
of Frequency-Hopping Communication System
LIU Ke-fei1, YANG Dong-kai1, WU Jiang2
(1. School of Electronics and Information Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing, 100083, China;
2. Department of System and Control Science, Beihang University, Beijing, 100083, China)

Abstract: Based on the introduction of frequency-hopping communication system and its mathematic
model, a simulation model was built using Matlab/Simulink. In the simulation model, the core
components of frequency-hopping system, including frequency-hopping sequence generator, frequency
synthesizer, frequency hopping synchronizer and nonconherent FSK demodulator were designed and
implemented. Simulation test was done with satisfied result. The performance of frequency-hopping
system in various conditions could be analyzed and evaluated through the bit error rate curve of the
proposed model, such as anti interferce, anti multi-path fading and multiple access networking.
Key words: frequency-hopping communication; simulink simulation; frequency synthesizer; envelope
detector; anti interference; multiple access networking

Simulink
1 1

1. 1000832. 100083

Matlab/Simulink

; Simulink ; ; ; ;
TN914.41

1004-731X (2009) 24-7969-05

military communication but also in civil mobile communication

Introduction1

such as GSM, Home RF and Bluetooth. Many factors, e.g. FH

Simulink is a platform integrated into Matlab for

sequence, coding, modulation, synchronization algorithm and

multi-domain simulation and model based design of dynamic

channel type, can influence the performance of FH system. In

systems. It provides customizable block libraries for analyzing,

scientific research, it often needs to build a simulation platform

designing, simulating, implementing and testing control, signal

to analyze the effect of a special factor on the performance of

processing, communciatios and other time-varying systems.

the FH system in terms of anti interference, anti multi-path

Simulink also provides graphic interface for modeling with

fading, multiple access networking, etc. However, no article

block diagram, allowing users to create and mask their own

has, so far, described how to build an FH system simulation

subsystems. As a visualized simulation tool, simulink is

platform in detail. In this paper, we intend to build a basic

outstanding in intuitiveness, convenience, flexibility and

simulation model of FH system with MATLAB/Simulink and

accuracy.

describe it at lenth. The model can serve as a basic platform for

With excellent anti interference, anti multi-path fading

and multiple access networking performance, frequencyhopping(FH) techneque has been widely used not only in
Received date: 2008-08-25
Revised date: 2008-11-04
Foundation item: National Science Foundation of China (60602046)
Biography: LIU Ke-fei (1982-), male, born in Lankao of Henan Province,
Han nationality, Postgraduate, and his research interest is spread spectrum
communication YANG Dong-kai (1972-), male, born in Laiwu of
Shandong Province, Han nationality, Doctor, associate professor, and his
research interest are satellite navigation signal processing algorithms,
wireless data transmission methods, et al.WU Jiang (1982-), male, born
in Baoji of Shanxi Province, Han nationality, Postgraduate, and his research
interest is robot control.

analyzing and evaluating the performance of

the FH system

for various conditions.

Mathematic Model
In the FH communication system, the transmitting

frequency is hopped

in the whole frequency band according

to certain frequency -hopping pattern. FH/FSK is the most

common modulation, and it uses frequency-shift keying (FSK)
modulation and non-coherent demodulation. The block diagram
of FH communication system is shown in Figure 1.

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Vol. 21 No. 24

2009 12

Dec., 2009

r(t) 2cos2 f0t = w1 (t) + w2 (t) + n(t) 2cos2 f0t

Data

FSK
modulator

FH
modulator

FH
demodulator

Frequency
synthesizer

Frequency
synthesizer

FH
sequence

FH
sequence

(4)

where

Data
FSK
demodulator

w1 (t ) = cos 2 ( f c + mf )t

w2 (t ) = cos2 ( fc + mf + 2 f0 )t +
U 1

[cos2 ( f
u =1

+ mf + fu f0 )t +

cos2 ( fc + mf + fu + f0 )t ]
If other U-1 users hopping carrier frequencies dont

FH
synchronizer

collide with that of the 0th user, i.e., f u f 0 (u = 1,2,

Fig. 1 Block diagram of FH communication system

,U 1) ,

then after passing IF bandpass filter(central frequency is

Let us assume that M is the FSK modulation level, m is

the M-ary information symbol data (m =0,1,,M-1), U is the
number of all active users, and Ts is the symbol period. The

f c + ( M 1) f /2 ), w2 (t ) is removed, and only the useful

signal w1 (t ) and noise remains, as follows

w(t ) = cos 2 ( f c + mf )t + nc (t )

(5)

The filtered signal passes through the nonconherent

MFSK modulator output signal of the uth u=0,1,,U-1user

M-FSK demodulator[3], as shown in Figure 2, and recover the

in the symbol period 0 t Ts is given by

xu (t ) = cos 2 ( f c + mf )t , m {0,1, ,M-1}

(1)

information data m .

where fc is the center frequency and f is frequency spacing.

In FH modulator, xu(t) is multiplied by the frequency

according to the FH sequence during a hop period, and then

hop period is assumed to equal the symbol period. So the FH

(2)

where fu is the hopping carrier frequency of the u th user in the

(3)

u =0

where n(t) is AWGN noise with unilateral power spectral

density of N0.
Suppose that the 0th user is the expected user, and the
local carrier is completely in synchronization. The received
signal r(t) is multiplied by the synthesizer output local carrier
signal 2cos 2 f 0t .

(i ) 2

(i) dt

(i ) 2

2
Ts

Decision
Stage:
Choose m
corresponding
to the
maximum
value

2
Ts

Ts

2
Ts

Ts

(i) dt

(i ) 2

(i) dt

(i ) 2

sin2[f c+(M-1)f]t

Fig. 2 Block diagram of nonconherent MFSK demodulator

r (t ) = cos 2 ( f c + mf + f u )t + n(t )

Ts

(i) dt

cos 2[f c+(M-1)f]t

hop duration.
Through AWGN channel, the received multi-user mixed
U 1

Ts

sin2fc t

w(t)

passes through wide-band bandpass filter. For simplicity, the

signal in noise is

cos2f c t

synthesizer output signal, whose frequency is generated

modulator output signal becomes

su (t ) = cos 2 ( f c + mf + f u )t

2
Ts

Simulation Model

Take buliding a single-user system model for example.

The simulation tool is Matlab 7.1/Simulink 6.0. Parameters are
shown in Table 1, and simulation model is shown in Figure 3.
To build multiple-user system model, it just needs to connect
multiple single-user system in parallel and let them pass one
shared AWGN channel.

Table 1 Simulation parameters of FH communication system

BFSK signal

System bandwidth Modulation

Date bit

Frequency
interval

Number of frequency
points

FH rate

Signal
bandwidth

Mark
frequency

Space
frequency

1400Hz~11000Hz

200bps

600Hz

16

200hop/s

600Hz

600Hz

400Hz

FH/BFSK

Bernoulli
Binary

BFSK Modulator

Bernoulli Binary
Generator

BFSK Modulator

FH Sequence

Frequency Synthesizer

FH Sequence
Generator

Frequency Synthesizer

Tx
FH Modulator

AWGN

FH Modulator

AWGN
Channel

Re(u)
Complex to
Real-Imag

FH Demodulator

BFSK Demodulator

FH Demodulator

BFSK
Demodulator

2
Gain
receiver

transmitter

Fig. 3 Simulink diagram of FH communication system simulation model

7970

Error Rate
Calculation
Rx
Error Rate
Calculation

Display

FH
sequence
m sequence

 21 24
2009 12

2.1 System Description

DSP

At the transmitter, the Bernoulli Binary Generator block

generates random binary data with symbol width of 1/200s.
Then the data feeds into the BFSK Modulator subsystem for
baseband modulation. FH Sequence Generator subsystem
generates FH sequence, which controls the Frequency
Synthesizer subsystem to generate periodic frequency-hopping
complex exponential carrier signals. In the FH Modulator
subsystem, the output complex exponential carrier signals of
the Frequency Synthesizer subsystem and the output complex
exponential signals of the BFSK Modulator subsystem are
mixed together to generate a real sine wave. The frequencymixed signal is sent to the AWGN Channel.
At the receiver, all users receive multi-user mixed signals
in AWGN noise. The frequency hopping signals first pass the
FH Demodulator subsystem for dehopping, and then pass through
the BFSK Demodulator subsystem for nonconherent FSK
demodulation. The Error Rate Calculation block is used for
calculating the bit error rate, and the Display block shows the
result. Parameter setting of related blocks is shown in Table 2~4.
Table 2

Sine Wave

Probability of a zero

Initial seed

Sample time

parameter value

0.5

1000

1/200

Table 3

In1

Out1

DSP

Switch

Sine Wave1

Fig. 4 Internal diagram of BFSK Modulator subsystem

Table 5 The main parameters of Sine Wave and Sine Wave1
parameter name
parameter value
Amplitude
1
Frequency(Hz)
600
400
Phase offset(rad)
0
Sample mode
Discrete
Output complexity
Complex
Sample time
1/(600*16)
Samples per frame
1
PN Sequence
Generator
PN Sequence
Generator

Bit to Integer
Converter
Buffer

1
Out1

Bit to Integer
Converter

Unbuffer

Fig. 5 Internal diagram of FH Sequence Generator subsystem

The main parameters of Bernoulli Binary Generator

parameter name

The internal diagram of the Frequency Synthesizer

subsystem is shown in Figure 6. The FH sequence feeds into
the Discrete-Time VCO block, whose output signal frequency

The main parameters of AWGN Channel

is determined by two parameters: Quiescent frequency f and

parameter
name

Mode

Es/No
(dB)

Input signal
power (watts)

Symbol
period (s)

parameter
value

Signal to noise
ratio (Eb/No)

0.5

1/(11000*1
6)

Table 4

Vol. 21 No. 24
Dec., 2009

, Simulink

Input sensitivity s. To be specific, the frequency of the transient

output signal is m=f+s*u, where u is the input voltage indicated
by FH sequence. The two input ports of the Variable Transport
Delay block, import the output signal of the Discrete-Time

The main parameters of Error Rate Calculation

parameter
name

Receive
delay

Computation
delay

Computation
mode

Output
data

parameter
value

Entire frame

Port

VCO block and the tansmission time delay, respectively. The

transport time delay is 1/(4*m), i.e., delay of pi/2 phase. The
output real signal of the Discrete-Time VCO block and its
pi/2-phase-delayed version combine to complex signal in the

2.2 Internal Diagram of all Subsystems

Real-Imag to Complex block. The complex signal feeds into

The internal diagram of the BFSK Modulator subsystem

is shown in Figure 4. Here, the binary FSK signal is generated
with the Digital Keying Method. The two Sine Wave blocks
genarete complex exponential signal of frequency f1 and f2
respectively. In each symbol period, the input binary data
switches on only one of the two Sine Wave blocks, and controls
it to output complex exponential signal with frequency f1 or f2.
Parameter setting of related blocks is shown in Table 5.
The internal diagram of the FH Sequence Generator
subsystem is shown in Figure 5. PN Sequence Generator
generates m sequence with sampling period of 1/800s and
length of 15. The binary sequence first passes through the
Buffer block to convert into data frames of 4-bit, then passes
through the Bit to Integer Converter block to convert into data
frames of hexadecimal number, and finally passes through the
Unbuffer block to convert into data samples. The sample-based
hexadecimal number feeds into the output port.

the output port. Parameter setting of related blocks is shown in

Table 6 and 7.

7971

1
In1

Discrete-Time
VCO

Re

1
Im
Real-Imag to Out1
Complex

Discrete-Time
VCO
1/(4*(f+s*u))
Fcn

Ti
Variable
Transport Delay

Fig. 6 Internal diagram of Frequency Synthesizer subsystem

Table 6 The main parameters of Discrete-Time VCO
parameter
Output
Quiescent
Input
Initial
name
amplitude(V) frequency(Hz) sensitivity(Hz/V) phase(rad)
parameter
1
1200
600
0
value
Table 7 The main parameters of Variable Transport Delay
parameter
Maximum
Initial
Select delay type
name
delay
Buffer size
parameter
Variable transport
10
1e6
value
delay

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Vol. 21 No. 24

2009 12

Table 8

The internal diagram of the FH Modulator subsystem is

Dec., 2009
The main parameters of Digital Filter Design

parameter name

shown in Figure 7. The product of the real part of the output

complex exponential signal of the BFSK Modulator subsystem

parameter value

Response Type

Bandpass

Design Method

Chebyshev type II

and that of the Frequency Synthesizer subsystem, minus the

Filter Order

product of the imaginary part of the same two output signals,

Frequency

Minimum Order
Units
Fs

equals the real frequency mixing signal.

Product

1
In1

Re(u)

Re(u)

Im(u)

In2

Complex to
Real-Imag

Magnitude

Im(u)

Out1

Complex to
Real-Imag1

Hz
11000*16

Fstop1

175

Fpass1
Fpass2
Fstop2

200
800
825

Units

dB

Apass

0.01

Astop

80

The non-coherent BFSK Demodulator subsystem

consists of mainly an envelop detector and a judging unit,

Product1

whose internal diagram is shown in Figure 9. The envelop

Fig. 7 Internal diagram of FH Modulator subsystem

The internal diagram of the FH Demodulator subsystem is

shown in Figure 8. Received signal in AWGN noise is
multiplied by the local carrier, and then passes through IF
bandpass filter to filter out out-of-band noise and interference.
For simplicity, the local carrier synchronization is realized with
a direct-connected line. Parameter setting of related blocks is
shown in Table 8.

detector is made up of two inphase and quadrature correlators,

integrators and square-law detectors. The Discrete-Time
Integrator is used to integrate the input signal on each interval
[0,Ts], the Pulse Generaotr is used to reset the output state to its
initial value(0), and the Transport delay block is used to make
up for the transport delay. The outputs of the two Add
blocks(the sample time is equal to the symbol period 1/200s)
are the envelop of the input signal corrspending to the
frequency f1 and f2 component, respectively. The judging unit

FDATool
1

compares the envelop of two signals and output bit data.

In1

Parameter setting of related blocks is shown in Table 9.

Out1

Product
2

Digital
Filter Design

In2

Table 9 The main parameters of Discrete-Time Integrator(1,2,3)

parameter
Gain
External
Initial
Sample time
name
value
reset
condition
parameter
2/(1/200)
rising
0
1/(11000*16)
value

Fig. 8 Internal diagram of FH Demodulator subsystem

K Ts

Product
DSP

Transport
Delay

Re(u)
Im(u)

Complex to
Sine Wave Real-Imag

2
u
z-1
Discrete-Time Math
Integrator Function

Pulse
Generator

Add
K Ts

Product1 Transport
Delay1

1
In1

DSP

Re(u)

Product2 Transport
Delay2

Im(u)
Complex to
Sine Wave1Real-Imag1

2
u
z-1
Discrete-Time Math
Integrator1 Function1
K Ts
2
u
z-1

1
Relay

Discrete-Time Math
Integrator2 Function2

Add1

Pulse
Generator1
K Ts

Product3 Transport
Delay3

2
u
z-1
Discrete-Time Math
Integrator3 Function3

Fig. 9 Internal diagram of nonconherent BFSK Demodulator subsystem

7972

Out1

 21 24
2009 12

, Simulink

Fig. 10

Vol. 21 No. 24
Dec., 2009

Time domain waveform at every point during simulation

Simulation Result

sequence generator, frequency synthesizer, synchronizer and

3.1 Time domain waveform at each point during

simulation
The time domain waveform at each point during the

envelope detector. The model can serve as a basic reference

model. After slight modification on it, such as changing the FH
sequence, replacing AWGN block with Multipath Rayleigh,
Rician Fading Channel block, or adding narrow-band

simulation process is shown in Figure 10, where Eb/N0 is 0dB.

interference, the effect of these factors on the performance of

3.2 Simulation results about Bit Error Rate Performance

FH system in terms of anti-jamming, anti multi-path fading and

The simulation result about bit error rate vs. signal to

multiple access networking can be analyzed.

noise per bit curve of the FH system model is shown in Figure

Preferences:

11. The simulation time is 10s. It can be seen that the

[1]

simulation bit error rate result is reasonable.

, , , . [M].
, 2005: 8-15 (Mei Wenhua, Wang Shubo, Qiu Yonghong, et al.

100

Frequency Hopping Communciations [M]. Beijing, China: National

Industry Press, 2005: 8-15).

Bit Error Rate

[2]
10

-1

, . MATLAB [M].
, 2005: 329-333 (Xu Mingyuan,
Shao Yubin. Simulation Application of MATLAB in Communication
and Electronic Engineering [M]. Xian, China: Xidian University

10

Press, 2005: 329-333).

-2

[3]

Heung-Gyoon Ryu, Yingshan Li, Jin-Soo Park. Effects of Frequency

Instability Caused by Phase Noise on the Performance of the Fast FH

10

Communication System [J]. IEEE Transactions on Vehicular

-3

-40

-35

-30

-25

-20

-15

Technology (S0018-9545), 2004, 53(5): 1626-1632.

Eb/No
Fig. 11 Simulation bit error rate vs. signal to noise per bit curve

[4]

, , . [J].
, 2008, 20(2): 453-457. (WANG Xiang, HUANG JIAN-guo,

Conclusion

YIN Yu-hong. Research on the Simulation of Hopping Frequency

In this paper, we have built a basic simulation model of

FH communication system with Matlab/Simulink, which
realizes the core components of FH system such as FH

7973

Underwater Acoustic Communication System [J]. Journal of System

Simulation (S1004-731X), 2008, 20(2): 453-457).