ABSTRACT
Commonly digital modulation schemes are amplitude shift keying, phase shift keying, differential phase shift keying, frequency shift keying and quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM). Each modulation technique has its advantages and disadvantages in a certain working environment. QAM is widely used in wired and wireless communication due to its high bandwidth efficiency. In general, the error performance of QAM is obtained via Monte Carlo simulation, especially when analytical analysis is difficulty. A large number of random data and additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) samples need to be generated. Iterations are often used as a programming habit of languages like C or Fortran. MATLAB however, is a matrix based programming language. It is more efficient in matrix computation than iterations. Therefore, the conventional programming using iterations results in long execution time. Simulation efficiency is greatly improved, when iterations are replaced by matrix computation.
This thesis starts with a general introduction of the research topic in chapter 1. Chapter 2 gives an introduction of QAM and its error performance analysis. In chapter 3, we look into general scenarios where execution time can be reduced by improvement in MATLAB programming. In chapter 4, a conventional 16QAM error performance simulation program is modified and improved. Comparisons show that the simulation time is greatly reduced. We also programmed a user-friendly Graphic User Interface (GUI) in MATLAB for easy execution and comparison. Conclusions are made in chapter 5.
Keywords: BER, Simulation efficiency, 16QAM, MATLAB