Communications Toolbox Graphical User Interface Example



You can type commgui to open the graphical user interface (GUI) example. This example provides a simple tool for you to compute bit-error-rates using different combinations of different methods. This help file briefly describes how to use the tool.
General Information
Load/Save Window Parameter Setting
Define Computation Parameters
Start Computation
Manage of Computed Data

Go to the tutorial for Communications Toolbox

This is commfunc.html file


Communication Toolbox GUI Example General Information

General Information

The graphical user interface (GUI) example illustrates how to use the Communications Toolbox to compute the bit-error-rate. The example uses MATLAB functions in sources and sinks, error-control coding, modulation, and channel categories. The computation is based on the parameters provided in the data entry slot. In the GUI window, all white areas are designed for data input.

You can define your own computation in choosing my own in the GUI window. To be able to run your algorithm, you need to edit the file commod.m.



Load/Save Window Parameter Setting for Comm Toolbox GUI Example

Load/Save Window Parameter Setting

The file pull-down menu at the top of the GUI window enables you to load and save the parameters defined in this example. There is a commfoo.mat file in the comm directory in the Communications Toolbox. The file is an example of the saved data. The saved data includes the parameters of the computation methods, the resulting computation data, and the curve fitting order.

The load and save selection in the file pull-down menu uses a browser file system to help you access your directory (folder) and files.



Define Computation Parameters in the Communications Toolbox GUI Example

Define Computation Parameters

The GUI window is divided into two sections: the upper section for parameter entries and the lower section for displaying the computed data. The computation goes through the stages of
Source Data
Error Control Coding
Modulation
Channel
Demodulation
Error Control Decoding
Save Data
The first parameter in the channel category can be a vector. The vector length determines the computed data length. When you use the random integers in the Source category, the data length can be a scalar or a vector. The vector length must match the length of the first parameter in the channel. When you use a workspace variable as an input source, the workspace variable can be a column vector, or a matrix with its column number the same length as the first parameter in the Channel category.

You can view the help for the functions encode and decode to find the definition of the error-control coding parameters.

You can view the help for the functions dmod and ddemod for the passband modulation/demodulation simulation parameters. You can view the help for the functions dmodce and ddmodce for the baseband modulation/demodulation simulation parameters.

If you don't know how to choose a parameter, leave the parameter entry empty. The example will fill in a default parameter for you.



Start Computation in the Communications Toolbox GUI Example

Start Computation

After defining the parameters, you can click the button RUN to start the simulation. There are two indicators showing the computation stages. A indicator shows which computation category is processing. The computation categories are:
Source Data
Error Control Coding
Modulation
Channel
Demodulation
Error Control Decoding
Save Data
There is also an indication bar that shows the percentage of the computation completed. The percentage shows the ratio of the completed computation stages to the total computation stages.

The computed data is stored in the Current Data storage area. The data comtains SNR, the signal to noise ratio, and bit_err_ratio, the bit error ratio.



Manage Computation Data in the Communications Toolbox GUI Example

Manage Computation Data

The GUI window provides three storage slot for your data comparison. You can import the data from workspace variables. You can also export the data to workspace variables. Use your mouse to drag data from one location and drop the data in another location.

Note that after you have dropped the data into the trash can, the data will be deleted from the window. There is no undo.