Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering (EEE)

Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), Dhaka

EEE 310: Communication System I Laboratory

Experiment No:07
Experiment Name: Generation and Detection of QPSK Signal

Objectives:
 To investigate the generation of QPSK signal.
 To detect the message signal from the received QPSK signal.

Introduction
M-ary Phase Shift Keying or MPSK is a modulation technique used in communication systems,
where data is transmitted by varying the phase of a carrier wave. In MPSK, M refers to the number
of discrete phase states used to encode the data. Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (QPSK) is a
MPSK signal with M=4 that means two bits are grouped together to form one symbol, and each
symbol is represented by a unique phase of the carrier signal. "Quadrature" refers to the fact that
the carrier signal has two components that are 90 degrees out of phase—called the in-phase (I) and
quadrature-phase (Q) components.

The general analytic expression for an MPSK signal is given by:

E is the energy per symbol, T is the symbol duration, fc is the carrier frequency, θm is the phase
shift corresponding to the m-th symbol,

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QPSK Signal:

In the QPSK system, binary source digits are collected two at a time. while one at a time for the
BPSK system, and for each symbol interval the two sequential digits instruct the modulator as to
which of the four waveforms to produce. The QPSK signal is equivalent to the sum of two BPSK
signals which are orthogonal to each other shown in figure 6.1. Therefore. the QPSK system has
the same performance but two times higher spectral efficiency than the BPSK.

Figure 6.1: Signal Constellation for MPSK

In the QPSK system. the arbitrary input data stream K(t) = d0, d1, d2, d3…… IS divided into an
in-phase stream (even bits) I(t) = d0, d2 .... and a quadrature stream (odd bits). Q (t) =d1, d3…….
as shown in Figure 6.2.

Note that I(t) and Q(t) are synchronously aligned and transmitted at the rate of 1/2T (bps) which
is half the rate of the original input data stream. and are level-changed to make bipolar pulses.

Figure 6.2: Baseband waveform alignment of QPSK

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In the QPSK system, due to the coincident alignment of I(t) and Q(t). the carrier phase can change
only once every 2T. The carrier phase during any 2T interval can be any one of the f our pulses
depending on the values of I(t) and Q(t) during that interval.

During the next 2T interval, if neither pulse stream changes sign. the carrier phase remains the
same. If only one of the pulse streams changes signs, a phase shift of ±90° occurs. A change in
both streams results in a carrier phase shift of 180°, as shown in Figure 6.3.

Figure 6.3: QPSK symbol waveform

If a QPSK modulated signal undergoes filtering to reduce the spectral side lobes. the resulting
waveform will no longer have a constant envelope and in fact. the occasional 180° phase shifts
will cause the envelope to go to zero momentarily. When these signals are used in the nonlinear
system, the system performance gets degraded due to the interference of the side lobes.

QPSK modulation technology is used in the forward link of COMA cellular communications
system that is, when a base station sends data to a cellular phone or a terminal.

Generation QPSK Signal:

Figure 6.4: The block diagram for QPSK modulation

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Figure 6.4 illustrates the block diagram for QPSK modulation which consists of a NRZ generation
block, a serial- to-parallel converter, two multipliers, a carrier wave generator. a 90° phase shifter
and an adder.
Figure 6.5 illustrates the partitioning of a typical pulse stream for QPSK modulation.

The arbitrary input data stream K(t) = 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 .. .. is divided into an in- phase stream
(even bits) I(t) = 1 0 1 0 1 1,... and a quadrature stream (odd bits), Q( t ) = 1 1 0 0 1 0 .....

Figure 6.5: The partitioning of a typical pulse stream for QPSK modulation
Note that I(t) and Q(t) each have half the bit rate of the original input data stream, and are level-

changed to make bipolar pulses. Then they are each amplitude modulated onto two orthogonal
(cosine and sine) functions of a carrier wave and are added to make a QPSK modulated signal.
The resulting QPSK modulated signal S(t ) . can be expressed as follows:

Using the trigonometric identities. the above equation can also be written as

where the phase term 𝜃(t). has four discrete values depending on the values of I(t) and Q(t). which
are +1 or -1. For example, when the input data stream is 0'1. I(t) becomes - 1 and Q(t) becomes
+1. Therefore. the QPSK signal can be written as

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Table 6.1 illustrates the relationship between the input bit and output signal expression for four
possible input bits 00. 01. 10, 11. or symbols S1. S2. S3. S4. The phase of each symbol can also
be seen from the output signal expression.

Table 6.1: The relation between the input bit and output signal expression

Notice that the output signal expression describes a set of four multiple phase waveforms (-3𝜋/4 ,
+3𝜋/4. -𝜋/4. +𝜋/4 radians for symbols S1. S2. S3. S4). in terms of only two orthogonal carrier-
wave components (in-phase and quadrature-phase).

Thus, the QPSK signal can be expressed as a vector in the signal space. Figure 6.6 shows the QPSK
signal constellation.

Figure 6.6: QPSK signal constellation

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Demodulation Technique: Coherent Detection

As shown in F1gure 6.7, the QPSK signal is equivalent to the sum of two BPSK signals which are
orthogonal to each other. In fact, the QPSK demodulator consists of two BPSK demodulators and
these two orthogonal BPSK signals are independently demodulated using coherent detection.
Therefore, the QPSK system has the same performance as the BPSK system.

Figure 2-9 illustrates a block diagram of a typical BPSK demodulator which consists of a detector
mixer. a carrier regenerator and a lowpass filter.

Figure 6.7: Block diagram of a typical BPSK demodulator

Equipment
 Facet base unit
 OPSK/OQPSK/DPSK circuit board
 Oscilloscope dual trace
 Spectrum Analyzer
 Function Generator
 Sine/Square Wave Generator
 Power Supply 15V DC ( 2 Required)

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Procedure

NRZ GENERATOR block, S/P CONVERTER & DELAY block, QPSK MODULATOR_I block,
QPSK MODULATOR_Q block, CARRIER & PHASE SHIFT block, QPSK DEMODULATOR_I
block, QPSK DEMODULATOR_Q block, AMPLIFIER block, and P/S CONVERTER block of
QPSK/OQPSK /DPSK TRAI NER are used in this exercise.

QPSK Modulation:

1. Locate the NRZ GENERATOR block.

2. Connect the output of the sine/square wave generator to the CLOCK INPUT of the NRZ
GENERATOR block shown in Figure 6.8.

Figure 6.8: NRZ GENERATOR block

3. Adjust the sine/square wave generator for a 0 to 5 Vpk, 10 kHz square wave at the CLOCK
INPUT. (Time Base- Sample frequency- 40𝜇s/div, signal coupling-DC) and use the
oscilloscope to observe.
4. Adjust 8 DIP switches on NRZ GENERATOR module for 8 LEDs to show the value of
'(MSB) 01011001(LSB).
5. Connect channel 1 of the oscilloscope to the UNIPOLAR OUTPUT of the NRZ GENERATOR
block.
6. Oscilloscope settings:
Measure: Channel 1

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 Trigger source: external trigger. Connect to the SYNC terminal of the NRZ GENERATOR
block.
Signal coupling: DC
Time Base: Sample frequency - 100𝜇S/div
Vertical: Auto
Sync on the positive slope and adjust the trigger level for a stable display.
7. Measure the waveform and record the value at the right-hand side of Table 6.2

Note: This waveform should be the same as the theoretical value in the left column of Table 6.2
except that the oscilloscope displays the LSB at the far left and the MSB at the far right.

Theoretical value Measured value

waveform MSB 01011001 LSB LSB MSB

bit time interval 0. 1 ms

Table 6.2: Unipolar waveform and bit time interval

8. Measure the time interval of a bit in this waveform and record it in Table 6.2.
9. Deactivate the Scope instrument and activate the Spectrum instrument. Connect Channel 1 of
the spectrum analyzer to the UNIPOLAR OUT PUT of the NRZ GENERATOR block.
Measure and sketch the spectrum of the pulse signal in Figure 6.9 (Frequency range - 12.5
kHz, signal coupling-AC).

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 Figure 6.9: The spectrum of a unipolar waveform

10. Connect the UNIPOLAR OUTPUT of the NRZ GENERATOR block to the S/P INPUT of the
S/P CONVERTER & DELAY by inserting a two-POST connector as shown in Figure 6.10.

Figure 6.10: NRZ GENERATOR and S/P CONVERTER & DELAY blocks

11. Deactivate the Spectrum instrument and activate the Scope instrument.
12. Connect channel 1 to the I OUTPUT and Channel 2 to the Q_OUTPUT of S/ P

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 CONVERTER & DELAY block.
13. Oscilloscope settings:
Measure: Channel 1 and channel 2
Trigger source: External trigger. Connect to the SYNC terminal of the NRZ
GENERATOR block
Signal coupling: DC
Time Base: Sample frequency - 100𝜇S/div
Vertical: Auto

Sync on the positive slope and adjust the trigger level for a stable display.
14. Observe the waveforms and record them in Table 6.3. Note that this waveform should be the
same as the theoretical value in the left column of Table 6.3.

Theoretical value Measured value

I OUTPUT 1011
Q OUTPUT 0100

Table 6.3: The waveform of I and Q channel

Note: The serial data (LSB 10011010 MSB) at the S/P INPUT, shown in Table: 6.4. is changed at
the I and Q outputs to parallel data. The I_output and Q_output are synchronously aligned and
transmitted at one -half the rate of the original serial data (S/P INPUT). Observe that the start of
the Q_OUTPUT (0100) is shifted by two clock pulses as reference to the I_ OUTPUT (1011).

1 0 0 1 1 0 1 0
I Q I Q I Q I Q
OUTPUT OUTPUT OUTPUT OUTPUT OUTPUT OUTPUT OUTPUT OUTPUT

Table 6.4: Serial data changed to I and Q parallel da ta

15. Deactivate the Scope instrument and activate the Spectrum instrument. Connect channel 1 to
the I_ OUTPUT and Channel 2 to the Q_OUTPUT of the S/P CONVERTER & DELAY block.
Measure the spectrum and sketch them in Figure 6.11. (Frequency range- 12.5 kHz, signal
coupling-AC ).

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 Figure 6.11: The spectrum of I and Q channel

16. Connect the I_OUTPUT of the S/P CONVERTER & DELAY module to the DATA INPUT
of the QPSK MODULATOR_I block by inserting a two-post connector as shown in Figure
6.12

Figure 6.12: QPSK MODULATOR_I block

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17. Connect the Q-OUTPUT of the S/P CONVER T ER & DELAY block to DATA INPUT of
QPSK MODULATOR_ Q block by inserting two -post connectors as shown in Figure 6.13.

Figure 6.13: S/P CONVERTER & DELAY and QPSK MODULATOR_Q blocks

18. Connect the output of the function generator to the CARR IER INPUT of the CARRIER &
PHASE SHIFT block shown in Figure 6.14.

Figure 6.14: CARR IER & PHASE SHIFT block

19. Deactivate the Spectrum instrument and activate the Scope instrument. Using the oscilloscope
to observe, set the output of the function generator to a sine wave of 500 kHz, 200mVpk-pk
(Time Base - Sample frequency- 2𝜇s/div, signal coupling -AC).
20. Use a two-post connector to connect the COS OUTPUT of the CARR IER & PHASE SHIFT
block to the COS INPUT of the QPSK MODULATOR_I block.
21. Use a lead wire to connect the SIN OUTPUT of the CARRIER & PHASE SHIFT block to the
SIN INPUT of the QPSK MODULATOR_ Q block.
22. Connect channel 1 to the COS OUTPUT and channel 2 to the SIN OUTPUT of the CARRIER
& PHASE SHIFT block, respectively.

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23. Oscilloscope settings:
Measure: Channel 1 and channel 2, 1:1 probes
Trigger source: Channe l 1
Signal coupling: AC
Time Base: Sample frequency - 2𝜇s/div
Vertical: Auto
Sync on the positive slope and adjust the trigger level for a stable display.

24. Measure the waveform and sketch it in Figure 6.15

Figure 6.15: The orthogonal carrier waves

25. Measure the phase difference between two waveforms from Figure 6.15 and record it in Table
6.5.

Theoretical Value Measured Value

Phase difference 90°

Table 6.5. The phase difference between sine and cosine wave

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26. Two orthogonal BPSK modulated signals appear on the I_MOD OUTPUT of QPSK
MODULATOR _I block and the Q_MOD OUTPUT of OPSK MODULATOR_Q block
respectively. A QPSK signal can be made by adding these two orthogonal signals.
27. The I_MOD OUTPUT of the QPSK MODULATO R_I module is internally connected to the
I_INPUT of the ADDER block. Use a two-post connector to connect the Q_MOD OUTPUT
of the QPSK MODULATOR_Q module to the Q_ INPUT of the ADDER block.
28. Center each of the potentiometer s located on the QPSK MODULATOR_I and the QPSK
MODULATOR_Q blocks.
29. Connect channel 1 of the oscilloscope to the SUM OUTPUT of the ADDER block and channel
2 to the I_OUTPUT of the S/P CONVER TER & DELAY block. respectively.
30. Oscilloscope settings:
Measure: Channel 1 and channel 2, 10:1probes
Trigger source: Channel 2
Signal coupling: DC
Time Base: Sample frequency - 40µs/div
Vertical: Auto
Sync on the negative slope and adjust the trigger level for a stable display.
31. Measure the QPSK waveform and sketch it in Figure 6.16.

Figure 6.16. QPSK waveform

32. Deactivate the Scope instrument and activate the Spectrum instrument. Connect channel 1 to
the SUM OUTPUT of the ADDER block. Measure the QPSK signal spectrum and sketch it in

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 Figure 6.17 (Frequency range- 2.5 lv1Hz, signal coupling- AC. 1:1 Probe, and Vertical
400mV)

Figure 6.17: QPSK spectrum

Thus far a QPSK signal has been generated and measured.

QPSK Demodulation:
In the following procedure steps, the QPSK signal will be demodulated.

1. Using a two-post connector. connect the SUM OUTPUT of the ADDER BLOCK to the
SUM_IN of the QPSK DEMODULATOR_I block as shown in F1gure 6.18.

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 Figure 6.18: QPSK DEMODULATOR_I block

2. Using a two-post connector connect the SUM OUTPUT of the ADDER BLOCK to the
SUM_IN of the QPSK DEMODULATOR _Q block as shown in Figure 6.19.

Figure 6.19: QPSK DEMODULATOR _Q block

To keep synchronization, the COS OUTPUT and SIN OUTPUT of the CARRIER &
PHASE SHIFT block, which are already connected to the QPSK MODULATOR_I and
QPSK MODULATOR_ Q respectively, are also internally connected to the COS INPUT
of the QPSK DEMODULATOR_I block and to the SIN INPUT of the QPSK
DEMODULATOR _Q block respectively.
3. Center each of the potentiometers located on the QPSK DEMODULATOR_ I and the
QPSK DEMODULATOR _Q blocks.
4. Use a two-post connector to connect the I_DEMOD OUTPUT of the QPSK
DEMODULATOR -I block to the I_AMP INPUT and similarly Q_AMP INPUT of the
AMPLI FIER block as shown in Figure 2-22. Use another two-post connector to connect

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 the Q-DEMOD OUTPUT of QPSK DEMODULATOR_Q block to the Q_AMP INPUT of
the AMPLIFIER block as shown in Figure 6.20.

Figure 6.20: QPSK DEMODULATOR _Q block and AMPLIFIER blocks

5. Deactivate the Spectrum instrument and activate the Scope instrument. Connect channel1
to the I_AMP OUTPUT and Channel 2 to the Q_AMP OUTPUT of the AMPLIFER block.
6. Oscilloscope settings:
Measure: Channel 1 and channel 2
Trigger source: External Trigger. Connect to the SYNC terminal of the NRZ
GENERATOR block
Signal coupling: DC
Time Base: Sample frequency - 100µs/div
Vertical: Auto
Sync on the positive slope and adjust the trigger level for a stable display.

7. Measure the waveform and sketch it in Figure 6.21

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 Figure 6.21: The waveforms of demodulated I and Q data

8. The waveforms of demodulated I and Q data shown in Figure 6.21 should correspond to
the waveform of S/P CONVERTED & DELAY OUTPUT and Q OUTPUT data shown in
Table 6.3 above.

NOTE: If the waveforms do not correspond, adjust each of the potentiometers located on the
QPSK DEMODULATOR_I, QPSK DEMODULATOR_Q, QPSK MODULATOR_I and
QPSK MODULATOR_Q blocks.
9. Use a two-post connector to connect the I_AMP OUTPUT of the AMPLIFIER block to
the I_DATA INPUT of the P/S CONVERTER block shown in Figure 6.22. Use another
two-post connector to connect the Q_AMP OUTPUT of the AMPLIFIER block to the
Q_DATA INPUT of the P/S CONVERTER block shown in Figure 6.22.

Figure 6.22: P/S CONVERT ER module

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 10. Connect channel 1 of the oscilloscope to the DATA OUTPUT of the P/S CONVERTER
block.
11. Oscilloscope settings:
Measure: Channel 1
Trigger source : External trigger. Connect to the SYNC terminal of the NRZ
GENERATOR block
S1gnal coupling: DC
T1me Base : Sample frequency - 100µs/div
Vertical: Auto
12. Measure the serial data output waveform and sketch it in Figure: 6.23.

Note: that this waveform should be the same as the UNIPOLAR OUTPUT shown in Table 6.2
above.

Figure 6.23. Serial data output waveform

Report Questions

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