Exercise 2: SDR Receivers

1. Set up the “Simple transmitter” (with sinusoindal baseband signal) described in exercise 1.
Use a lab spectrum analyzer to confirm that the correct signal is being transmitter at or
around 432 MHz.
2. On a separate PC, using a second USRP, configure a simple receiver as described in the
presentation. The diagram is shown below. Include a spectrum scope in the enabled
subsystem.

3. Run both models and confirm that the expected signal is displayed.
4. It is likely that your two components will not be exactly at ±10KHz as expected. Expand the
display so that you can clearly see the frequency offset.
5. Stop the simulation and double click on the SDRu Receiver block. On the center frequency
setting pull down menu select Input Port and close the window.
6. Modify the model as shown below. Open the slider block and set the low and high settings
to -5000 and +5000 respectively.

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7. Re-run the simulation and adjust the slider while observing the spectrum scope. Adjust the
slider until the components appear at ±10KHz exactly. You may need to expand the display
and/or improve the display resolution as described in the lecture to get a precise reading.
8. Note the value on the slider. This is the offset between the transmit and receive frequencies.
Apply this adjustment to the receive carrier frequency so that there will not be a frequency
error.
9. In more complex systems it may be necessary to reduce the number of samples being
processed. The maximum decimation (512) permitted in the USRP has already been applied.
Further decimation in the Simulink model can also be applied. Open the Enabled Subsystem
and add a downsample block as shown below. Set the downsample factor to 2. Re-run the
simulation. How is the frequency range of the Spectrum Scope affected?

10. Modify the transmitter as discussed in lab exercise 1 to transmit random pulses at 10 KHz.
Observe the spectrum on the receiver.
11. Experiment with decimation and frame size to make sure that you understand how they affect
the displayed spectrum and resolution.

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