| Simulations of end-to-end communication systems are conventionally modeled using a high-level programming language and run on a general-purpose computer. However, as communication technologies become more sophisticated, the complexity of these software simulations increases, which may result in a longer, and possibly unacceptable, run time. With schedule constraints as well as increasing demand from the end users for more reliable systems, i.e., systems with lower bit error rates, the simulation run time is a crucial factor in system development. In this paper, we present a hardware/software co-simulation tool for complex, end-to-end communication systems. The tool, called hardware-accelerated simulation tool (HAST), uses off-the-shelf field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), together with a high-level programming language, to accelerate the run time of computationally intensive tasks. The design and implementation aspects of the tool, including simulation examples of stressed military communications, are discussed. We also demonstrate that simulations developed using HAST can provide significant run-time speedup compared to software-only simulations. |
| Dhawat E. Pansatiankul received the B.S. degree in electrical engineering from Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand, in 1995, and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, in 1997 and 2002, respectively. From 2002 to 2005, he was with the Communication Systems Center at Northrop Grumman Space Technology (formerly, TRW Space and Electronics), where he worked as a payload systems engineer on the Advanced EHF satellite program. In 2006, he joined the Digital Communication Implementation Department at The Aerospace Corporation. His current work includes communication payload and signal processing concept design and analysis. He is a member of the IEEE and the Optical Society of America.
Victor S. Lin is an engineering specialist in the Payload Implementation and Assessment Section at The Aerospace Corporation. His present work focuses on communication and signal processing design, simulation, analysis, and prototyping. His current projects involve GPS modernization and software-defined radio. He has extensive experience in communication systems research and development. Previously, he worked for a 3G wireless startup, Rockwell Scientific Company, and Qualcomm. At Qualcomm, he led a team of engineers in the Globalstar program. He has also taught computer networking classes at the University of Southern California as a lecturer. He received his B.S. and M.Eng. degrees in electrical engineering from Cornell University, and the Ph.D. degree from the University of California at Los Angeles. He is currently a member of IEEE, ION, Tau Beta Pi, and Phi Kappa Phi. |