Learn more about Communications Toolbox

Version 4.3 (R2009a) Communications Toolbox Software

This table summarizes what's new in Version 4.3 (R2009a):

New Features and Changes	Version Compatibility Considerations	Fixed Bugs and Known Problems	Related Documentation at Web Site
Yes Details below	Yes	Bug Reports Includes fixes.	Printable Release Notes: PDF Current product documentation

New features and changes introduced in this version are

• Bell-Shape Doppler Object

• Scatter Plot

• EVM and MER Measurements

• commsrc package now supports PN sequence generation

• MIMO channel simulation support

Bell-Shape Doppler Object

The doppler.bell function creates a bell-shape Doppler spectrum object. You can use this object for the DoplerSpectrum property of a channel object for the rayleighchan function, ricianchan function, or the mimochan function. For more information, refer to the doppler.bell help page.

Scatter Plot

Communications Toolbox supports the creation of a scatter plot Graphical User Interface (GUI) that displays measurement and scatter plot results in the same figure. The scatter plot feature is part of the commscope package. Users can create the scatter plot object in two ways: using a default object or by defining parameter-value pairs. To access the scatter plot feature, type commscope.ScatterPlot at the MATLAB command line. For more information, see the commscope.ScatterPlot help page.

EVM and MER Measurements

Communications Toolbox can perform Error Vector Magnitude (EVM) and Modulation Error Ratio (MER) measurements. EVM is a measurement of demodulator performance in the presence of impairments. MER is a measure of the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) in a digital modulation application. These types of measurements are useful for determining system performance in communications applications. For example, determining if an EDGE system conforms to the 3GPP radio transmission standards requires accurate RMS, EVM, Peak EVM, and 95th percentile for the EVM measurements.

Users can create an EVM object in two ways: using a default object or by defining parameter-value pairs. As defined by the 3GPP standard, the unit of measure for RMS, Maximum, and Percentile EVM measurements is percentile (%). To access the EVM object, type commmeasure.EVM at the MATLAB command line. For more information, see the commmeasure.EVM help page.

The MER object is part of the commmeasure package. As defined by the DVB standard, the unit of measure for MER is decibels (dB). For consistency, the unit of measure for Minimum MER and Percentile MER measurements is also in decibels. To access this object, type commmeasure.MER at the MATLAB command line. For more information, see the commmeasure.MER help page.

commsrc package now supports PN sequence generation

In order to make all of the communications sources available together, the sequence generator functionality is now part of the commsrc package. This object provides the same characteristics and behavior as in previous Toolbox versions. As a result, the seqgen.pn function is obsolete and will be removed in a future release.

Compatibility Consideration

Note   The MathWorks will remove the seqgen function from a future version of the Communications Toolbox product. While the product still supports this function, you should use commsrc.pn instead.

MIMO channel simulation support

The new MIMO channel object supports multiple-input multiple output simulations. You can specify correlated or uncorrelated fading between channels. For more information, see the mimochan help page or the IEEE^® 802.11b WLAN Physical Layer demo.

Version 4.4 (R2009b) Communications Toolbox Software

Version 4.2 (R2008b) Communications Toolbox Software

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