Designing Vehicle-Mounted Communications Systems with Simulink

In vehicle-mounted communication systems, the vehicle’s motion can affect the pointing of the antenna and, hence, the quality of the transmission. In this webinar, we will use integrated models of communications systems to investigate the interaction between the antenna control system and the wireless communication link.

Specifically, we will demonstrate a model of a ship-mounted system. We will test, through simulation, the controlled motion of a gimbal linkage for pointing the system’s antenna. To ensure the system will be able to maintain communication in stormy conditions, the test case harness must be able to subject the antenna system to the acceleration fields typical of a small ship in turbulent waters.

Because the model includes the signal processing system, users can assess the effect of a pointing error on the quality of the signal transmission through metrics such as bit error rate. In the case of video transmission, users can directly view the predicted transmitted image stream. By representing such full integration of the control and signal processing systems, the model enables users to assess the antenna pointing accuracy requirement in reference to the overall requirement of the system, which is to provide high quality and robust transmission of a given signal.

About the Presenters:
Terry Denery has spent his career pursuing innovation in engineering designs through the implementation of simulations. This pursuit began at the University of Virginia where he completed degrees in chemical and mechanical engineering. While at Hercules, Inc., he developed solid rocket propulsion systems. He then attended Stanford University where he earned a Ph.D. in Aeronautics and Astronautics, studying fluid dynamics and thermodynamics. Terry later joined Knowledge Revolution, which produced the motion simulation tools Working Model and Interactive Physics. While there, he formed the Technical Services group, which served customers through technical support, training, and consulting. After MSC.Software’s acquisition of Knowledge Revolution, Terry served in the sales organization as an applications engineer, supporting the products ADAMS, visualNastran 4D, Dynamic Designer, and CATIA v5i. Terry joined The MathWorks in 2004 as marketing manager for the physics-based modeling and simulation tools.

Mike Donovan graduated with an MSEE from University Of Connecticut. He has worked on radar and satellite communications systems for Westinghouse and the Naval Undersea Warfare Center, and in the broadband telecommunications industry for GTE and Motorola. He joined the MathWorks in March 2004 and is a manager in the Applications Engineering Group.