Ebook

Chapter 1

Introduction

Wireless technology is growing rapidly to realize the goal of ubiquitous connectivity no matter where you are in the world. This ebook provides a look at new wireless connectivity trends and design challenges and how wireless engineers can use MATLAB® and Simulink® to design, model, simulate, and test modern wireless networks.

Wireless communications enable high-speed Internet connectivity. Whether people stay connected using mobile phones, cars negotiate traffic turns using vehicular communication (V2X), or Internet of things (IoT) devices communicate in smart factories, they are using wireless systems and networks for connectivity.

This ubiquitous connectivity is made possible by a wide range of wireless technologies including broad area networks (satellite links), cellular wide area networks (4G, 5G, and beyond), local area networks (Wi-Fi), and personal area networks (such as Bluetooth® and ZigBee).

No matter the technology, engineers face common challenges in design of wireless connectivity systems, including:

  • Ensuring compliance with standard protocols for system and device interoperability
  • Optimizing multidomain system parameters by integrating algorithms, antenna, array and RF transceiver design choices
  • Verifying the designs on hardware prototypes with automated over-the-air tests, and realistic channel and impairment models

These challenges necessitate the use of large-scale modeling and simulation to perform design space exploration long before a physical device is built.

section

Ubiquitous Connectivity

You can use MATLAB and wireless communication toolboxes to quickly design, model, simulate, test, validate, and prototype wireless connectivity systems. You can generate and analyze standards-based waveforms, measure link-level performance, and create golden reference models to verify standard conformance. You can also customize toolbox functions to accelerate your own implementations and explore the latest satellite, 5G, LTE, WLAN, and Bluetooth technologies.

In the next few chapters, we will explore various ubiquitous connectivity technologies along with the relevant standards, challenges, and resources that enable you to design, model, analyze, and test these networks.