FPGA Implementation of a BPSK 1D-CNN Demodulator

Yan Liu, Yue Shen, Li Li, Hai Wang
2018 Applied Sciences  
In this paper, we propose a field programmable gate array (FPGA) implementation of a one-dimensional convolution neural network (1D-CNN) demodulator for binary phase shift keying (BPSK). The 1D-CNN demodulator includes two 1D-CNNs and a decision module. Discrete time series of BPSK signals are imported into the well-trained 1D-CNNs. The 1D-CNNs detect the phase shifts' moment and type, including phase shift from 0 to π and that from π to 0. The decision module combines results of the two
more » ... and outputs the demodulated data. In order to improve the efficiency of resource utilization and operation speed of the FPGA circuit, a time-delay network for convolutional calculation and a structure for piecewise approximation for the activation function were designed. To enhance the performance of the 1D-CNN demodulator, universal and diversity training data considering five impact factors were generated specially. Experimental results under different channel conditions show that the proposed demodulator has good adaptability to frequency offset and short latency. The demodulation loss of the proposed demodulator can almost be kept within 2 dB. Appl. Sci. 2018, 8, 441 2 of 15 synchronization; then mixes the local carrier with the modulated signal; commits to down-conversion, low-pass filtering, and timing synchronization; and finally completes demodulation. The noncoherent demodulation adds the delayed input signal to the current input signal, and then a pulse sequence can be formed. By analysis of the sequence, demodulated data can be obtained. As there is no need for carrier synchronization, noncoherent demodulation algorithms are easy to realize, but their performance is much lower than that of coherent demodulation algorithms. Nowadays, coherent demodulation is the most widely used BPSK demodulation method. However, it also has shortcomings, as follows: (1) sensitivity to the frequency offset; large frequency offsets may cause the carrier synchronization to malfunction; (2) high complexity, which means more hardware resource consumption and energy consumption; (3) the carrier synchronization needs too much time, which causes delay at the beginning of the communication task. Recently, some scholars have attempted to introduce machine learning into demodulation technology. For the neural network demodulators mentioned in [21] [22] [23] , the demodulation principle is to analyse the modulated data in every symbol period by neural network. The modulated data is divided into symbols according to the number of samplings. This may result in mistakes when offset exists. Furthermore, the design of the training data sets is not reasonable, as more nonideal factors need to be considered. The convolution neural network (CNN) is an outstanding machine learning pattern [24] . Therein, due to the feature extraction ability and one-dimensional structure of the 1D-CNN [25], it is suitable for the treatment of discrete time series. It is noticed that in the published studies, there is almost no use of 1D-CNNs in demodulator research. The 1D-CNN is able to handle the problem of frequency offset if it is trained by appropriate training data, and the complexity can be simplified by a suitable network structure. By making full use of the parallel computing architecture of FPGA, the delay of demodulation may be reduced. Hence, this paper proposes the design and implementation of a BPSK demodulator based on 1D-CNN. In this paper, five nonideal factors were considered in the training data sets, so that the demodulator had a better adaptability to offsets. Experiments were repeatedly carried out to obtain a suitable network structure, considering both accuracy and complexity. A time-delay network for convolutional calculation and a structure for piecewise approximation of the activation function were designed, to further simplify calculation and shorten latency. The rest of this paper is organized as follows: Section 2 introduces the basic principle of 1D-CNN demodulation. Section 3 describes the FPGA implementation of a 1D-CNN demodulator. In Section 4, the training and test process of the 1D-CNN demodulator are introduced, and their results are analyzed. Finally, Section 5 summarizes this paper.
doi:10.3390/app8030441 fatcat:h2d5uopkp5dfzfoc5doxkezq5e