FPGA-Based Radio Transceiver Using the TV White Space for Disaster Response Operation

In this paper an FPGA-based radio transceiver that operates on a frequency band from unused TV white space - specifically 512 MHz - 518 MHz - is presented. The investigation was done to introduce an application of TV white space and FPGA hardware in creating a communication system for disaster rescue operations and in hopes of being used as material for further research. The transceiver used an FPGA Arty7-35T board which was programmed using the Verilog HDL. A QPSK scheme of modulation/demodulation was utilized to maximize the performance of the transceiver while considering the resources available from the chosen board. The transceiver was designed using model- based design approach and was implemented on FPGA. Appropriate functionality and performance tests were conducted. These include RTL schematic analysis and Verilog test benches, and evaluation of the bit-error-rate, signal-to- noise ratio, and root mean squared error. Finally, the transceiver's performance was assessed to have a BER of < 1, an RMSE of < 0.1 and an SNR of 24.3 dB.