Case Study: ETRI halves 4G modem development time with MathWorks Model-Based Design (MATLAB & Simulink)

ETRI Develops Modem Synchronization Technology for Fourth-Generation Mobile Telecommunications System

ETRI, a government-funded research institute in Korea, faced a tight one-year deadline to design and prove a 4G mobile telecommunications prototype that could deliver high-speed, reliable connections for commuters. The team found C-based methods too inflexible and turned to MathWorks’ Model-Based Design approach—using MATLAB and Simulink—to model, simulate, and iterate on their modem synchronization design.

Using MathWorks tools (Simulink, MATLAB, Communications Toolbox, DSP System Toolbox, Fixed-Point Designer/Simulink Fixed-Point, and Signal Processing/Toolbox components), ETRI modeled end-to-end transmitter and receiver behavior, converted floating-point designs to fixed-point, verified HDL code against Simulink-generated stimuli, and implemented the design on a Xilinx Virtex-II FPGA. MathWorks’ tools helped ETRI cut development time by 50%, secure intellectual property for patenting, reduce debugging and verification time, and successfully demonstrate the 4G prototype.

ETRI

Juyul Lee

Researcher