Case Study: Penn State University achieves rapid prototyping of a software-defined radio ground station with MathWorks

Penn State Develops Software Defined Radio Ground Station for Nanosatellite

Penn State University needed to develop a software-defined radio (SDR) ground station for the NASA‑sponsored LionSat nanosatellite but faced the time-consuming, error-prone task of programming FPGAs in VHDL and required an integrated software/hardware workflow. Using MathWorks tools (notably MATLAB and Simulink with associated toolboxes and code-generation products) alongside Lyrtech hardware, the team sought a high-level approach to model, simulate, and prototype without low-level FPGA coding.

MathWorks’ model‑based design toolchain—Simulink, MATLAB, Simulink Coder, Embedded Coder, Communications Toolbox and Xilinx System Generator—was used to generate DSP and VHDL code, move designs from floating to fixed point, and support hardware‑in‑the‑loop testing. The outcome: a working SDR ground‑station prototype completed in about one month without manual VHDL, accurate simulations that ran correctly in real time on first deployment, and months of development time saved plus a flexible environment for validation and teaching.

Penn State University

Sven G. Bilén

Associate Professor of Engineering Design and Electrical Engineering