Design and implementation of a java based virtual laboratory for data communication simulation

International Journal of Electrical and Computer Engineering (IJECE)
Vol. 10, No. 6, December 2020, pp. 5883~5890
ISSN: 2088-8708, DOI: 10.11591/ijece.v10i6.pp5883-5890  5883
Journal homepage: http://ijece.iaescore.com/index.php/IJECE
Design and implementation of a java based virtual laboratory
for data communication simulation
Obinna Okoyeigbo, Edevbie Agboje, Evioghene Omuabor,
Uyi Aiyudubie Samson, Abidemi Orimogunje
Department of Electrical and Information Engineering, Covenant University, Nigeria
Article Info ABSTRACT
Article history:
Received May 25, 2019
Revised Feb 6, 2020
Accepted May 8, 2020
Students in this modern age find engineering courses taught in the university
very abstract and difficult, and cannot relate theoretical calculations to real
life scenarios. They consequently lose interest in their coursework and
perform poorly in their grades. Simulation of classroom concepts with
simulation software like MATLAB, were developed to facilitate learning
experience. This paper involves the development of a virtual laboratory
simulation package for teaching data communication concepts such as coding
schemes, modulation and filtering. Unlike other simulation packages,
no prior knowledge of computer programming is required for students to
grasp these concepts.
Keywords:
Data communications
Java-based
Simulation
Virtual laboratory
Copyright © 2020 Institute of Advanced Engineering and Science.
All rights reserved.
Corresponding Author:
Obinna Okoyeigbo,
Department of Electrical and Information Engineering,
Covenant University,
Ota, Nigeria.
Email: obinna.okoyeigbo@covenantuniversity.edu.ng
1. INTRODUCTION
The Engineering field of study is not an abstract one. Laboratories are used in universities for
experimenting and testing the theoretical concepts taught in the classrooms and to also give students better
understanding of these theoretical concepts. However, most universities in developing countries like Nigeria
are unable to afford standard laboratories [1]. Hence, a virtual laboratory serves as a solution.
The aim of this project is to design and implement a Java-based virtual laboratory that would
simulate communication through a channel and explain the effects of noise and coding in the communication
process to make learning of the principles of data communication more practical. Virtual laboratories are
software simulation packages which simulate laboratory processes [2, 3]. These packages when distributed to
students, or made available over the internet can equip students with better laboratory experiences, and also
save costs for the university [4].
The concepts of communication such as coding, modulation, filtering is not easy to understand,
especially when the students find these concepts abstract, and do not know their importance in real life
communication. This paper provides a solution to this problem by modellinga communication system
laboratory, with oscilloscopes and spectrum analyzers which would simulate signal transmission in their time
and frequency domains as they pass through different stages in the communication process. Thus, allowing
users who don’t have access to real laboratories to understand the various communication processes virtually.
In recent years, engineers have seen the importance of simulation software in designing prototypes
and also in educating students and have built various simulation packages to that effect. MATLAB,
developed by MathWorks with its signal processing toolbox can simulate a wide range of processes in
communication [5, 6] as filtering, modulation, coding and also provides a platform to develop graphical user

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Int J Elec & Comp Eng, Vol. 10, No. 6, December 2020 : 5883 - 5890
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interfaces (GUIs). However, this package requires the knowledge of programming with MATLAB to utilize
these functions [7].
The Java digital signal processing (J-DSP) software, developed by Arizona State University,
is an online communication simulation package developed in Java, and accessible from anywhere in
the world over the internet [8, 9]. This package is however not available for students without access to
the internet. ScopeFIR developed by Iowegian International, is a software package that designs finite impulse
response filters [10]. This software package can design lowpass, highpass, bandpass and bandstop filters,
designing the filter coefficients, based on the user specifications [11, 12]. The software also has built-in
window functions. The limitation to this software, is that it does not cover other schemes in communication
such as modulation and coding. This paper proposes a communication systems virtual laboratory software
that would be accessible to students offline in their schools and also for installation in their individual PCs.
This virtual laboratory software does not require prior programming knowledge, with the user-friendly
graphical user interface provided.
2. RESEARCH METHOD
The communication process follows the framework of the Master Simulator given in Figure 1.
The master simulator is a model that describes the process of communication from the transmitter to
the receiver.
Figure 1. The master simulator [13]
2.1. Stages of the communication process
2.1.1. Binary input
At the stage, the binary digits to be sent to the receiver are keyed into the communication system by
the user or sender of the message. The user is prompted for the message bits to be transmitted in this stage.
2.1.2. The binary encoder
The coding scheme used in this project is the Hamming Code Scheme. The extended hamming code
scheme i.e. Hamming (8,4), which can correct one-bit error and detect two-bit errors, is an improvement of
Hamming (7,4) which can only detect and correct one-bit error. The code word transmitted in the Hamming
Code Scheme is made up of four message or “input” bits and three check bits for the Hamming (7,4) and four
check bits for the Hamming (8,4).
The hamming distance is the total number of positions in which two code words differ from each
other. The smallest hamming distance of the Hamming (7,4) is 3, while the smallest hamming distance of
the Hamming (8,4) is four. This minimum hamming distance is a measure of the error correcting power of
the coding scheme. The Generator Matrix (G-MATRIX) is a matrix, such that when it is vector multiplied by

Int J Elec & Comp Eng ISSN: 2088-8708 
Design and implementation of a java based virtual laboratory for data ... (Obinna Okoyeigbo)
5885
the message bits, it gives the information signal with the check-bits appended to it. It is obtained by setting an
identity matrix (of order k by k, where k is the number of message bits) to the left side of the matrix,
and appending the check bits for the combination of each row, at the right side of the matrix. It is given by:
𝐺 = [𝐼𝑘|𝐴] (1)
For Hamming (n,4), the G-matrix is given by;













1111000
1100100
1010010
0110001
G
(2)
The check bits are given by;
𝐴1 = 𝐾1 + 𝐾2 + 𝐾4
𝐴2 = 𝐾1 + 𝐾3 + 𝐾4
𝐴3 = 𝐾2 + 𝐾3 + 𝐾4 (3)
where “+” signifies modulo-2 addition, 𝐴 𝑛 represents the check bit, and 𝐾𝑛 represents the bit in the generator
matrix with respect to each row.
The “input” bits or message bits are modulo-2 vector multiplied with the G-matrix. The result of this
multiplication is the input bits with the check bits appended to it. For example, if bits sequence of ‘1010’ are
entered by the user, the code word becomes;
  1010101
1111000
1100100
1010010
0110001
*0101 












Codeword
(4)
Following the even parity scheme, one extra parity bit is appended to the code word. If the number of
“1”s obtained in the result of the vector multiplication above is an even number, a parity bit of “0” is appended.
If it is an odd number, a parity bit of “1” is appended to ensure that the number of bits transmitted is an even
number. For the above example, the transmitted code word is 10101010. See Figure 2 for the flow chart.
2.1.3. Baseband signal
The baseband is the frequency range of a signal to be transmitted prior to when it is modulated at
transmission. The baseband signal is generated from the result of the encoding process. The encoded bits are
formed into a continuous square wave signal with two amplitude levels of 1 and -1. This signal is then
sampled x/8 times per bit, where x is the total number of samples in the signal in a period of 1 second.
From the formula;
𝐹𝑟𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑦 𝑅𝑒𝑠𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 =
1
𝑇
=
𝐹𝑠
𝑁
, (5)
where 𝐹𝑠 is the sampling frequency, 𝑁 is the number of samples in one full period, and 𝑇 is the period,
(𝑇=1). Hence, if x is 2048, the signal is sampled at 256 per bit and the sampling frequency is 2048Hz.
The non-return-to-zero transforms zeros ‘0s’ in the sampled bits to amplitude levels of ‘-1’. The sampled bits
become the baseband signal after the NRZ transformation is performed.
2.1.4. Modulation
Modulation is imposing the inherent characteristics of a baseband signal into a carrier signal. In this
way, the signal is prepared to be transmitted over a channel that is most likely to impair the signal [14].
The modulation scheme employed is the binary phase shift keying (BPSK). BPSK offers strong resistance to
noise across a channel [15].

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5886
Binary phase shift keying (BPSK) involves varying the phase of the carrier signal to provide
information on the baseband signal. Non-return-to-zero (NRZ) encoding is first applied to the encoded
message bits, converting the zeros to negative one (-1) and leaving the ones as 1. This signal is multiplied
with the carrier signal. In BPSK, the signal is shifted by 180 degrees for every bit transition [16]. The carrier
signal is given by 𝐴𝑠𝑖𝑛(2𝜋𝑓𝑡), BPSK is achieved by multiplication of the carrier signal and the baseband
signal such that,
𝑀𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑆𝑖𝑔𝑛𝑎𝑙 = 𝑥(𝑛) ∗ 𝐴𝑠𝑖𝑛(2𝜋𝑓𝑡) (6)
𝑀𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑆𝑖𝑔𝑛𝑎𝑙 = 𝐴𝑠𝑖𝑛(2𝜋𝑓𝑡), 𝑖𝑓 𝑥(𝑛) = 1 (7)
𝑀𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑆𝑖𝑔𝑛𝑎𝑙 = −𝐴𝑠𝑖𝑛(2𝜋𝑓𝑡) = 𝐴𝑠𝑖𝑛(2𝜋𝑓𝑡 + 𝜋), 𝑖𝑓 𝑥(𝑛) = −1 (8)
2.1.5. Channel
The channel simulated in this project is an (AWGN) additive white gaussian noise channel,
which is characterized by having a noise value present at every frequency in the frequency spectrum. It can
be simulated by a method in Java syntax called Random.nextGaussian(), which would generate a sequence of
numbers with a mean of 0 and standard deviation of 1 [17]. The process of transmission over the channel is
described using a flowchart in Figure 3.
Figure 2. Flowchart showing
encoding process
Figure 3. Flowchart showing transmission over
the channel
2.1.6. Demodulation
Demodulation is a process that seeks to obtain the baseband signal from the modulated signal.
The BPSK demodulator is obtained by generating a carrier signal which is at the same phase and of the same
frequency as the carrier signal for modulation at the transmitter and multiplying it with the received signal.
In practical, a phase locked loop (PLL) [18] or a costas loop [19] is used to obtain the frequency and phase of
the carrier from the received signal but however, designing a PLL is beyond the scope of this project. Hence,
a carrier signal is generated, which is at the same phase and known frequency of the carrier signal used for
modulation, and used to multiply the modulated signal [20].

5887
2.1.7. Filtering
The purpose of filters in a communication system is to remove unwanted frequency components of
a signal, implemented to remove noise or extract certain components of the signal. The filter used in this
project is a finite impulse response (FIR), low pass filter. The demodulated signal is passed through the filter
which would allow frequencies lower than the cut-off frequency and attenuate signals higher than the cut-off
frequency, with the assurance of stability in its operation. Filtering in the time domain is a process of
convolution of the filter coefficients and the demodulated signal [21]. If the length or number of taps of
a filter is given by 2𝑀 + 1, the impulse response of a finite impulse response low pass filter whose terms are
truncated to the length of the filter, is given by;
ℎ(𝑛) = {
Ω 𝑐
𝜋
𝑛 = 0
sin(Ω 𝑐 𝑛)
𝑛𝜋
𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑛 ≠ 0 𝑀 ≤ 𝑛 ≤ 𝑀
} (9)
The filter coefficients 𝑏 𝑛 is obtained by shifting the impulse response of the filter by M samples:
𝑏 𝑛 = ℎ(𝑛 − 𝑀) (10)
The filtered signal is finally given by:
𝑦(𝑛) = ∑ 𝑏𝑖 𝑥(𝑛 − 𝑖)2𝑀
𝑖=0 (11)
which is the convolution of the filter coefficients and the input signal.
Due to the truncation of the filter coefficients during FIR filter designing, Gibbs oscillations are
formed on the pass band of the filter [22]. A window function is multiplied with the filter coefficients to
produce a filter with fewer oscillations. The window functions used in this paper are;
- The rectangular window [23]
𝑤(𝑛) = 1, − 𝑀 ≤ 𝑛 ≤ 𝑀 (12)
- The bartlett window [23]
𝑤(𝑛) = 1 –
|𝑛|
𝑀
, − 𝑀 ≤ 𝑛 ≤ 𝑀 (13)
- The hanning window [23]
𝑤(𝑛) = 0.5 (1 + 𝑐𝑜𝑠
𝜋𝑛
𝑀
), − 𝑀 ≤ 𝑛 ≤ 𝑀 (14)
- The hamming window [23]
𝑤(𝑛) = 0.54 − 0.46 ∗ 𝑐𝑜𝑠
2𝜋𝑛
2𝑀
, 0 ≤ 𝑛 ≤ 2𝑀 (15)
2.1.8. Threshold detection
The filtered signal is sampled at the midpoint for each set of bits used to represent an input.
For example, if the signal was sampled at 2048 bits, the number of bits used to represent an input bit is
2048/8=256 bits. Hence, each set of 256 bits is sampled at midpoints, which could be 127, in this case.
If the sampled amplitude is greater than 0, it is converted to ‘1’, and if it is less than 0, i.e. near ‘-1’, it is
converted to ‘0’.
2.1.9. Decoder
On receiving the bits at the receiver, the bits are checked for errors first by checking the parity bit.
For an even-parity system, the number of “1”s are an odd number, it means that at least one bit is in error.
The parity bit is removed and what is left of the received bit sequence is modulo-2 vector multiplied with
the check (H) matrix. The H-matrix is given by:











1111000
1100110
1010101
H (16)

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5888
The hamming decoder utilizes the check matrix (H-matrix) to detect for the error in the received bit
sequence by modulo-2 vector multiplication with the received bits to obtain a syndrome matrix (S).
Assuming a received bit sequence of 10101010, after removal of the parity bit, the syndrome become,












































0
0
0
1
0
1
0
1
0
1
*
1111000
1100110
1010101
S (17)
The syndrome sequence is compared with the H-matrix, and the column that corresponds with
the syndrome matrix is the position with error in the received bit sequence. If the syndrome gives a sequence
of zeroes, it means that there is no error in the received bits sequence, and that the error indicated is in
the parity bit. The bit in the indicated error position is corrected. The received bit sequence is now ready to be
decoded. The corrected received bit sequence is modulo-2 vector multiplied with the decoding matrix,
denoted here as the R-matrix, to decode the signal. The original input bits and the decoded bits are compared,
and if there are any differences, the number of differences is the bits in error.
R=












1000000
0100000
0010000
0000100
(18)
2.1.10. Time and frequency analysis
The signal at each stage of the communication process would be analyzed by a virtual oscilloscope
that would display a two-dimensional plot of the signal as a function of time, and a virtual spectrum analyzer
that displays the magnitude frequency response of the signal. The frequency domain or spectrum of a signal
can be obtained by the Fourier transform of the signal. The Fourier transform of a signal gives the complete
description of the signal [24, 25]. Signals are easier analyzed and synthesized in their frequency domains.
For discrete time systems, the frequency spectra which is a function of continuous frequencies is obtained by
the discrete time Fourier transform (DTFT). The discrete spectra are obtained by sampling the DTFT in
a process known as obtaining the discrete fourier transform (DFT). The fast Fourier transform is used to
obtain the DFT of a sampled signal. The Radix-2 Decimation-in-Time Cooley-Tukey algorithm for obtaining
FFT of a signal was employed in this paper.
3. IMPLEMENTATION
3.1. Graphical user interface (GUI)
The GUI of the virtual laboratory shown in Figure 4 was built using Java Swing Forms, developed
in NetBeans, an integrated development environment (IDE) for Java. It is user friendly, and tasks can be
performed with just a click of buttons.
3.2. Performance of communication system using the virtual laboratory
The performance is obtained by plotting a graph of bit error rate (BER) on the y-axis, against the ratio
of the energy per bit to noise spectral density (Eb/No) on the x-axis. Eb/No is usually measured in decibels (dB).
Figure 5 gives a comparison of the simulated BPSK BER performance with and without the use of coding
schemes and the theoretical BPSK BER performance.
It was observed in Figure 5 that Hamming Code scheme has better BER performance, when compared
to the uncoded scheme. It shows that the communication system is less prone to errors when the Hamming
Code scheme is used before transmission, compared to when it is uncoded. This confirms with the theory that
there is a higher chance of receiving bits in errors when a coding scheme is not used before communication over
an AWGN channel.
It was also observed that the simulated BER performance with the Hamming Code scheme was very
similar to the theoretical BER performance. This is because the efficiency of the modulation scheme is
enhanced with the introduction of an error checking and correction mechanism. Hence, the Hamming Code

5889
can be used to check and correct errors in the communication system, thereby increasing the reliability and
efficiency.
As shown in Figure 6, the use of window functions makes the channel more prone to errors as
the Bit Error Rate is larger when window functions such as Hamming are used. This is because window
functions introduce a wider transition band in the frequency response of the demodulated signal.
The transition band is the band between the pass-band and the stop-band. The wider transition introduces
more errors in the system.
Figure 4. Graphical user interface of simulation package
Figure 5. BER comparison between simulated
(hamming and unencoded) and theoretical BPSK
Figure 6. BER performance using filter design
window functions

 ISSN: 2088-8708
5890
4. CONCLUSION
In this paper, a virtual laboratory software package for simulation of key data communication concepts
has been presented. It models a typical communication systems laboratory, which teaches key communication
concepts such as modulation, filtering and information coding. The system is easy to use, with a user-friendly
graphical user interface, and the simulation results show that errors can be combated using coding schemes,
which confirms with theoretical concepts. This package would facilitate the understanding of students taking
courses in Communication Systems in tertiary institutions and other interested users. This virtual laboratory is
also available at the convenience of learners and interested participants
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This work was supported by Covenant University, Ota, Ogun State, Nigeria.
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