Olivia MFSK Ver

Olivia Mode operating from the MixW Ver. 2.18 multi-mode program

(Olivia by SP9VRC) (MixW by UT2UZ & UU9JDR)

New hybrid MFSK with FEC; Signal sounds like bubbles under the water; Signal looks like Dots on a waterfall

Olivia MFSK with Walso FEC was developed for ionosphere made distortions and weak signals.

Digital mode approval: http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/regulations/techchar/

Hardware:

A RIGblaster (1ea), Soundcard speaker cables: Radio Shack-42 2387 (3ea).

RIGblaster:

Strap P1 to match your radio's Microphone. (i.e. RJ45 IC706 page 9). Set Audio Level

Control full clockwise. Swith VOX/AUTO to AUTO, apply power. Cable RIGblaster to

radio and computer, as shown in RIGblaster manual’s hookup diagram. The RIGblaster

interface will allow computer speakers to continue to operate for music etc.

Note: Don't use low impedance un-amplified speakers.

Computer Downloads to MixW folder:

MixW v216 v2.18 http:/mixw.net/downloads/ OLIVIA & Q15X25

Registration, Once registered you will receive a registration Email File; copy the File into the MixW Folder.

Windows Sound card setup:

Master Volume: Master Volume to 1/3 of the way up - Balance slider to the center

Wave Volume to 1/3 of the way up - Balance slider to the center

Line In Volume to 2/3 of the way up - Balance slider to the center

Microphone Volume to 1/3 of the way up

PC Speaker Volume to 2/3 of the way up

Recording Controls: Line In SELECT - Volume to 1/3 of the way up - Balance slider to the center

Note: Turn the computer speaker volume control knob most of the way, but not all of the way down.

Radio setup:

Set the IF Filter to 2.7KHz

Set Audio RF to MAX

Set AF to 1/4

Set VFO to: 14107.5

Set Transmitter output power to ¼ manufacturer’s rated RF power output, 25 watts or

less is a good operating setup for a 100 watt transmitter, to provide linear performance.

Set Mode to USB

Set Processor to OFF and SWR ON

Adjust Tuner for 1:1

Set ALC to ON and SWR OFF

ALC can remain (on) to control drive limit.

MixW Setup:

Click MixW2 Icon

Click Help – Register (follow instructions)

Registration: Once Registered you will receive a Registration Email and an Attachment. Copy the Attachment into the

MixW folder and unzip and save a copy to a backup Disk.

Click Configure - Select Personal data - enter ONLY your Callsign, fill out whatever other data is called for. After your

amateur Callsign is entered in the personal data area, the program will then be Registered.

Click Configure – Select Merge Macros – TRCVR select Kenwood, COM1, AFSK, Use WAE Select: Merge macros – TRCVR CAT/PTT (select COM1) - Use WAE country list -

Click View - Select Spectrum – Select RF, USB – Select Waterfall

Click View – Select CAT Bar, Select Control bar – CAT bar – Tuning Indicator – World Map – Status Bar – Underline text Display slashed zero

UTC – Flashing TX – Always show IMD – Use default RST

Click Options: Select AFC – Snap - RX – Clear QSO – Auto Search Auto CQ = Watch Squelch

Click Mode – Olivia – Mode Settings Select AFC Tones 16 Bandwidth 500 Allow Manual Tuning

Click Mode – Packet – Mode Settings – Modem – Select Q15X25 (Mode Q15X25)

Click on TX button (transmission starts).

Adjust RIGblaster Audio Level Control, stopping as transmitter output power reaches MAX

(ie. 25 watts) keep an eye on your ALC so that ALC does not occur; run with NO ALC

indicating occurring; any ALC indicating, results in your TX Signal being distorted,

and causing harmonics.

Stop TX (Ctrl+R)

Note: The RIGblaster Audio Level Control is the most precise way to adjust the

Soundcard output voltage into the radio. The Microsoft Volume controls were

designed to vary the voltage, through a range of reasonable outputs for Speakers;

They were not designed to be adjusted so precisely as to be reliable set to

5 millivolts.

Recommended frequencies: USB

KHz KHz Tone Hz

1.838 1.838.5 8 500

1.838 1.838.5 16 500

1.840 1.840.5 16 500

1.840 1.840.5 32 1000

3.584 (Net 02:00 UTC)

3.582 3.583.5 3.586.5

7038.5 7072.5

10136.5 10137.5 10138.5

14.104.5 14.107.5 14.108.5 14.111.5

18102.5 18103.5 18104.5 21129.5

Clusters: 14.070 14.105.5 14.106.5 14.108.5

The European bandplan.
Frequencies   Should be the same in USA except for 40M.
Standard Frequency and Parameters
KHz         KHZ       Tone                   Hz
7038,5    7039        16/32            500/1000
10138.5 10139      16/32             500/1000
14108,5 14109      32                    1000 Call Frequency
14107,5 14108      32                    1000
14106,5 14107      32                    1000
14106,5 14106      32                    1000
14076,5 14077      8/16               250/500 Alternative DX Channel
14090,5 14091      8                       250 Narrow Band - Frequency
21129,5 21130     32                     1000

To Operate:

Click on MixW Icon

To TX a CQ Click AutoCQ

To Stop TX of AutoCQ, Click Option – AutoCQ – Stop

To CALL, Click CALL or CALL3 and enter Station CALLsign

To Transmit:

Click TX (TX window is activated)

(Olivia starts transmission)

Type your message in TX window

Click RX (Olivia goes into RX) to end transmission

To Find Olivia Stations: DX-SPOT ?

Connect to Internet with the Olivia MFSK Online Finder page

http://N1SU.US/olivia_online.html

to see Stations on Olivia, & show others you are operating Olivia.

type: Call - Freq. - Locator - Text ie. T32 BW1000 M16 - Click Submit

Other Stations will answer on Online Table over Internet with their: Call, Freq,

location and text message.

Use the Update Form Data Text message window to pass-on any additional information:

before, during or after QSO.

MUF Charts: http://www.arrl.org/qst/propcharts/

DX Summit: http://oh2aq.kolumbus.com/dxs/

DX Spots: http://hamcall.net/dxspots (input from DX Summit)

DX-Telnet v5.2 http://www.golist.net

DX Spot: http://www.ng3k.com/misc/cqc2005.html

DX Scape: http://www.dxscape.com/ww.html

DX ers: http://www.dxers.info/index.php

Reflector: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/oliviadata/

SACMan Cabrillo manual log v2.11

Characteristics:

Doesn't tollerate coherant interferance & non-uniform freq.response.

Good with weak signals

S/N: Decodes signals that are 10db below noise (w/1000Hz bandwidth).

MFSK 15 wpm FEC: Welsh 64 point, to represent 7-bit ASCII

Tones: 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256 (increase for bad propagation)

Bandwidth set: 125, 250, 500, 1000, 2000

M (auto-tune): 2 (+/- 46 Hz) , 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 156

For the Signal to Noise performance, transmissions can still be

decoded when the signal is 10 db below the Noise, where the Noise

power is measured within the 1000Hz bandwidth.

The new radio communication mode, which is a hybrid of MFSK and a FEC (Forward Error Correcting) code based on Walsh functions. I named this new mode “Olivia”, which is as well the name of my daughter.

SP9VRC I want to give thanks to the following people:

Fred OH/DK4ZC and Les VK2DSG for first tests on the Europe-Australia path
Fred OH/DK4ZC and Altti OH2HN for first tests on a short (but fairly weak and unstable) path within Finland
Chris VK3DNH for the first graphical user interface under Windows

The characteristics of the “Olivia” mode I developed the “Olivia” mode for weak signal QSO. For this reason I have chosen the MFSK (Multi-Shift Frequency Keying) modulation, as it is a good FEC code in itself and its waveform has an almost constant envelope, so that the radio transmitter can work at its maximum power. As well MFSK passes well through the ionosphere made distortions.

The disadvantage of MFSK is that it does not tolerate well coherent interferences and non-uniform frequency response of the transmission channel. Coherent noise is often present on HF and the amateur-grade receivers use low pass filters in the audio chain, thus the “Olivia” demodulator passes the audio first through a spectral preprocessor, which attempts to remove coherent signals and then equalizes the frequency response. This at least partially compensates for the MFSK deficiency in that matter.

The default settings for the “Olivia” mode are to send 32 tones spaced by 31.25 Hz at the rate of 31.25 baud. This results in 1000 Hz of total bandwidth. However, the user can chose to send 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128 or 256 tones and the total bandwidth can be set to 125, 250, 500, 1000 or 2000 Hz. The correct baud rate is calculated according to the number of tones and the bandwidth.

After the modulation I have chosen the FEC code on top of it: I decided to try the Walsh functions, which can be easily decoded with the Fast Hadamard Transform (FHT). I have chosen the size to be 64 points (like in the MT63 protocol) so that a 64-bit Walsh function can represent a 7-bit ASCII characters.

To spread the MFSK demodulator errors over several characters, the 64-bits of a Walsh function are placed each in a different MFSK symbol. This defines the block size of the FEC code to be 64 symbols and so one FEC block takes 2.048 seconds to transmit at 31.25 baud. This has the consequences for the tolerance of error bursts or fading.

The overall arrangement results in 5 characters being sent every 2 seconds, thus the typing speed is 2.5 characters per second for the default settings. This corresponds to about 15 words per minute (WPM). For the signal to noise performance, the simulation shows that the transmission can be still decoded when the signal is 10 dB below the noise, where the noise power is measured within the 1000 Hz bandwidth.

Olivia MFSK - From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The Olivia transmission system is constructed of two layers: the lower, modulation layer is an (almost) classical Multi-Frequency Shift Keying (MFSK) and the higher layer is a Forward Error-Correcting (FEC) code based on Walsh functions.

The modulation layer: MFSK The default mode sends 32 tones within the 1000 Hz audio bandwidth and the tones are spaced by 1000 Hz/32 = 31.25 Hz. The tones are shaped to minimize the amount of energy sent outside the nominal bandwidth.

The blue trace represents the more classical Hanning window, which was used in the first version of the system.

The exact shape formula is: +1.0000000000+1.1913785723*cos(x)-0.0793018558*cos(2x)-0.2171442026*cos(3x)-0.0014526076*cos(4x) where x ranges from – π to π.

The coefficients represent the symbol shape in the frequency domain and have been calculated by a minimization procedure which seeked to make the smallest crosstalk and the smallest frequency spillover. I reserve the right to change the shape slightly in case I find a better match. Such a change however should not affect significantly the performance or compatibility.

The tones are sent at 31.25 baud or every 32 milliseconds. The phase is not preserved from one tone to the next: instead a random shift of ±90 degrees is introduced in order not to transmit a pure tone, when same symbol is repeatedly sent. Because the symbols are smoothly shaped we do not need to keep the phase continues, which normally is the case when no (e.g. square) shaping were used.

The modulator uses the Gray code to encode 5-bit symbols into the tone numbers.

The waveform generator is based on the 8000 Hz sampling rate. The tones are spaced by 256 samples in time and the window that shapes them is 512 samples long. The demodulator is based on the FFT with the size of 512 points. The tone spacing in frequency is 8000 Hz/256 = 31.25 Hz and the demodulator FFT has the resolution of 8000 Hz/512 = 15.625 Hz thus half of the tone separation.

To adapt the system to different propagation conditions, the number of tones and the bandwidth can be changed and the time and frequency parameters are proportionally scaled. The number of tones can be 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128 or 256. The bandwidth can be 125, 250, 500, 1000 or 2000 Hz.

The error-correcting layer: FEC based on Walsh functions

The modulation layer of the Olivia transmission system sends at a time one out of 32 tones (the default mode). Each tone constitutes thus a symbol that carries 5 bits of information. For the FEC code, 64 symbols are taken to form a block. Within each block one bit out of every symbol is taken and it forms a 64-bit vector coded as a Walsh function. Every 64-bit vector represents a 7-bit ASCII character, thus each block represents 5 ASCII characters.

This way, if one symbol (tone) becomes corrupted by the noise, only one bit of every 64-bit vector becomes corrupt, thus the transmission errors are spread uniformly across the characters within a block.

The two layers (MFSK+Walsh function) of the FEC code can be treated as a two dimensional code: the first dimension is formed along the frequency axis by the MFSK itself while the second dimension is formed along the time axis by the Walsh functions. The two dimensional arrangement was made with the idea in mind to solve such arranged FEC code with an iterative algorithm, however, no such algorithm was established to date.

The scrambling and simple bit interleaving is applied to make the generated symbol patterns appear more random and with minimal self-correlation: this avoids false locks at the receiver:

Bit interleaving: The Walsh function for the first character in a block is constructed from the 1st bit of the 1st symbol, the 2nd bit of the 2nd symbol, and so on. The 2nd Walsh function is constructed from the 2nd bit of the 1st symbol, the 3rd bit of the 2nd symbol, and so on.

Scrambling: The Walsh functions are scrambled with a pseudo-random sequence 0xE257E6D0291574EC. The Walsh function for the 1st character in a block is scrambled with the scrambling sequence, the 2nd Walsh function is scrambled with the sequence rotated right by 13 bits, the 3rd with the sequence rotated by 26 bits, and so on.

The Draft Specification For The Olivia HF Transmission System

The Olivia transmission system is constructed of two layers: the lower, modulation layer is an (almost) classical Multi-Frequency Shift Keying (MFSK) and the higher layer is a Forward Error-Correcting (FEC) code based on Walsh functions.

The modulation layer: MFSK

The default mode sends 32 tones within the 1000 Hz audio bandwidth and the tones are spaced by 1000 Hz/32 = 31.25 Hz. The tones are shaped to minimize the amount of energy sent outside the nominal bandwidth.

The tones are sent at 31.25 baud or every 32 milliseconds. The phase is not preserved from one tone to the next. Instead, a random shift of ±90 degrees is introduced in order not to transmit a pure tone, when same symbol is repeatedly sent. Because the symbols are smoothly shaped we do not need to keep the phase continues, which normally is the case when no (e.g. square) shaping were used.

The modulator uses the Gray code to encode 5-bit symbols into the tone numbers.

The error-correcting layer: FEC based on Walsh functions

The modulation layer of the Olivia transmission system sends at a time one out of 32 tones (the default mode). Each tone constitutes thus a symbol that carries 5 bits of information. For the FEC code, 64 symbols are taken to form a block. Within each block one bit out of every symbol is taken and it forms a 64-bit vector coded as a Walsh function. Every 64-bit vector represents a 7-bit ASCII character, thus each block represents 5 ASCII characters.

The scrambling and simple bit interleaving is applied to make the generated symbol patterns appear more random and with minimal self-correlation: this avoids false locks at the receiver:

Bit interleaving: The Walsh function for the first character in a block is constructed from the 1^st bit of the 1^st symbol, the 2^nd bit of the 2^nd symbol, and so on. The 2^nd Walsh function is constructed from the 2^nd bit of the 1^st symbol, the 3^rd bit of the 2^nd symbol, and so on.

Scrambling: The Walsh functions are scrambled with a pseudo-random sequence 0xE257E6D0291574EC. The Walsh function for the 1^st character in a block is scrambled with the scrambling sequence, the 2^nd Walsh function is scrambled with the sequence rotated right by 13 bits, the 3^rd with the sequence rotated by 26 bits, and so on.

References:

http://n1su.us/olivia (a how to)

http://n1su.us/olivia_online.html (find others on Olivia)

http://members.aol.com/f6cte/index_anglais.htm (Multipsk v3.9)

http://www.hharc.org/amsftware.htm (test software)

http://dx.qsl.net/propagation

MixW v2.16.exe http://mixw.net/downloads/MixW216.exe

MixW Modes http://mixw.net/beta/modes.zip ModeOlivia3.zip plug-in & Q15X25dll.zip

VK2DSG [email protected] (ver. 1 Beta)

Olivia/Multipsk v3.11: http://multipsk.eqth.org/index.html

DominoEX http://www.qsl.net/zl1bpu/domino/index.htm

US Packet: http://www.uspacket.org/plan_a.html