An Automated Method for BER Characteristics Measurement

Abstract

Traditionally, the bit error rate (BER) characteristics were measured for a certain number of bit-energy-to-noise ratio ( Eb/No). For each point, a sample of r bits is used, which depends on the expected BER value. The smaller BER value, the bigger the sample r. Thus, to obtain the same accuracy at each point, a method of trial and error should be used. Therefore, this method extends the time of measurement and measures BER values at all points with different accuracy. This paper presents a method which allows the automated and accurate measurement of the BER characteristics at a number of points with equal accuracy at each point by using the minimum sample size r. The method is tested by measuring BER characteristics of an FFSK modem.