Modulation systems can be very complex and most of the times contain also other subsystems like, for instance, error correction and multiplexing. Research in this area is constantly evolving, becoming therefore essential to construct a system that can be easily improved, both in the laboratory as well as at the location where the device is operating.

To do so, an hardware framework must be developed. The communication system is composed by amplifiers, ADC/DAC, Variable Gain Control (VGC), transducers, network layer, auxiliary electronics and a FPGA core. This FPGA core will be the system brain, providing a digital signal processing unit that has the higher influence on the system performance. Using an FPGA as system core, the whole system can be upgraded and improved at any time by simply connect a computer to the main board, providing that the other components remain unchanged.

After building the hardware prototype, the modulation system can be made by programming the FPGA core. To do so, System Generator should be used. System Generator is integrated with Simulink to provide a short time in the simulation to implementation process. The whole system can be mixed with Simulink blocks as is being made, providing a fast big picture notion of the final system. Hardware co-simulation is made possible by Xilinx technologies (e.g. using System Generator and MAT-LAB/Simulink to verify models on real hardware). System Generator converts the Xilinx Simulink blocks into a .bit file that can be used to program the FPGA. After programming the system becomes ready to communicate.