On the Extended Relationships Among EVM, BER and SNR as Performance Metrics

TLDR

The study focuses on stream‑based communication systems using modulation schemes such as BPSK and QPSK, where relationships among EVM, BER, and SNR are examined. The authors aim to establish a mathematical relationship among EVM, BER, and SNR, demonstrating that EVM can replace or predict BER and SNR. They define a normalized EVM applicable to multi‑modulation systems and validate the relationships through Monte Carlo simulations. The results show that EVM is equivalently useful as BER and SNR, enabling substitution or prediction of these metrics.

Abstract

In this paper, we relate the error vector magnitude (EVM) bit error rate (BER) and signal to noise ratio (SNR). We also present the fact that with such relationship it would be possible to predict or in cases substitute EVM in places of BER or even SNR. In doing so, we first define EVM with normalization so that the definition stands for multi-modulation systems, viz. binary phas shift keying (BPSK), quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) etc. We also compare among the different performance metrics and show that EVM can be equivalently useful as signal to noise ratio and bit error rate. The relationships are based on stream based communication systems. A few Monte Carlo simulations are carried out to illustrate the performance of EVM based on these relationships.