Lectures

  • Tuesdays and Thursdays: 12:30 – 13:45

  • Location: SH-127

Office hours

  • Tuesdays: 14:00 – 16:00 or by email appointment

Textbook

  1. B. Sklar, Digital Communications: Fundamentals and Applications, 2nd Ed., Prentice Hall, 2001. (recommended)

  2. H. Nguyen and E. Shwedyk, A First Course in Digital Communications, 1st Ed., Cambridge University Press, 2009. (optional)

Syllabus

Course description

This course examines the transmission of information (voice, video or data) over a noisy channel and presents the ideas and techniques fundamental to both analog and digital communication systems. Emphasis is placed on system design goals and the need for trade-offs among basic system parameters such as signal-to-noise ratio, probability of error, and bandwidth expenditure. Topics include noise characterization, sampling, quantization, binary baseband/passband digital data transmission, M-ary modulation techniques (M-ASK, M-PSK, M-QAM and M-FSK), matched filter receivers, signaling over band-limited channels and methods to deal with intersymbol interference (ISI). Advanced topics of equalization and OFDM are introduced (if time permits).

Course objectives

  1. Analyze signal characteristics and system behavior in both time and frequency domains

  2. Understand the fundamental principles behind digital modulation

  3. Understand the fundamental principles behind digital demodulation and detection

  4. Analyze the error performance of binary communication in the presence of Gaussian noise

  5. Develop the link budget of a communication system.

Intended audience

  • Senior and graduate students