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EENG22000
Communications
This version of the EENG22000 unit was adapted for delivery during the Covid-19 pandemic. A number of adaptations have been made to accommodate the constraints on learning, teaching and studying. These include: A reduction of the course syllabus of around 10% to reduce student workload Removal of the assessed laboratory assessment (commonly referred to as the ‘Modem lab’) to further reduce student workload Adjustments to the lecture delivery to create a suite of smaller modular ‘lectures’ for asynchronous online study Arrangements for Synchronous teaching activities Addition of online tests in preparation for the final summative assessment taking place online as opposed to the normal written examination under controlled conditions Throughout the remainder of this course content directly addressing these Covid-19 adaptations will appear in this boxed format. THIS VERSION IS AN INTERIM VERSION COVERING PARTS 0-2. A REVISED VERSION COVERING ALL OF SECTIONS 0-4 WILL BE PROVIDED AT A LATER DATE.
0. Introduction Throughout the last century electronic communications systems have made massive progress in terms of the service that they are capable of providing. Analogue wireline technology progressed from simple telegraph systems to telephony. Analogue radio has facilitated television and radio broadcasting and even early mobile telephone technology. However, with the advent of digital signal processing technology, communications has evolved into a digital age where a previously unimaginable range of services can be provided and the use of sophisticated communication technology is a ubiquitous feature of human life. Modern wireless communications systems are capable of supporting robust and reliable access to data and the mobile phone and WiFi services are simply taken for granted. High speed, low latency communications, video streaming, cloud computing access and more or less any other application the individual user can dream of accessing can be facilitated. Even highly demanding services such as mobile cloud gaming are now reaching the mainstream user. Simultaneously, cable and fibre technologies have evolved to provide the infrastructure capable of meeting our mass needs. Now, not all communication even has a human user with machine to machine communications rapidly expanding for application such as smart cities, smart grid, smart transport and digital health care. Whilst wireless, cable and fibre links all pose significantly different challenges and opportunities in the design of communications systems, many of the techniques employed to address these challenge have a degree of commonality. 0.1. Who and what is this unit for? This course is intended to provide the student with an introduction to the fundamental concepts of communications systems as applied to a wide variety of different applications. Emphasis is placed on the concepts and terminology used in communications systems and not on complex mathematical proofs and analysis. The goals of the unit are for students: To understand the language of communication engineers and be able to use it competently themselves To understand the physical limits of communication systems and consequently what is possible and what is not possible To understand the wide variety of significant challenges faced in the design of communication systems To understand various options in system design (factors such as modulation schemes, coding rates, filtering parameters) For to be able to design a good communication system for a given scenario
For some students this unit will be the first in a sequence of communication focussed units that you will study. This unit will provide the foundation for your communication engineering education. A plethora of later units will enable you to specialise your expertise further and study more advanced aspects of communications. These units include Mobile Communication Systems, Advanced Mobile Radio Techniques, Broadband Wireless Communications, Coding Theory, Networking Protocol Principles, Advanced Networking, Optoelectronic Devices and Systems, Optical Communications Systems and Data Networks, Data Centre Networking. You likely won’t be able to study all of these units but many will be available, depending upon which programme you are studying. Other students may choose to specialise in area other than communications (hey, no one is perfect!) but many other areas of engineering and science make use of communications and a basic knowledge of communications will still support your studies in those areas. For example, take a look at a computer. Count the number of communications interfaces you can see on the outside of a desktop PC or Laptop. If you are really keen, take it apart! USB, HDMI, Ethernet, Wifi PCI, SATA, etc – these are all communication interfaces. Over the course of this unit we will learn techniques used in 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G mobile, WiFi, Bluetooth, ADSL, DOCSIS and Fibre (Broadband), USB, Ethernet, Television and Broadcast Radio and many other technologies that people use in everyday life. While you study this unit, think of yourself as a communication engineer. That’s the way that I will address you in the lectures and in these notes. Whilst you may not pursue a career in communications during study or beyond, try to retain that mindset whilst studying this unit. 0.2. Unit Structure This unit is structured into four parts: Part 1 provides an introduction to the fundamental concepts of communications, including the basic building blocks of a communications system, various factors engineers have to consider in their designs and then moves on to identify a number of numerical metrics that apply to communication systems relates them together in a key theorem; the Shannon capacity theorem. Part 2 covers the basic forms of digital bandpass modulation available to the communications engineer. Part 2 keeps this simple by considering only binary modulation and considering modulation of the Amplitude, Frequency and Phase of a waveform in turn. Part 3 explores more advanced modulation schemes by considering what we can achieve with non-binary modulation and by modulating more than one property of the waveform. Throughout parts 2 and 3, filters are seen to be used in communications systems. The details of these filters are important but aren’t discussed in detail in parts 2 and 3. Thus
in part 4, we investigate these filters in detail. Part 4 also explores the concept of error control coding which is another key tool in the design of communication systems. 0.3. Learning Materials A suite of materials is provided to aid study. This suite consists of: This course handbook, which discusses all the topics in the syllabus in detail. Sections 1-4 of this handbook correspond directly to parts 1-4 of the course. A set of lectures, recorded, so that you the student can watch them in your own time (so called ‘asynchronous study’). A timetabled schedule of ‘synchronous’ classes. This is where we will meet as a group (whether virtually or in person) to discuss the syllabus topics in detail. Problem sheets; 1 per part of the course, as outlined above, to be taken in your own time. Questions will be released after the synchronous sessions for each part of the course is complete. Online tests; 1 per part of the course to be taken within a scheduled window. These tests will be indicative of the final unit assessment if it takes place online. Some software lab experiments which will enhance understanding through experimentation. These software lab experiment activities will be led by Dr Tommaso Capello. All of this material will be provided on ‘Blackboard’, the Universities Online Learning Environment. 0.4. Recommended Texts Whilst the materials described in section 0.3 above provide the essential study material the following texts are recommended as optional supporting reading material for this course: 1. Digital Communications, Andy Bateman, Addison Wesley, 1998 2. Communication Systems (3rd/4th Edition), S Haykin, Wiley, 1994 3. Communication Systems, F G Stremler, Addison Wesley, 1990 4. Principles of Communication Systems (2nd Edition), Taub & Schilling, McGraw-Hill. 5. Communication Systems: An Introduction to Signals and Noise in Electrical Communication, A B Carlson, McGraw Hill, 1968
0.5. Mathematical Background Students are expected to have good understanding of the following mathematical concepts: Fourier series and analysis Fourier transforms Time/frequency representation of signals Trigonometric identities and substitutions. Class 1 will provide an overview of the whole course and introduce the supporting resources.