Curs 2010-2011
Enginyeria de Telecomunicació
Instrumentació Electrònica (13335)
Number of Credits: 10,5
Number of Credits ECTS: 8,4
Student Effort (Total Hours): 210
Timing:
Year: 4th
Type: quarter
Number: 3rd
Introduction
The overarching objective of the module is to solidify, integrate and expand the skills and competences in communication theory acquired throughout the second year of the first cycle. To better achieve that goal, and to promote the participation of the student, the module is organized around a class project to be worked in groups. This project, which consists of building a wireless system simulator loosely based on the IEEE 802.16 WiMAX standard, offers the following benefits:
•· A sense of continuity throughout the quarter.
•· A system perspective of the roles played by the different blocks in modern communication transceivers.
•· An opportunity for team work.
•· Experience simulating a communication system.
•· Experience using MATLAB (or one of its open source counterparts such as OCTAVE).
•· A better understanding of the tradeoffs involved in the design of transmitters and receivers, and of the intricacies of a communication channel.
•· Familiarity with the WiMAX standard and with its main applications, strengths, and weaknesses.
The students are expected to show initiative in deciding on the best approaches to assemble the building blocks of the project as the respective themes are being covered, and in reasoning and justifying such approaches.
At the end of the quarter, a project report must be delivered reflecting the skills acquired. The module grade is partially determined by the project, suitably complemented by periodic quiz tests and a final test.
Prerequisites
This third-term module represents the pinnacle of the communication theory thematic area composed by the following first-cycle courses:
"Teoria de la Comunicació I"
"Teoria de la Comunicació II"
"Transmissió de Dades I"
"Transmissió de Dades II"
"Transmissió de Dades III"
The student must have followed the above courses. Specific notions that are required are:
•· Fourier transformation between the time and frequency domains.
•· Basic modulation and demodulation techniques.
•· Basic notions of signals and systems.
•· Basic notions of channel capacity and signal-to-noise ratio.
In addition, it is important to possess some general competences in order to follow the module successfully. These are summarized in the tables below.
|
Instrumental Competences |
|
Oral communication in English |
|
Problem solving |
|
Interpersonal Competences |
|
Interpersonal skills |
|
Systemic Competences |
|
Capacity to learn |
|
Capacity to adapt |
|
Capacity to apply knowledge to new situations |
|
Leadership |
|
Initiative |
Competences
The module intends to enable the acquisition and/or refinement of the general and technical competences listed below. Note that the degree of difficulty of each individual competence may differ and thus the time and effort required to learn, practice and assimilate the various competences may vary widely. The class project is meant to be a central element in the acquisition of most of the competences.
|
General Competences |
Specific Competences |
|
Instrumental
1. Capacity for project management and planning
2. Knowledge of a foreign language
3. Simulation software knowledge
4. Problem solving
Interpersonal
5. Teamwork
Systemic
6. Capacity to apply theoretical notions in practice.
7. Oral communication in English
|
1. Ability to assess the applicability of the IEEE 802.16 WiMAX standard to a given wireless access problem.
2. Capacity of determining the tone spacing and number of tones required for OFDM transmission in a given deployment scenario.
3. Ability to build and connect the basic blocks of a wireless communication system simulator.
4. Capacity of determining the correct operating point for a wireless access system with a given performance target.
5. Capacity of determining the appropriate modulation and coding format for a given set of system parameters in wireless access.
6. Capacity of quantifying the quality of service (throughput and reliability) that can be provided via a WiMAX system in a given scenario.
|
Grading
General grading criteria
The grade will be computed on the basis of three different components:
•· 5 quiz tests to be given throughout the quarter, out of which only the top 4 scores will be counted while the remaining one will be discarded. These quiz tests will be taken individually in class.
•· A class project, to be carried out in groups throughout the quarter. A single project report and the corresponding simulation code will have to be turned in by every group,
•· A final exam, to be taken individually, on which a minimum score of 4 out of 10 points will have to be obtained.
Further details on the relative weight of the various components are given in the table below.
|
Component |
Grading impact |
Grading agent |
Grouping |
% |
||||
|
Mandatory |
Optional |
Faculty |
Self |
Mutual |
Indiv |
S. Group |
|
|
|
Quiz tests |
x |
|
x |
|
|
x |
|
25 |
|
Project |
x |
|
x |
|
|
|
x |
40 |
|
Final exam |
x |
|
x |
|
|
x |
|
35 |
Those students failing the module because of an insufficient (below 4) score in the final exam will have a chance to retake the final exam in September, with the remaining grade components preserved.
Those students failing the module because of an insufficient overall grade will have a chance to take an alternate final exam in September for 100% of the grade. Note that this exam will be substantially more difficult than the regular final exam.
Detailed grading per competence
|
General Competences |
Success indicators |
Grading procedures |
Timing |
|
GENERAL COMPETENCES |
|
|
|
|
1. Capacity for project management and planning |
1. Delivery of class project |
1. Project grade |
1. Final |
|
2. Knowledge of a foreign language |
2. Attendance and participation |
2. Quiz tests, project and final exam |
2. Steady and final |
|
3. Simulation software knowledge |
3. Delivery of class project |
3. Project grade |
3. Final |
|
4. Problem solving |
4. Passing of quiz tests and final exam |
4. Quiz and final exam grades |
4. Steady and final |
|
5. Teamwork |
5. Participation in class project |
5. Project grade |
5. Final |
|
6. Capacity to apply theoretical notions in practice |
6. Participation in class project
|
6. Project grade
|
6. Final
|
|
7. Oral communication in English |
7. Attendance and participation |
7. Quiz tests grade |
7. Steady |
|
SPECIFIC COMPETENCES |
|
|
|
|
1. Ability to assess the applicability of the IEEE 802.16 WiMAX standard to a given wireless access problem |
1. Participation in class project
|
1. Project grade
|
1. Final
|
|
2. Capacity of determining the tone spacing and number of tones required for OFDM transmission in a given deployment scenario |
2. Passing of quiz tests and final exam
|
2. Quiz and final exam grades
|
2. Steady and final
|
|
3. Ability to build and connect the basic blocks of a wireless communication system simulator |
3. Delivery of class project
|
3. Project grade
|
3. Final
|
|
4. Capacity of determining the correct operating point for a wireless access system with a given performance target |
4. Delivery of class project
|
4. Project grade
|
4. Final
|
|
5. Capacity of determining the appropriate modulation and coding format for a given set of system parameters in wireless access |
5. Delivery of class project
|
5. Project grade
|
5. Final
|
|
6. Capacity of quantifying the quality of service (throughput and reliability) that can be provided via a WiMAX system in a given scenario. |
6. Delivery of class project |
6. Project grade |
6. Final
|
Content
Content Blocks
•- MATLAB/OCTAVE essentials
•- The Discrete Fourier Transformation
•- The mobile radio channel: fundamentals and modeling
•- OFDM transmission and reception
•- QAM modulation and demodulation
•- Channel coding and decoding
•- The WiMAX system and its applications
Methodology
Methodological Focus
This module is worth a total of 10,5 credit units (8,4 ECTS credit units), which map onto 210 hours of effort per student. Out of these, 61 hours correspond to class attendance and the rest to either individual or group work. The 61 hours of attendance break down into:
•· 14 hours of lectures.
•· 37 hours of practice.
•· 8 hours of tutorship activities.
The lecture sessions will be devoted to the presentation of the key concepts for each of the content blocks. The practice sessions will be devoted to discussing, assimilating, and putting these notions to practice with the help of MATLAB/OCTAVE and within the broad context of the class project.
The attendance will be organized as follows:
•· The lectures will be jointly attended by all the students in the course.
•· The practice sessions will include half the student population at a time. Groups A/B/C will practice together, as will groups D/E/F.
•· The tutorship sessions will be attended by each group (A, B, C, D, E and F) separately.
The structure of the groups will be made public at the start of the course, once the list of students is final.
The activity program at the end of this syllabus details the contents to be covered in each session.
A quiz test will be administered at the end of some of the content blocks (5 tests in total).
Learning Resources and BibliographyBasic bibliography.•· J. G. Andrews, A. Ghosh, R. Muhamed, "Fundamentals of WiMAX", Prentice Hall Communications Engineering and Emerging Technologies Series, 2007. ISBN 0-13-222552-2.•· A. Goldsmith, "Wireless Communications", Cambridge University Press, 2005, ISBN 0-521-83716-2.•· B. Sklar, "Digital Communications" (2nd Edition), Practice Hall Communications Engineering and Emerging Technologies Series, 2001, ISBN 0-13-084788-7.Additional bibliography.•· A. V. Oppenheim, A. S. Willsky, I. T. Young, "Signals and Systems", Prentice Hall International Editions, ISBN 0-13-811175-8.•· M. Engels, F. Petre, "Broadband fixed wireless access: a system perspective", New York: Springer, 2006.•· C. Edmund et al., "Wireless MAN: inside the IEEE 802.16 standard for wireless metropolitan area networks", New York: IEEE Press, 2006.Teaching material.•· Handouts delivered via Moodle.•· Slides delivered via Moodle.•· Quiz tests given in class.