ELG4179: Wireless Communication Fundamentals (Fall 2023)

(under construction, frequently updated)


Announcements:

 

 

Assignment 6 has been posted.

Assignment 5 has been posted.

 

Important info. from Couch’s book: read Appendix B, Chapters 6, 7 (indicated sections).

 

****

Lab 3 and 4 guidelines have been posted.

 

Assignment 3 has been posted.

 

Question 2 of Assignment 2 has been slightly updated – please download and use updated Assignment 2 (posted now).

 

Labs will begin on Sep. 19. Everyone must attend. Lab guidelines have been posted – please read carefully and do preparation part before coming to the lab.

 

Tutorials will begin on Sep. 20.

 

Office hours: Wednesdays, 5-6pm.

 

First class: Sep. 6 (Wed.), 11:30, FTX 232

 

Download and print the lecture slides before attending the class (do not assume they will be available online forever – network outages do occur). Important announcements will be made – do not miss it.

 

See Lecture 1 (below) for more info.

 

Labs will start on Sep. 19, tutorials – on Sep. 13.

No tutorial first week. No Labs first two weeks.

See below for extra info.

 

Midterm: Wed. Oct. 18, 11:30-12:50, regular lecture place/time.

 

 

Course information:

see Lecture 1 for info and schedule.


Office hours:


 

Wednesdays, 5-6pm.

You are encouraged to ask questions during lectures (additionally, time will be allocated at the end of each lecture).  You may also use email (put “ELG4179” in the subject line if you expect an answer) but only for brief non-technical questions that have not been already answered in the class.

Lectures:

 

Lecture slides (please take notes in the class as not all information is included in the slides):

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

 

 

Wi-Fi: History & Overview

 

 

Assignments:

 

Assignments: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

 

Remember that very little is gained by reading the solution to a problem before seriously attempting to solve it.” W. Briggs, Ants, Bikes and Clocks: Problem Solving for Undergraduates, 2005.

 

Please include in your solutions all the intermediate results and their numerical values (if applicable). Detailed solutions with explanations are required, not just the final answers; all symbols used must be defined, including units used (e.g. f = frequency [Hz], L = path loss [dB]). Missing explanations, symbol definitions/units will be penalized. Your answers should demonstrate the full extent of your knowledge and the latter will determine your marks.

 

Plagiarism (i.e. “cut-and-paste” from a student to a student, other forms of “borrowing” the material for the assignment) is absolutely unacceptable and will be penalized. Each student is expected to submit his own solutions. If two (or more) identical or almost identical sets of solutions are found, each student involved receives 0 (zero) for that particular assignment. If this happens twice, the students involved receive 0 (zero) for the entire assignment component of the course in the marking scheme and the case will be send to the Dean’s office for further investigation.

Assignment marks:

 

On Brightspace

 

 

Quiz marks:

 

 


Additional material:

“5G Networks Are Performing Worse”

Metamaterials Could Solve One of 6G’s Big Problems

Comparator


Laboratories:

 

Labs guidelines: 1, 2, 3, 4

Lab schedule is here.

Please note that the preparation part has to be done before coming to the lab!

Useful Matlab documentation/functions are here:

Examples and demos (video), videos 1, 2, 3, 4, 5; extensive documentation, user-defined functions

Useful functions: hist, histc, cumsum, sum, rand, randi, randn, plot, axis, semilog

RF Explorer® Signal Generator: User Manual, RF Explorer® Spectrum Analyzer: User Manual

 

 

Tutorial:

 

See Lecture 1 for schedule.

Teaching Assistants:

Milad Dabiri (tutorials, assignments), mdabi038@uottawa.ca , office hours: Mon. 5-6pm (CBY B508)
Bo Xu (Labs), bxu040@uottawa.ca

Course Textbook:

T.S. Rappaport, Wireless Communications: Principles and Practice, Prentice Hall, New Jersey, 2002. (2nd Edition). (available on amazom.com(ca)).

Additional References:

* B.A. Black et al, Introduction to Wireless Systems, Prentice Hall, Boston, 2008.

* J.W. Mark, W. Zhuang, Wireless Communications and Networking, Prentice Hall, 2003.

* T.S. Rappaport et al, Millimeter Wave Wireless Communications, Prentice Hall, 2015.

 

The following 2 books are mostly undergraduate communications textbooks (ELG3175):

* R.E. Ziemer, W.H. Tranter, Principles of Communications, Wiley, New York, 2009.

* L.W. Couch II, Digital and Analog Communication Systems, Prentice Hall, 2013.

* J.M. Wozencraft, I.M. Jacobs, Principles of communication engineering, Wiley: New York, 1965.

 

 

The following 3 books are mostly graduate-level textbooks:

* G.L. Stuber, Principles of Mobile Communications, Kluwer, Boston, 2011.

* D. Tse, P. Viswanath, Fundamentals of Wireless Communications, Cambridge, 2005.

* A. Molish, Wireless Communications, Wiley, 2011.

 

The following 3 books deal with simulation issues:

* M.C. Jeruchim et al, Simulation of Communication Systems: Modeling, Methodology, and Techniques, Kluwer, New York, 2000.

* J.G. Proakis et al, Contemporary Communication Systems Using MATLAB and Simulink, Thomson & Books/Cole, 2004.

* W.H. Tranter et al., Principles of Communication Systems Simulation, Prentice Hall, 2004.

 

Practical Systems (cellular):

 

E. Dahlman et al, 5G NR: The Next Generation Wireless Access Technology, Academic Press, 2020.

A. Ghosh et al, Fundamentals of LTE, Prentice Hall, 2011.

 

Math handbooks (to refresh your math skills):

 

* G.A. Korn, T.M. Korn, Mathematical Handbook for Scientists and Engineers, Dover, 2000.

* I.N. Bronshtein et al, Handbook of Mathematics, Springer, 2004.

* E. Zeidler, Oxford User’s Guide to Mathematics, Oxford University Press, 2004.

 

If you need some physics:

 

W. Benenson et al (Ed.), Handbook of Physics, Springer, 2002.

 

 


Midterm Exam:

 

See Lecture 1 for schedule.

 

* The midterm will cover all the topics discussed in the class before the midterm, with special emphasis on the topics included in the assignments, labs and tutorials.

* Closed-book examination. Non-programmable calculators only are allowed; no any other electronic devices are permitted. One page (single-sided, letter format) of reference material (formulas etc.) is allowed. Everybody must do the exams individually, no group work/collaboration/consultation is allowed.

* No students’ questions will be answered by the instructor or the proctors during the exam.

* Your answers have to demonstrate the full extent of your knowledge.
* Write legibly, communicate efficiently (that is, understandable to others). This is not less important than the technical accuracy of your answers.

* Please include in your solutions all the intermediate results and their numerical values (if applicable). Detailed solutions with explanations are required, not just the final answers/equations; all symbols used must be defined, including units used (e.g. f = frequency [Hz], L = path loss [dB]). Missing explanations, symbol definitions/units will be penalized. Your answers should demonstrate the full extent of your knowledge and the latter will determine your marks.

* Exam marks are determined by academic performance only, not by bargaining abilities, and will not be negotiated.

 

Criteria for marking are here.

 

 

 

Final Exam:

 

See the university web site for the schedule.

 

Same rules as for the midterm (above), except:

 

* Two pages of reference material (single-sided, letter format) are allowed.

* The final exam will cover all the topics discussed in the class (including lectures, tutorials, labs, assignments) with special emphasis on the material included in the assignments, tutorials and the labs.