Physical Communication

6 ECTS credits
150 h study time

Offer 1 with catalog number 4012756ENR for all students in the 1st semester at a (E) Master - advanced level.

Semester

1st semester

Enrollment based on exam contract

Impossible

Grading method

Grading (scale from 0 to 20)

Can retake in second session

Yes

Taught in

English

Faculty

Faculteit Ingenieurswetenschappen

Department

Electricity

Educational team

Dries Peumans (course titular)

Activities and contact hours

18 contact hours Lecture
72 contact hours Seminar, Exercises or Practicals

Course Content

This course focusses on the practical aspects of the physical layer of the OSI communication model. Its aim is to give hands-on experience in setting up a wired or wireless communication system. To make the course accessible to students with various background, from novices to specialists, the course starts with a recap of the important telecommunications aspects required to practically build the physical layer of a communication system. This includes

the properties of both wired (coax, twisted pair, optical fiber) and wireless channels (statistical channel models);
single carrier modulation (from BPSK to QAM) and concepts such as Bit-Error-Rate, Raised-Cosine filtering, and practical aspects of carrier and time synchronization;
multi-carrier modulation (including OFDM for WiFi and Digital Subscriber Loops (xDSL)) and concepts such as fast fading, cyclic prefix, the use of a preamble for symbol synchronization (to determine the start of the OFDM symbol), carrier synchronization (to synchronize the carriers of the transmitter and the receiver), channel estimation (to compensate for the frequency dependent behavior of the channel).

After the introductory lectures, an assignment will be defined where the student must put theory into practice. This assignment can be done either individually or in small groups. The aim of the assignment is to design/simulate/test a communication link with all the practical aspects that come with it. This will be done using the MATLAB communication toolbox and a Software Define Radio: the USRP of Ettus (https://www.ettus.com). This enables to easily perform the computations and simulations in MATLAB while using a real wireless channel (using the USRP) to test the implemented methods.

Students new to telecommunication will receive enough theoretical background to be able to make their own (basic) communication system. Students that already followed other telecom classes will need to focus less on the introductory lectures but will receive a more challenging assignment in order to convert their theoretical knowledge gathered over the years into practice.

Additional info

Student notes in the format of slides, articles and book references will be provided to the students.

Learning Outcomes

Algemene competenties

Acquisition of practical knowledge on the physical layer in the OSI model of a communication system: the PHY-layer. This includes the knowledge on wireless and wired transmission media, and digital modulation techniques. Practical applications such as xDSL, WiFi, DAB, and cellular radio (GSM/GPRS/UMTS/WiMAX) will be used as illustrations in the course.

End terms:

Knowledge and insight: The practical aspects of the physical layer in a communication channel must be known and understood.
Judgement: Ability to solve practical problems regarding the included topics, including a critical thinking to perform a SWOT-analysis to determine the different pros and cons of technologies used.
Communication: One should be able to report orally and written on the subjects treated.
Learning skills: With the acquired knowledge, one should be able to understand the technology of the physical layer of a telecom technology.

Grading

The final grade is composed based on the following categories:
Oral Exam determines 100% of the final mark.

Within the Oral Exam category, the following assignments need to be completed:

oral exam with a relative weight of 100 which comprises 100% of the final mark.

Additional info regarding evaluation

The assessment of the course is done using an oral defense of the practical assignment. The student will have to present the obtained results, the learned topics, the encountered obstacles and their solutions. The marks are given according to the increment of knowledge that the student obtained by learning the theory and executing the assignment.

Allowed unsatisfactory mark

The supplementary Teaching and Examination Regulations of your faculty stipulate whether an allowed unsatisfactory mark for this programme unit is permitted.

Academic context