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Introduction to Communication Systems
Fall 2012/2013

⇒ to time table and download of class material

News

• Final Exam: The final exam will take place on
  • Tuesday, 15 January, 12:20–15:10 (Note that this is ONE HOUR EARLIER than usual!)
  Location: Engineering Building IV, Room 303 (ED303)
  Regulations:
  • open-book: allowed are any textbook, personal notes, and the class' exercises including solutions
  • not allowed are: computer, telecommunication devices, official or inofficial solution manuals of textbooks, any "friend" or other help from outside...
  • covered material: everything covered in class during the whole semester
  • style: similar to mid-term exam
  • recommendation: bring along a pocket calculator for simple quick calculations
• Class Evaluation: The class evaluation will be online until 13 January. I would very much appreciate your feedback, so please spend a couple of minutes to fill out the online form! Thanks!
• Conference: The class on 13 December will be canceled due to a conference.
• Mid-Term Exam: The mid-term exam will take place on
  • Tuesday, 13 November, 12:20–15:10 (Note that we start ONE HOUR EARLIER than usual!)
  Location: Engineering Building IV, Room 303 (ED303)
  Regulations:
  • open-book: any books or notes are allowed
  • not allowed are: computers, any telecommunication devices like mobile phones, any "friend" or other help from outside...
  • covered material: everything we covered in class up to and including Chapter 15
  • style: similar to exercises, only easier... :-)
  • recommendation: bring along a pocket calculator for simple quick calculations

Course Description

The major goal of Introduction to Communication Systems (or, as it was called before, Principles of Communication Engineering I) is to teach students about the basic principles underlying the operation and design of a communication system. It is a core course for students in communications. The course will cover the following topics:

• Random processes
• Basics of modulation
• Continuous-wave modulation
• Pulse modulation
• Baseband digital transmission
• Signal-space analysis

These topics follow roughly the first five chapter of the class' textbook (Haykin).

We expect a student who finishes the course to be able to understand the basic operating principles of current communication systems. Moreover, we sincerely hope that a student who learns the course material will be equipped with the ability to analyze and design a communication system.

Prerequisites

The following lectures/topics are recommended:

• Probability
• Basics in real analysis
• Basics in complex numbers
• Basics in linear algebra

Instructor

Prof. Stefan M. Moser
Engineering Building IV, Office 727 (ED727)
phone: 03-571 21 21 ext. 54548
e-mail:

Teaching Assistant

In case you would like to discuss some questions in Chinese, you may contact the TA of this class:

• Lee Ting-Hsuan
  e-mail:
  Office: Engineering Building IV, Lab 716A (ED716A)
  Phone: 03-571 21 21 ext. 54630

To make our and your life easier, let's agree on the following rule: You may contact or visit the TA at any time also outside of office hours. However, if you haven't made an appointment in advance, she has the right to tell you that she hasn't got time right at that moment.

Time and Place

The course is scheduled for 4 hours per week:

• Tuesday, 13:20–15:10 (EF), Engineering Building IV, Room 303 (ED303)
• Thursday, 13:20–15:10 (EF), Engineering Building IV, Room 303 (ED303)

The course starts on Tuesday, 18 September 2012, and finishes on Thursday, 17 January 2013.

Office Hours

NCTU requests that every teacher offers two hours per week where students may come to ask questions. I will, of course, also do so:

• Tuesday, 15:30–17:30, Engineering Building IV, Office 727 (ED727)

However, we would like to encourage you to show up in the teacher's or teaching assistants' office at any time whenever you have questions about the class or related subjects. Moreover, we are always available during and after classes.

Textbook

• Simon Haykin: “Communication Systems,” 4th ed., Wiley, 2001.
• Amos Lapidoth: “A Foundation in Digital Communications,” Cambridge University Press, 2009.

Additional recommended readings:

• Robert G. Gallager: “Principles of Digital Communication,” Cambridge University Press, 2008.

Further readings:

• R. E. Ziemer and W. H. Tranter: “Principles of Communications,” 5th ed., Wiley, 2002.
• John G. Proakis: “Digital Communications,” 4th ed., McGraw-Hill, 2001.

For certain topics there will be additional handouts during classes.

Exercises

Every week, an exercise will be distributed in class and also made available online for download. This exercise will consist of several problems that need to be solved at home and handed in during the class of the following week. A model solution will be distributed and made available online afterwards.

We believe the exercises to be extremely important and crucial to the understanding of the course. They also serve as a preparation for the mid-term and final exams and we therefore highly recommend to solve them. To pass the course you need to hand in at least 10 exercises.

Exams

There will be one mid-term and one final exam. Both exams are going to last three hours and be open-book. Details about the covered material in the mid-term exam will be published in due time. The final exam will cover everything taught in class.

Grading

The grade will be an average of

• the homework and class participation (15%),
• the mid-term exam (35%), and
• the final exam (50%).

The grade of the homework will not be based on the correctness of the answers, but rather on the effort the student shows in trying to solve them. Moreover, I will try to reward students who participate actively in class.

This course is worth 3 credits.

Special Remarks

The lecture will be held in English.

Time Table

Note that some details of this program might change in the course of the semester.

Note that some linked documents in this table can only be downloaded within NCTU and NTHU!

-||-   _|_ _|_     /    __|__   Stefan M. Moser
[-]     --__|__   /__\    /__   Senior Scientist, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
_|_     -- --|-    _     /  /   Adjunct Professor, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taiwan
/ \     []  \|    |_|   / \/    Web: https://moser-isi.ethz.ch/