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     ECE 582 Wireless Communication Systems
 

Covers the theory and analysis of wireless mobile communication systems. Provides a fundamental understanding of the unique characteristics of these systems. Topics include: Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Time Division Multiple Access (TMDA), Mobile radio propagation, characterization of a Rayleigh fading multipath channel, wireless channel capacity, diversity techniques, channel coding, and modulation/demodulation techniques. Although cellular and personal communication services (PCS) standards are covered, the course stresses fundamental theoretical concepts that are not tied to a particular standard. 3 credit hours

  
     

Prerequisite
  

B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering, a course on Probability and Random Variables, with at least one senior-level course in Digital Communication Systems or consent of instructor.

 
Course Objectives  

Upon successful completion of this course, students will: Be able to layout cell sites given an assumed number of users; Understand the relationship between cell sectoring and capacity; Become familiar with the propagation mechanisms: reflection, refraction, and scattering, and how they affect the wireless communication link; Gain experience with important outdoor propagation models; Understand how to characterize a wireless channel via parameters such as coherence bandwidth, delay spread, Doppler spread, and coherence time; Understand how mobile motion, fading and multipatch affect received signal strength; Develop an understanding of digital modulation techniques used in wireless communication systems; Know how channel coding techniques are used to increase the spectral efficiency of wireless communication systems; Know the chief parameters and specifications pertaining to the air interface of the important cellular standards; Be able to analyze and design new wireless communication systems by understanding the fundamentals that drive the design of all these systems.

 
Course Requirements  

HOMEWORK: Eight (8) assignments (10%)

EXAMINATIONS: Midterm (40%) and Final (40%)

SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS: N/A

PROJECTS: One (1) paper design project (10%)

 
Textbook  

Goldsmith, Andrea, Wireless Communications, Cambridge University Press; ISBN: 0-521-83716-2.

 
Computer and Internet Requirements  

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  • Mac OS X 10.4.8 or later
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Instructor  

Dr. Keith Townsend, Professor
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
North Carolina State University
2104 EB II (Engineering Building II)
Campus Box 7911
Raleigh , NC 27695-7911

Telephone: (919) 515-7353
Fax: (919) 515-5523
E-Mail: jkt@ncsu.edu
Instructor Website: http://www4.ncsu.edu/~jkt/