ECE 515 Digital Communications

A first graduate-level course in digital communications. Functions and interdependence of various components of digital communication systems will be discussed. Statistical channel modeling, modulation and demodulation techniques, optimal receiver design, performance analysis techniques, source coding, quantization, and fundamentals of information theory will be covered in this course. 3 credit hours.

  
   
   
Prerequisite
  

Graduate Course in Probability and Stochastic Processes or equivalent; Undergraduate Courses in Signals and Linear Systems and Linear Algebra. +/- grading policy will used. The course cannot be taken for S/U grading.

 
Course Topics and Objectives  
  • Basic elements of digital communication systems; communication channels; mathematical models; brief history; performance measures.

    Objective: The student will learn to identify the functions of different components of a digital communication system.

  • Probability and Stochastic Processes Review.

    Objective: The student will recall some mathematical concepts necessary for the remainder of the course.

  • Characterization of Signals and Systems, Bandpass Signals and Systems, Signal Space Representations, Spectral Characteristics of Digitally Modulated Signals.

    Objective: The student will covert a digital bandpass signal to an equivalent complex lowpass signal, represent a digital signal using several modulation methods, draw signal space diagrams, and compute spectra of modulated signals.

  • Optimum Receivers for the Additive Gaussian Noise Channel, Correlation and Matched Filter Receivers, Performance of the Optimal Receiver.

    Objective: The student will design correlation and matched filter receivers, compute the probability of error for several demodulators, and compare modulation methods based on the error rate and spectral efficiency.

  • Introduction to Information Theory---Source Coding and Channel Capacity and Coding. Entropy, Source Models, Source Coding, Quantization, Average Mutual Information, Channel Models and Channel Capacity. Principles of source coding and quantization will be introduced.

    Objective: The student will learn about theoretical bounds on the rates of digital communication systems.

Textbook  

Proakis, G., Digital Communications, McGraw-Hill, Fourth Edition. ISBN: 0-07-232111-3.

 
Computer and Internet Requirements  

NCSU has recommended minimum specifications for computers used for classes. Depending on your computer needs, we recommend your computer meet or exceed the following minimum specifications below.

PCs must have an Intel-compatible 800 MHz processor, 256 MB RAM, 8 GB hard drive with 1 GB free space available, 256 Color Display, CD-ROM drive, 800x600 (min.) video adapter, sound card, and speakers. The operating system should be Windows 2000 or XP. Real One Player Basic (available free online) and high speed Internet connection such as cable, DSL, T1 or LAN will be required for EOL courses.

MAC users must have a G3 processor with firewire and USB factory built-in, 256 MB RAM, 10 GB with 1GB free space available, 256 Color Display, CD-ROM drive, 800x600 (min) video adapter, sound card, and speakers. The operating system must be MacOS 10.3 (minimum) along with the above RealOne and Internet specifications above .

For more detailed information on computer specifications and recommendations, please refer to our website at: http://engineeringonline.ncsu.edu/currentstudents/computeraccess.htm

 

Instructor  

Dr. Alexandra Duel-Hallen, Professor
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
North Carolina State University
Engineering Building II, 2096
Campus Box 7911
Raleigh, NC 27695-7911

Phone: 919.515.7352
Fax: 919.515.5523
Email: sasha@ncsu.edu