ELE 486: DIGITAL COMMUNICATIONS AND NETWORKS (Spring Term)

Objective and scope:

This course, designed for seniors and 1st year graduate students, covers a broad range of topics that are essential to understand basic theory and principles behind today's advanced digital communications and networking technologies.

We start with introductory information theory and coding theory which provide principles of efficient and reliable communications in modern digital communication systems, independent of underlying hardware and communication medium.

We will then study a baseband transmission system and its optimum receiver structures. Intersymbol interference (ISI) and equalization. Partial-response coding and maximum-likelihood decoding (PRML) and its application to digital recording system; various modulation and corresponding demodulation schemes; the notions of multiplexing and multiple access schemes.

The final part of this course is networks. Network architecture and protocols, such as OSI Reference Model and TCP/IP of the Internet; medium access control (MAC) protocols such as Aloha and Ethernet protocols. Switching and routing technologies for wide area networks (WANs). The lecture will finish with an overview of cellular radio networks, wireless LANs and mobile ad hoc networks. If time permits, we will discuss some key issues in network security.

Prerequisites:

Working knowledge of undergraduate-level probability, random variables and linear algebra (matrix theory) is required. Familiarity with materials covered in "ELE 485: Signal Analysis and Communication Systems" is desirable.

Syllabus:

1. Introduction and Overview of Digital Communications

1.1 History of Telecommunications
1.2 Digital vs. Analog Communications
1.3 Enabling Technologies for Digital Communications
1.4 Communication Channels—Wired, Wireless, Optical
1.5 Networks for Digital Communications and Services

2. Introductory Information Theory

2.1 Entropy
2.2 Discrete Memoryless Source (DMS) and its Extended Source
2.3 Source coding and data compression
2.4 Shannon's Source Coding Theorem
2.5 Shannon-Fano coding, Huffman coding
2.6 Lempel-Ziv coding
2.7 Mutual information and Channel Capacity
2.8 Shannon's Channel Coding Theorem

3. Introductory Coding Theory

3.1 Concept of Error correction vs. Error Detection
3.2 Linear Block Codes
3.3 Parity Check Matrix and Generator Matrix
3.4 Galois Field
3.5 Cyclic codes
3.6 Hamming codes and Reed Solomon codes
3.7 CRC (cyclic redundancy check)
3.8 Convolutional code
3.9 Viterbi Algorithm

4. Continuous Channel and Signal Space

4.1 Continuous Channel
4.2 Signal space concept
4.3 Gram-Schmidt Orthogonalization Procedure
4.4 Parseval's Identity in Vector Spaces
4.5 Shannon's Channel Capacity Formula for a Continuous Channel
4.6 Capacity Formula for MIMO (multiple-input, multiple-output) Channel

5. Optimum Receivers

5.1 Maximum Likelihood Receiver
5.2 MAP (maximum a posteriori probability) Receiver
5.3 Correlation Receiver
5.4 Matched Filter

6. Baseband Data Transmission and Digital Recording

6.1 Baseband Data Transmission System
6.2 ISI (intersymbol interference) and Equalization
6.3 Analogy between Digital Recording and Data Transmission
6.4 PRML (partial response coding, maximum likelihood decoding)

7. Digital Modulation

7.1 Digial Modulation and Demodulation
7.2 Baseband Equivalent of Modulated Signals
7.3 Coherent, Non-Coherent, Partially Coherent Modulation
7.4 ASK (amplitude shift keying) Modulation
7.5 PSK (phase shift keying) Modulation
7.6 FSK (frequency shift keying) Modulation
7.7 DPSK (differential phase shift keying) Modulation

8. Multiplexing and Mulitple Access Schemes

8.1 FDM (frequency division multiplexing)
8.2 TDM (time division multiplexing)
8.3 FDMA vs. TDMA
8.4 CDMA (code division multiple access) and Orthogonal Signaling
8.5 OFDM (orthogonal frequency division multiplexing)
8.6 UWB (ultra wideband), FH (frequency hopping) and Spectrum Spreading

9. Communication Networks

9.1 Network Architectures and Protocols
9.2 OSI (open system interconnection) Reference Model
9.3 TCP/IP (transmission control protocol/internet protocol) of the Internet
9.4 MAC (medium access control) Protocols--ALOHA, Ethernet Protocols
9.5 Wireless LANs (local area networks) and IEEE 802.11 Protocols
9.6 Cellular Wireless Networks
9.7 Switching & Routing in WANs (wide area networks)
9.8 Mobile Ad Hoc Networks
9.9 Network Security

Reading materials:

No text is required. About a dozen books on some of the topics listed above will be put on reserve in the Engineering Library. Draft manuscripts of a book under preparation by H. Kobayashi, Digital Communications and Networks (tentative title) will be distributed in each class.