The objective of this course is to provide a deeper understanding of the physical layer issues that are significantly different for wireless communications as compared with wired communications. It will not cover the basic concepts of modulation as it used to in the past (this is moved into TELCOM 2210), but will instead look at advanced topics in the physical layer. This includes a study of radio propagation in different environments, its effects on digital transmission, and the modulation and coding techniques that are employed to overcome its effects in wireless systems. This class is required as part of the preliminary exam for all Ph.D. students in Telecommunications. This term, we will try to cover direct-sequence spread spectrum, orthogonal frequency division multiplexing, and multiple-input multiple-output transmission in detail.

Prerequisites:

Signals and Systems, Calculus, knowledge of Fourier Transforms, and Probability

Contact Information:

Prashant Krishnamurthy
Office: DIST 718
Phone: 412-624-5144
E-mail: prashant AT mail DOT sis DOT pitt DOT edu
Course webpage: http://www2.sis.pitt.edu/~prashant/tel2710
Office hours: Tuesdays: 10:00 a.m. - 12.00 noon or by appointment
GSA: Ce Liu (cel38 AT pitt DOT edu)

Textbooks:

Required: Modern Wireless Communications - S. Haykin and M. Moher; Prentice Hall, 2005. (ISBN: 0-13-022472-3)

Recommended: Fundamentals of Wireless Communication - David Tse and Pramod Viswanath, Cambridge University Press, 2005 (ISBN: 0-521-84527-0)

Also recommended: Matlab Students Edition with Simulink/Communications Toolbox

References:

Wireless Information Networks, 2Ed - Kaveh Pahlavan and Allen Levesque, John Wiley and Sons, 2005. (ISBN: 0-471-72542-0)

Radio Propagation for Modern Wireless Systems - Henry Bertoni, Prentice Hall

Digital Communications, 4Ed. - John Proakis, McGraw Hill

Grading:

Homework 25%
Midterm 20%
Paper/Project/Presentation 20%
Final 35%

Policies:

All work must be the student's own unless collaboration is explicitly permitted

Late assignments will not be accepted unless there are exceptional circumstances.

Homework is due ONE week after it is assigned unless otherwise mentioned.

Homework will be assigned every week unless otherwise mentioned.

Check for homework on the webpage even if it is not explicitly mentioned in class

Keep checking the webpage for other changes regularly

All written work must be legible and clear to receive credit. Vagueness in your work leading to misinterpretation is not a valid reason for credit.

Course Outline:

This schedule is only a guideline and is subject to change depending on the progression of the course. It will get updated with time.

Week 1: Wireless Systems; Overview of traditional modulation techniques for wireless

Week 2: Digital Communications 101

Week 3: M-Ary Modulation and QPSK Variants

Week 4: Radio propagation I: Large scale fading

Week 5: Radio propagation II: Small scale fading

Week 6: Mitigation techniques; Concept of Diversity

Week 7: Error Control Coding

Week 8: Midterm exam; Coding continued

Week 9: Direct sequence spread spectrum

Week 10: Spreading Codes and CDMA

Week 11: OFDM

Week 12: MIMO - I

Week 13: MIMO - II

Week 14: Final exam