Synopsis

The subject of digital communications involves the transmission of information in digital form from a source that generates the information to one or more destinations. This course extends the knowledge gained from ECS332 (Principles of Communications) and ECS315 (Probability and Random Processes). Basic principles that underlie the analysis and design of digital communication systems are covered. This semester, the main focus includes performance analysis (symbol error probability), optimal receivers, and limits (information theoretic capacity). These topics are challenging but the presented material are carefully selected to keep the difficulty level appropriate for undergraduate students.

Announcements

  • Information regarding the final exam
    • 15 Oct 2013
    • TIME 13:30 - 16:30
    • ROOM BKD 2501-2
    • Closed book. Closed notes. A formula sheet will be provided.
      • Each one of you can fill in any text/formula that you want.
        • Max. 50 symbols (or characters).
        • No figure/diagram.
        • Copies of this sheet will be provided in the exam.
        • Submit this sheet with your exam.
    • Basic calculators, e.g. FX-991MS, are permitted.
    • 10 pages + 1 cover page
    • 9 questions + 1 extra-credit question (1.5 pt)
    • Cover all the materials that we discussed in class and practice in the HWs.
    • Approximate material distribuation (score-wise)
      • Sections 7-9: 45%
      • Section 10: 20%
      • Section 11: 25%
      • Section 12: 10%
      • Section 13: 1 pt extra credit
    • Extra Q&A slot: 9-10AM, Oct 14 (in my office, if we have many participants, we may move to the lab.)
    • Extra Review Session: 10-11AM, Oct 14 (in the lab BKD3515)
  • Midterm Score Distribution [Posted @ 4:30 PM on Aug 7]
  • Information regarding the midterm exam
    • 6 Aug 2013 TIME 13:30-16:30
    • ROOM BKD 3207
    • Closed book. Closed notes. No cheat/study sheet.
    • Basic calculators, e.g. FX-991MS, are permitted
    • 10 pages + 1 cover page
    • 6 Questions (12 + 14 + 20 + 20 + 23 + 11)
    • Cover all the materials that we discussed in class and practice in the HWs.
      • These notes are provided for your studying pleasure....
      • Approximate material distribuation (score-wise)
        • Sections 1&2: > 10%
        • Section 3: > 10%
        • Section 4: 30%
        • Section 5: 5%
        • Section 6: > 40%
      • Make sure that you
        • study all the HW questions (and their solutions)
        • know
          • the formula for the pdf of the Gaussian RV
          • how to use the Q function
          • how to integrate exponential functions (for dealing with exponential RV)
    • Extra Office Hours: All day on Monday, August 5.
      • Note that Dr.Prapun will be proctoring exam (Room 410, 411, 412) at Rangsit in the morning of August 6 (Tuesday). Therefore, it is better to visit him on Monday. However, he probably can sneak out and answer some short questions/discussion on Tuesday morning as well.
  • This site can be accessed via ecs452.prapun.com
  • A basic RSS feed is created to track and inform updates
  • Welcome to ECS452! Feel free to look around this site.

General Information

Handouts and Course Material

  • Slides: Course Introduction[Updated @4PM on July 25]
  • Sections 1-3: Elements of a Digital Communication System; Mathematical Models for Communication Channels; PAM: A Digital Modulation Scheme
  • Section 4: Signal Space Representation of Waveforms
  • Section 5: Constellations for Digital Modulation Schemes [Distributed in class on June 25]
  • Section 6: Optimal Detection for Additive Noise Channels: 1-D Case [Distributed in class on July 2]
    • Annotated version [Posted @9PM on July 9; Updated @5PM on July 11, @9PM on July 16, and @5PM on July 18]
    • More notes [Posted @5PM on July 18; Updated @4PM on July 25]
    • Slides [Posted @4PM on July 25]
  • Section 7: Optimal Detection for Additive Noise Channels: K-D Case
    • OneNote [Posted @ 8PM on Aug 14; Updated @ 8PM on Aug 15, @ 9:30PM on Aug 20, and @ 10PM on Aug 25 to include the proof of MAP detector]
    • Solutions for Quiz 2
  • Section 8: Random Processes and White Noise [Distributed in class on August 22]
    • Annotated version [Posted @ 5PM on Aug 22; Updated @ 9PM on Aug 27 and @ 4:30PM on Aug 29]
  • Section 9: Optimal Detection for Waveform Channels
  • Section 10: Information Theoretic Quantities
    • Notes [Posted @12PM on Sep 11; Updated @ 11AM on Sep 18, @ 9:30PM on Sep 19, and @ 9PM on Sep 24]
    • Quiz 4 Solution[Posted @ 11AM on Sep 18]
    • Slides [Posted @ 10PM on Sep 23; Updated @ 9PM on Sep 24]
  • Section 11: Channel Capacity
    • Slides [Posted @ 4:30PM on Sep 26]
      • Correction:
        • On page 18, should be "Rectangular Quaternary QAM" instead of "QPSK"
        • On page 22, the definition of differential entropy should use integration wrt. x instead of summation.
      • Annotated version [Posted @ 10AM on Oct 2]
    • Quiz 5 Solution [Posted @ 5:30PM on Oct 2]
    • MATLAB Code: Minimum Distance (ML) Decoder
  • Section 12: Channel Encoding [Updated @ 4:30PM on Oct 3; Fixed @ 9PM on Oct 10]
    • Correction: On page 9, the size of the 0 matrix at the end of the page should be k x (n-k)
  • Section 13: Fading and MIMO [Updated @ 4:30PM on Oct 3]

Problem Set

  1. HW 1 (Due: July 24)
  2. HW 2 (Not Due)
  3. Self-Evaluation (Due: August 23)
  4. HW3 (Due: Sep 17) [Updated @ 11:30AM on Sep 11]
  5. HW4 (Due: Oct 4)
  6. HW5 (not due) [Updated @ 3PM on Oct 11]
    • Solution[Updated 7PM on Oct 13]
    • Correction: In the solution for Q1b, the second factor in the product should have Q(d/2sigma), not Q(-d/2sigma). The solution is updated accordingly.
  7. Self-Evaluation (Due: 6PM, Oct 15)

Calendar



Reading Assignment

  1. Proakis and Salehi, 2007, Sections 1.1 and 1.3
  2. Proakis and Salehi, 2007, Sections 3.2-1
  3. Proakis and Salehi, 2007, Sections 2.2
  4. Proakis and Salehi, 2007, Sections 4.1-1, 4.2-1

Misc. Links