Year
2021
Units
4.5
Contact
3 x 1-hour lectures weekly
6 x 2-hour tutorials per semester
7 x 2-hour laboratories per semester
Enrolment not permitted
1 of ENGR3731, ENGR8831 has been successfully completed
Assumed knowledge
Ability to understand and apply electronic circuits incorporating operational amplifiers, diodes, transistors, such as can be obtained in ENGR8703 Electronics GE. Experience in an electronics laboratory using oscilloscopes and function generators, such as can be obtained in ENGR8703 Electronics GE. Ability to understand and apply concepts from linear time-invariant systems, such as can be obtained in ENGR8722 Analysis of Engineering Systems GE.
Topic description

Spectral Density and Noise: energy and power spectral densities; transmission of noise through LTI systems; equivalent noise bandwidth; available power and noise temperature; noise figure; antenna and sky noise temperatures.

Amplitude Modulation: modulation and demodulation techniques and systems for double sideband suppressed carrier, double sideband large carrier, single sideband, and vestigial sideband; frequency division multiplexing; superheterodyne demodulators; signal-to-noise ratios in AM reception.

Angle Modulation: frequency modulation; phase modulation; narrowband FM; wideband FM; modulation and demodulation techniques and systems for FM signals; demodulation of FM signals; signal-to-noise ratios in FM reception.

Information Theory: measure of information; joint and conditional entropy; channel matrix and channel capacity; source coding theorem; coding algorithms; noiseless coding theorem; code efficiency.

Baseband pulse and digital signalling: pulse code modulation; differential pulse code modulation; delta modulation; digital signalling formats; intersymbol interference.

Bandpass digital signalling: binary signalling; multilevel signalling; minimum-shift keying; comparison of bandpass digital signalling systems.

Educational aims

This topic aims to introduce students to the concept, treatment and analysis of noise in communication systems, the basic concepts of information theory and its application to coding and communication, linear and exponential continuous-wave modulation and demodulation techniques, the methods and issues in transmitting analogue messages along digital communication systems, the range of techniques for modulating and demodulating digital information for transmission through a communication system, and the comparison of different communication systems in terms of issues such as noise, bandwidth and information rate.

Expected learning outcomes
On completion of this topic you will be expected to be able to:

  1. Analyse the time-average effect of noise in communication systems
  2. Understand and apply the modulation and demodulation techniques for continuous-wave communication systems
  3. Apply information theory to the coding of information and the calculation of the capacity of a channel
  4. Understand and apply the modulation and demodulation techniques for digital baseband and bandpass communication systems
  5. Critically evaluate and compare different modulators and demodulators