Welcome to Communication Engineering
Telecommunication systems are everywhere in modern societies, and great progress has been made in the field of
telecommunications in recent years. The development is still going on and will be for coming years, both in terms
of technology itself and its utilisation. It is therefore clear that there will be demand for knowledge on
telecommunications in years to come. In this course, basic understanding of telecommunications will be provided
emphasising the system view. The course begins by a short review of the history of telecommunications.
Following is a discussion of major signal treatment methodologies before and after transmission over a communications
channel, both for analogue and digital transmission. An introduction to telecommunications media will be given, wireless
and wired telecommunications, amplitude and angle modulation, multiplexing and multiple access, random processes and
noise in telecommunication systems. How to design a telecommunication system with respect to signal-noise ratio,
digital modulation techniques, eye diagrams and Shannon’s law on channel capacity. Finally, data encoding and decoding
will be introduced, how to detect and even correct errors. The teaching will be in the form of lectures and discussions.
Problems will be solved in class and home assignments given.
Learning Outcomes
At the end of this course, a student shall be able to:
- design and calculate the properties of systems using amplitude or angle modulation
- describe and implement digital modulation methods and receiving concepts
- explain and calculate the performance of systems in the presence of noise
- describe and explain the limitations faced when designing telecommunication systems
- explain and implement communications among multiple users
- help solving telecommunication problems in the industry
- conduct further studies in telecommunications
Weekly Schedule
This is the schedule for the course RAF501G
| Week | Date | Time Slot (GMT) | Topic |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 (18–22 August 2025) |
Monday, 18 August | 10:00 – 12:20 | Introduction to the subject, an informal overview of the history of communications, and a discussion of the course. |
| Thursday, 21 August | 08:20 – 09:50 | ||
| 2 (25–29 August 2025) |
Monday, 25 August | 10:00 – 12:20 | Fourier methods, communication signals, and various fundamental principles. |
| Thursday, 28 August | 08:20 – 09:50 | ||
| 3 (1–5 September 2025) |
Monday, 1 September | 10:00 – 12:20 | Amplitude Modulation (AM). |
| Thursday, 4 September | 08:20 – 09:50 | ||
| 4 (8–12 September 2025) |
Monday, 8 September | 10:00 – 12:20 | Angle modulation (FM and PM) |
| Thursday, 11 September | 08:20 – 09:50 | ||
| 5 (15–19 September 2025) |
Monday, 15 September | 10:00 – 12:20 | Phase-Locked Loops (PLL). |
| Thursday, 18 September | 08:20 – 09:50 | ||
| 6 (22–26 September 2025) |
Monday, 22 September | 10:00 – 12:20 | Student lectures on Wi-Fi measurements. |
| Thursday, 25 September | 08:20 – 09:50 | ||
| 7 (29 September – 3 October 2025) |
Monday, 29 September | 10:00 – 12:20 | High- and low-frequency radios, software-defined radio. |
| Thursday, 2 October | 08:20 – 09:50 | ||
| 8 (6–10 October 2025) |
Monday, 6 October | 10:00 – 12:20 | Propagation of radio waves, radio link budget calculations, and an introduction to information theory. |
| Thursday, 9 October | 08:20 – 09:50 | ||
| 9 (13–17 October 2025) |
Monday, 13 October | 10:00 – 12:20 | Mobile communication systems, particularly 4G and 5G. |
| Thursday, 16 October | 08:20 – 09:50 | ||
| 10 (20–24 October 2025) |
Monday, 20 October | 10:00 – 12:20 | Digital communications: an introduction (including PAM, PPM, PDM, PCM, and multiplexing). |
| Thursday, 23 October | 08:20 – 09:50 | ||
| 11 (27–31 October 2025) |
Monday, 27 October | 10:00 – 12:20 | Digital communication systems and signals, covering coding, modulation, video communications, line coding, eye diagrams, and Nyquist conditions for distortionless transmission. |
| Thursday, 30 October | 08:20 – 09:50 | ||
| 12 (3–7 November 2025) |
Monday, 3 November | 10:00 – 12:20 | Noise in communications. |
| Thursday, 6 November | 08:20 – 09:50 | ||
| 13 (10–14 November 2025) |
Monday, 10 November | 10:00 – 12:20 | Coding. |
| Thursday, 13 November | 08:20 – 09:50 | ||
| 14 (17–21 November 2025) |
Monday, 17 November | 10:00 – 12:20 | MIMO and OFDM, with an introduction to several communication systems. |
| Thursday, 20 November | 08:20 – 09:50 |