EL 639: Wireless Communication Systems Fundamentals

Fall 1999, Polytechnic University, Westchester campus

Thursday, 6:00 - 8:00pm

Instructor:  Pravin Bhagwat
                 IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center
                 Yorktown Heights, New York.
                 (914)-784-6495
                 pravinb@us.ibm.com
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Textbook

Wireless Communications: Principles and Practice
Theodore S. Rappaport
Prentice Hall, ISBN 0-13-375536-3
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Announcements

  • We need to schedule makeup classes for Sep 16 & Oct 21.
  • Due date for the project proposal is Oct 14.
  • Dr. Srini Rao will be our guest speaker on Nov 4. 
  • Dr. Richard Han be our guest speaker on Nov 11th. 
  • The class on Nov 18th. will be held in two parts. In the first hour, Ibrahim Korpeoglu will speak on GSM architecture.  The mid-term exam. will he held in the second hour.
  • Due date for the project report is Dec 9.
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Course Overview

Part I:  Wireless physical layer:
Radio propagation characteristics, signal loss, multipath fading, interference, channel coding, modulation, equalization, error correction, and use of spread spectrum.
Part II: Link & Network Layer
Media access methods: Aloha network/carrier sense methods, MACA for packet radio;
Wireless LANs; Frequency reuse/cellular/microcellular design concepts.
Part III: Case studies
GSM as a case study of the wireless system: link protocols, hand-off, mobility, roaming, billing/authorization/authentication; Mobile IP protocol and variations; Cellular Digital Packet Data (CDPD) standard; 

Finally, subject to time availability, the following topics will also be covered: packet radio schemes, multiuser detection, & emerging wireless standards activities.
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Course Grading

  • Final Exam: 50 %
  • Mid term 25%
  • Project Report 25%

Project suggestions

        You can select a project from here or pick a topic of your choice.
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Tentative Course Plan
Overview
9 Sept '99
Difference between wired and wireless systems, spectrum allocation and characteristics.
Overview of standards activities. 
Review of basic concepts: relation between channel bandwidth and channel bit rate; Fourier transform, Shannon's capacity theorem.

Review exercises
 
Radio Propagation: path loss
23 Sept 99
Simplified mobile radio environment: propagation characteristics of electromagnetic waves, particularly VHF and UHF bands; 
Basic propagation mechanisms: reflection, diffraction, and scattering;
Path loss model; link budget analysis;

Further reading:

  • J. B. Andersen, T. S. Rappaport, S. Yoshida, "Propagation Measurements and Models for Wireless Communications Channels," IEEE Communications Magazine, (January 1995), pp. 42-49.
  • Chapter 3 from the text book.
Review exercises
Radio Propagation: short term fading
30 Sept 99
Multipath propagation, different types of fading: fast, slow, flat, and frequency selective;
the concept of coherence bandwidth and coherence time; Rayleigh and Ricean fading models.

Further reading:

  • Chapter 4 from the text book.
Review exercises
Digital Modulation Techniques,
diversity reception
7 Oct 99
Basic modulation techniques: FSK, PSK, ASK. Modulation and coding tradeoffs. 

Further reading:

    Bernard Sklar, "Digital Communications Fundamentals and Applications", Chapter 3 & 7, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1998
Diversity reception, Rake receiver. 

Review exercises
 
Spread Spectrum Techniques
14 Oct 99
The beneficial attributes of Spread-Spectrum Systems; Direct Sequence Spread-Spectrum Systems; Frequency Hopping Systems.

Further reading

  • R. Kohno, R. Meidan, L. B. Milstein, "Spread Spectrum Access Methods for Wireless Communications," IEEE Communications Magazine, (January 1995), pp. 58-67.
  • D. G. Steer, "Coexistence and Access Etiquette in the United States Unlicensed PCS Band," IEEE Personal Communications, (Fourth Quarter 1994), pp. 36-43.
Review exercises
Multiplexing and Multiple Access
21 Oct 99
Allocation of communications resource: frequency division, time division, spread spectrum.
Access Algorithms: ALOHA, Slotted ALOHA, Reservation-ALOHA, CSMA/CA, RTS/CTS protocols.

Further reading:

  • N. Abramson, "Multiple Access in Wireless Digital Networks," Proceedings IEEE, V. 82, N. 9, (September 1994), pp. 1360-1370.
    D. D. Falconer, F. Adachi, B. Gudmundson, "Time Division Multiple Access Methods for Wireless Personal Communications," IEEE Communications Magazine, (January 1995), pp. 50-57.

Wireless LANs

Design considerations for Wireless LANs; IEEE 802.11, HyperLAN. 

Further reading

  • Richard LaMaire, Arvind Krishna, Pravin Bhagwat, James Panian, "Wireless LANs and Mobile Networking: Standards and Future Directions".  IEEE Communications Magazine, vol 34(8), August 1996
  • K-C Chen, "Medium Access Control of Wireless LANs for Mobile Computing," IEEE Network Magazine, (September/October 1994).
Review exercises
Cellular Communication Concepts
28 Oct 99
Frequency reuse/cellular/microcellular concepts including sectorization and cell splitting; 

Review exercies
 
Packet Radio Networks
11 Nov 99
Dr. Srinivas Rao will be our guest speaker 

Further reading:

  • B. M. Leiner, D. L. Nielson, F. A. Tobagi, "Issues in Packet Radio Network Design," Proceedings IEEE, (January 1987), V 75, N 1, pp. 6 - 20.
  • J. Jubin, J. D. Tornow, "The DARPA Packet Radio Network Protocols," Proceedings of the IEEE, V. 75, N. 1, (January 1987), pp. 21-32.
Review exercises
 
Case Study 1: Wide Area Wireless Networks: Metricom, ARDIS, RAM mobile data
4 Nov 99
Dr. Richard Han will be our guest speaker

Further reading: 

Review exercises
Case study 2: GSM
Mid-term Exam
18 Nov 99
Ibrahim Korpeoglu will be our guest speaker

Further reading

  • M. Rahnema, "Overview of the GSM System and Protocol Architecture," IEEE Communications Magazine, (April 1993), pp. 92-100.
Review exercises
 
Advanced topic: short range wireless & Bluetooth
2 Dec 99

Further reading
CDPD and Mobile IP
9 Dec  99.
Further reading:
  • RFC 2002: Mobile IP
  • Bhagwat, P.; Perkins, C.; Tripathi, S. Network layer mobility: an architecture and survey, IEEE Personal Communications Magazine, 3(3), June, 1996, pp. 54-64.
Review exercises
Final examination
16 Dec 99

Pravin Bhagwat (pravinb@us.ibm.com)  09/09/1999.