Course description: Reliable communication of one bit of information over three types of channels: additive Gaussian noise, wireline, and wireless. Emphasis on the impact of bandwidth and power on the data rate and reliability, using discrete-time models. Technological examples used as case studies, like 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G. Full description, including course goals and instructional objectives, can be found here.
Prerequisite: The basic prerequisites are a probability course (such as ECE 313 or STAT 410) and some basic signal processing background (such as ECE 210).
Lectures: MWF, 10.00-10.50am, 3015 ECEB.
Lecture Attendance Policy:
- We invite relevant questions and comments during lectures. Address your questions and comments to the entire class; avoid disruptive behavior such as talking to neighbors, unless the instructor invites you to form discussion groups. Kindly turn off or mute cell phones, laptop computers, and other electronic devices during lectures.
- Lecture attendance is not required but is strongly recommended in order for you to learn the course material well and obtain a good grade in the course.
Instructor: Prof. Juan Alvarez, alvarez@, 3046 Electrical & Computer Eng Bldg (ECEB), 300-5452.
Teaching Assistant: Yulun Wu, yulunwu3@
COURSE MATERIALS
Course notes:
- Lecture Notes on Digital Communication, Viswanath: pdf. Hardcopy available from the ECE Copy Room.
- B. P. Lathi and Z. Ding, Modern Digital and Analog Communication Systems, Fifth edition, Oxford University Press, ISBN: 978-0-19-068684-0.
- Supplemental notes:
- Fundamentals of Wireless Communication, Tse and Viswanath.
- Introduction to Communication Systems, Madhow.
- J. G. Proakis and M. Salehi, Fundamentals of Communication Systems, 2nd edition, Prentice-Hall, ISBN: 978-0133354850.
OFFICE HOURS
Office hours (starting January 22 through May 1):
- Mondays, 1-3pm, Prof. Alvarez, in ECEB 3034.
- Tuesdays, 4-5pm, Yulun Wu, in ECEB 3034.
- Wednesdays, 2-3pm, Yulun Wu, in ECEB 3034.
EXAMS
- Exams constitute 84% of your grade.
- Exams are closed notes, but a one-sided 8.5" by 11" sheet of equations are allowed. ONLY equations are allowed, no solutions to HW problems nor lecture examples nor previous exam problems nor graphs.
- Calculators and other electronics are not allowed
- DRES: Students with documented disabilities must notify Prof. Alvarez within the first 7 days of classes.
The exams dates/times are as follows:
- Exam 1: Friday, February 9, during lecture.
- Exam 2: Friday, March 8, during lecture.
- Exam 3: Friday, April 12, during lecture.
- Final Exam: 1:30-4:30 p.m., Friday, May 10, ECEB 3015.
- Online students need to set up the exams with the online office.
Absences from exams: You MUST notify Prof. Alvarez before missing an exam. If you miss an exam due to illness, injury, family emergency or other reasons beyond your control, you will be asked to provide your professor with an absence letter from the Student Assistance Center in the Office of the Dean of Students. Documentation which validates the absence is required by the Dean's Office to provide the absence letter. The absence letter will serve to verify the reason for your absence from the exam. Prof. Alvarez will then take an appropriate action that may include offering an oral examination or written examination.
Regrades:
- We will use Gradescope to grade the exams,. If after looking at the posted solutions, you feel there was an inaccuracy in the grading of your exam, you can request a regrade within Gradescope itself.
- Do not submit a regrade asking for more partial credit because you did so much work nor because you think something should be worth more/less that it does. Only regrades regarding inaccurate grading will be addressed.
- Regrades could be subjected a regrading of the entire exam, no just those parts you indicate. Therefore, your grade could go up or down as appropriate.
- You will get an email from the instructors after the exams are graded indicating when you can start submitting regrades and when the deadline to submit the regrades is.
- Make sure you submit regrade requests by the deadline indicated in that email, so do not wait until the last minute to submit it and then run into internet issues. No regrade requests will be accepted after the deadline.
Old exams
You can find copies of some old exams and their solutions below.Instructions:
- These past exams are provided here so you can identify your misconceptions on course topics and get help on those during office hours. They are not a replacement for attending lectures and reading the textbook.
- We provide both the blank exam and the solutions so that you can follow this procedure:
- Solve the blank exam.
- Compare your solutions to the provided solutions and identify your misconceptions.
- If you first look at the solutions and then solve the blank exam, you will not be able to identify your misconceptions as easily, so that is not a good idea.
- Only looking at the solutions without even trying to solve the problems will be of little/no use.
- Solving multiple past exams without understanding the concepts will not result in a good exam grade.
- These exams are a sample of the type of questions that aim at testing the students’ understanding of the course’s concepts, but there are a myriad of other questions, with the same level of difficulty, that could also test those concepts . You should not expect your exam to include questions like those in these past exams.
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GRADING POLICIES
It is the student's responsibility to check that the correct grades are entered in Canvas.
The final grade will be calculated as follows:
- Homework: 16%
- Midterm exams: 54%
- Final exam: 30%
HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENTS
Homework assignment policy:
- Homework assignments constitue 16% of the course grade.
- Homeworks will be posted every week in Gradescope and will be due on Wednesdays by 6pm. The first homework will be due on Wednesday, January 24 by 6pm.
- Submissions will be made via Gradescope.
- Instructions for uploading your solutions to Gradescope can be found here.
- Gradescope now has a mobile app to make it easier to upload.
- Instructions on how to scan the pdf of the solutions in Android are here.
- Instructions on how to scan the pdf of the solutions in MacOS are here.
- Late homeworks will be accepted up to 1 hour after the deadline with a deduction of 10% of the total points (no negative final score), so please mark your calendar with the deadlines to avoid losing points.
Do not wait until the last minute to submit it and then run into internet issues because we will not give you an extension. Submit your HW as soon as you finish it because if you wait and forget to do it on time, we will not give you an extension.
- In order to account for sickness, travel or internet issues, your two lowest homework grades will be dropped.
- Make sure you box your final answers and match problem parts accurately in Gradescope, or you will be deducted points.
- Make sure your submission is complete before logging out of Gradescope because we will not give an extension if you do not complete the submission. You will receive an automated email from Gradescope that includes the date and time you turned in the assignment, so make sure you get it.
- Make sure that your homeworks are neat enough to read. Graders has the flexibility to deduct points for lack of neatness. Graders should not have to guess what you wrote and in where in the page you wrote it. An easy to follow solution is required.
- Do not solve the HW directly on the provided pdf because there is not enough space for it and you will most likely lose points due to lack of neatness.
- Homeworks constitute an essential component of your learning experience in the course and prepare you for your exams in effective ways. Investing time to do your homeworks with care will pay off when you are taking your exams.
- You will be expected to provide detailed explanations of your solutions in order to obtain credit in your homeworks. Graders should not have to guess or make assumptions about why you are using a certain equation, or how you came up with an equation, etc. Conversely, solutions lacking full explanations will receive zero credit even when the answer provided may be correct, and may lead to an 'academic integrity violation' case being opened against you with sanctions ranging from a letter grade reduction to an F in the course.
- You are encouraged to collaborate to understand the problems in the assignment, but each student should solve the problems individually for submission even if they work together initially to understand how to solve the problems. Copying a joint solution or someone else's solution is not acceptable and may lead to sanctions and an 'academic integrity violation' case being opened against you with sanctions ranging from a letter grade reduction to an F in the course.
. - Using previous semester homework solutions, online solutions (Chegg, etc.) or may lead to sanctions and an 'academic integrity violation' case being opened against you with sanctions ranging from a letter grade reduction to an F in the course.
. - Please keep these cautionary remarks in mind as you are working out your assignments and avoid submitting unsubstantiated solutions to avoid any misinterpretations.
- Solutions will be posted in Canvas 1 hour after the corresponding deadline.
- Regrades: You will receive an email from Gradescope so you can log in and see your graded homework. If after looking at the posted solutions, you feel there was an inaccuracy in the grading of your homework, you can request a regrade within Gradescope itself.
Make sure you submit regrade requests before 6pm of the Wednesday after your graded homework is made available via Gradescope. Regrades will not be accepted after that date.
Course Outline
- Probability review
- AWGN channel
- MAP and ML Rules for the AGN Channel
- Sequential and Block Communication
- Energy Effcient Communication
- Rate Efficient Reliable Communication
- Reliable Communication with Erasures
- Capacity of the AWGN Channel
- Wireline Channel
- Receiver-Centric ISI Management
- Low SNR
- High SNR
- General SNR
- Transmitter-Centric ISI Management
- Precoding
- OFDM
- Wireless Channel
- Complex Baseband Wireless Channel
- Slow Fading Wireless Channel
- Diversity
- Time diversity
- Frequency diversity
- Antenna diversity
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
- Registration deadlines, add/drop course deadlines, advising schedules, and finals
- Academic integrity
- Inclusivity
- Disability Resources and Educational Services (DRES)
- FERPA
- Sexual misconduct
- Support Resources and Supporting Fellow Students in Distress
- Run, hide, fight
- Other campus resources
Academic integrity
The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Student Code should is very important for you to know.
Students should pay particular attention to Article 1, Part 4: Academic Integrity. Academic dishonesty may result in a failing grade. Every student is expected to review and abide by the Academic Integrity Policy. Ignorance is not an excuse for any academic dishonesty. It is your responsibility to read this policy to avoid any misunderstanding. Do not hesitate to ask the instructor(s) if you are ever in doubt about what constitutes plagiarism, cheating, or any other breach of academic integrity.
Inclusivity
The effectiveness of this course is dependent upon the creation of an encouraging and safe classroom environment. Exclusionary, offensive or harmful speech (such as racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, etc.) will not be tolerated and in some cases subject to University harassment procedures. We are all responsible for creating a positive and safe environment that allows all students equal respect and comfort. I expect each of you to help establish and maintain and environment where you and your peers can contribute without fear of ridicule or intolerant or offensive language.
Disability Resources and Educational Services (DRES)
Students with documented disabilities must notify the instructor within the first 7 days of classes.
To obtain disability-related academic adjustments and/or auxiliary aids, students with disabilities must contact the course instructor and the Disability Resources and Educational Services (DRES) as soon as possible.
To contact DRES, you may visit 1207 S. Oak St., Champaign, call 333-4603, e-mail disability@illinois.edu or go to the DRES website.
If you are concerned you have a disability-related condition that is impacting your academic progress, there are academic screening appointments available on campus that can help diagnosis a previously undiagnosed disability by visiting the DRES website and selecting “Sign-Up for an Academic Screening” at the bottom of the page.
FERPA
Any student who has suppressed their directory information pursuant to Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) should self-identify to the instructor to ensure protection of the privacy of their attendance in this course. Click here for more information on FERPA.
Sexual misconduct
The University of Illinois is committed to combating sexual misconduct. Faculty and staff members are required to report any instances of sexual misconduct to the University’s Title IX and Disability Office. In turn, an individual with the Title IX and Disability Office will provide information about rights and options, including accommodations, support services, the campus disciplinary process, and law enforcement options. A list of the designated University employees who, as counselors, confidential advisors, and medical professionals, do not have this reporting responsibility and can maintain confidentiality, can be found here. Other information about resources and reporting is available here.
Support Resources and Supporting Fellow Students in Distress
As members of the Illinois community, we each have a responsibility to express care and concern for one another. If you come across a classmate whose behavior concerns you, whether in regards to their well-being or yours, we encourage you to refer this behavior to the Student Assistance Center (1-217-333-0050) or online. Based upon your report, staff in the Student Assistance Center reaches out to students to make sure they have the support they need to be healthy and safe. Further, as a Community of Care, we want to support you in your overall wellness. We know that students sometimes face challenges that can impact academic performance (examples include mental health concerns, food insecurity, homelessness, personal emergencies). Should you find that you are managing such a challenge and that it is interfering with your coursework, you are encouraged to contact the Student Assistance Center (SAC)in the Office of the Dean of Students for support and referrals to campus and/or community resources. The SAC has a Dean on Duty available to see students who walk in, call, or email the office during business hours. For mental health emergencies, you can call 911 or contact the Counseling Center.
Run, hide, fight.
Emergencies can happen anywhere and at any time. It is important that we take a minute to prepare for a situation in which our safety or even our lives could depend on our ability to react quickly. When we’re faced with almost any kind of emergency – like severe weather or if someone is trying to hurt you – we have three options: Run, hide or fight.
Run Leaving the area quickly is the best option if it is safe to do so.
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Hide When you can’t or don’t want to run, take shelter indoors.
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Fight As a last resort, you may need to fight to increase your chances of survival.
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Please be aware of people with disabilities who may need additional assistance in emergency situations
Other resources- police.illinois.edu/safe for more information on how to prepare for emergencies, including how to run, hide or fight and building floor plans that can show you safe areas.
- emergency.illinois.edu to sign up for Illini-Alert text messages.
- Follow the University of Illinois Police Department on Twitter and Facebook to get regular updates about campus safety.