Students completing this course should demonstrate the:

1. Ability to analyze basic communication systems involving random signals, filtering, sampling, and modulation.

2. Ability to design basic communication systems.

3. Ability to describe the reasoning behind design decisions.

The content of "Communication Systems" represents the basic knowledge necessary for transmitting and receiving information using today's communication technologies. The techniques that will be studied involve coding information onto a carrier (modulation) which is then transmitted. The received signal is then decoded (demodulated) yielding the original information. Emphasis will be given to analog modulation of both analog and digital signals. Transmission medium models for coherent light and acoustic waves will be studied and related to scalar models of electromagnetic wave models. The course is aligned with a final "light gun" contest where the opponents transmit signals at each others receivers. The team with the longest distance with the zero errors, wins. The play-offs rank the design teams thereby determining a component of the project grades.

This course will cover the concepts associated with the Fourier transform, active filtering, spectral analysis, sampling theory and signal modulation/demodulation. Filter design will include active higher order bandpass, lowpass, highpass and linear phase filtering. Matched filtering and quadrature detection for binary demodulation will be studied. Sampling theory will cover impulse, natural and sample and hold types of sampling design. The modulation techniques covered will include Amplitude Modulation (AM), Frequency Modulation (FM), Time-Division Modulation (TDM) and Frequency Shift Keying (FSK). Additional material on scalar wavefront models will be introduced and applied to beam forming of acoustic, electromagnetic and coherent (laser) light waves. Chapters 1, 2, 3 and 5 of the text will be emphasized. Additional material will be drawn from later chapters and reference material.

There will be four components to the course which include lecture, group discussion sessions, interlaced projects and class design project. The lectures will be designed to provide theoretical basis and "light gun" design. The group discussion sessions will allow the students to plan the application of the theory and design. The term "interlaced projects" indicates that not all student groups will be doing the same projects at the same time, i.e., interlaced. The interlaced projects will allow actual implementation of designs as a group and later presentation to the class. The interlaced projects are related to sub-components of the design project. The design projects will provide the students with individual depth yet experience with a team effort. There will be student presentations and reviews based on the design projects. The student should attain a good theoretical and practical understanding of communication techniques.

Interlaced Projects: The specifics about the interlaced projects will be presented as the class develops but there will be 4 of them.

Class Project: The class project will be formatted as a competitive engineering design project and modeled after the popular laser tag games. Students will design and build a opto-electronic transmitter and a opto-electronic receiver. The transmitter will be effectively a "gun" and the receiver will be effectively a "target" representing an opponent. The competition will require a "shooter" chosen by his/her team (1 to 4 people) and will use the gun to shoot the opponent. The opponent will be near the shooter team's receiver. At the same time the shooter will be near the opponents team's receiver and of course the opponent will have his own gun. The "weapons" will be tested in a preliminary contest for performance prior to the competition, 1/2 the project grade will be based on the pre-test which will include limiting the beam pattern to a cone angle of 60 degrees. The pre-test will be for maximum distance as well as beam spread, power and probability of error in discriminating the correct signal. The pretest grades will be scaled based on how well other weapons work. The other half of the design project grade will be set by a FINAL and ULTIMATE competition during DEAD WEEK. In this competition the shooters will shoot the receivers at different distances. The shooter with the most hits and the least misses wins. The only connection, to the receivers or guns, allowed will be low voltage DC. In place of a final exam will be a class final report in the form of a web page.