Course syllabus

Course-PM

MCC125 MCC125 Wireless link project lp2 HT20 (7.5 hp)

This course is offered by the department of Microtechnology and Nanoscience.

In the course you will  design, implement and demonstrate a simplex wireless data transmision link over a distance of roughly 100m. The data should be transmitted at radio frequency (RF) of 2.4 or 5.8 GHz. We do not require a specific data rate, but we require the link to operate at QPSK or higher digital modulation format. 

Students will be provided with programmable hardware (a software defined radio, also called USRP [1]), which includes DA and AD convertors with a sampling rate of 400 and 100 MS/s. Matlab  will be used to set up and communicate with the USRPs and to implement the software (SW) part of the project.

In the transmitter part of the link frames should be formed where each frame consists of bits for frame synchronization and the message itself. The USRP is capable of performing an IQ modulation with a center frequency of up to 100 MHz, or output baseband I and Q channels. The baseband, or the modulated IQ intermediate frequency (IF) signal, will be up converted to the chosen RF frequency, amplified and transmitted through an antenna.

On the other end of the link, a receiver amplifies and down converts the RF frequency to a baseband or IF frequency. The down converted signal is fed to the receiving USRP. The receiving software should be able to detect the beginning of a frame, to perform the necessary frequency, phase and timing synchronization and to extract the message bits.

Each group will have to design the up/down conversion (the RF) part of the link using a selection of microwave components, such as mixers, amplifiers and other passive components. We also require a link budget to be used in order to motivate the choices made in the hardware designs. 

On the software part of the receiver you will implement your own impairment correction algorithm  for frequency, timing and phase correction. The receiver functionality will be examined at the end of the course during a demonstration of data transmission.

In this course we can accept up to 24 students. You will be divided in four groups with up to 6 students.  Within each group you are free to divide the work and choose either a hardware or a software development, or both.

 

[1] Universal Software Radio Peripheral. A link to the hardware used in the course: http://www.ettus.com/

Contact details

The teaching team consists of:

• Vessen Vassilev <vessen.vassilev@chalmers.se> - examiner and course responsible
  
• Ahmed Adel Hassona <hassona@chalmers.se> - TA hardware
• Parastoo Taghikhani <invitations@linkedin.com> - TA hardware
• Zonglong He <zonglong@chalmers.se> - TA software
• Husileng Bao <husileng@chalmers.se> - TA software

...along with their contact details. If the course have external guest lecturers or such, give a brief description of their role and the company or similar they represent.

If needed, list administrative staff, along with their contact details.

Course purpose

Students studying digital communications spend a lot of time learning how to construct a communication link, however when it comes to the implementation they face a whole new set of problems. Same applies for the hardware designs, effects such as non linearity, heat dissipation and oscillations are often ignored during the design stage, but manifest themselves after the designs are manifactured and tested. With the experience acquired within the course students will learn the building blocks of a digital communication system, how to implement modulation/demodulation algorithm, and how to design, analyze, assemble and evaluate a real hardware. This course will teach you how to solve the most typical problems that engineers face in "real-life" implementations of communication link.

Schedule

The course starts on November 2th 2020 and after 7 weeks, it ends on December 17th with a final presentation given by the groups. Before that, on December 14th the functionality of the links will be verified through a transmission of a message between 2 points in the MC2 building.

TimeEdit

Course literature

List all mandatory literature, including descriptions of how to access the texts (e.g. Cremona, Chalmers Library, links).

Also list reference literature, further reading, and other non-mandatory texts.

Course design

Time	Event	Place
Monday 2 Nov, 13:15-17:00	Introduction	A820
Thursday 5 Nov, 9:00-12:30	Lectures	A820
Wednesday 11 Nov.	Groups present their Link Budget
Wednesday 18 Nov.	Preliminary PCB designs
Thursday 26 November, 9:00-12:30	Mid term presentations	A820
Friday 20 Nov.	Final PCB designs are submitted for inspection and fabrication
By Thursday 26 Nov.	Demonstrate data transmission over cable	B 518
Monday 14 Dec	Link demonstration	MC2 corridor
Thursday 17 Dec, 9:00-12:30	Final Presentations	A820
15 Jan 2021	Report submission

Should contain a description of how the digital tools (Canvas and others) should be used and how they are organized, as well as how communication between teachers and students takes place (Canvas, e-mail, other).

Do not forget to describe any resources that students need to use, such as lab equipment, studios, workshops, physical or digital materials.

You should be clear how missed deadlines and revisions are handled.

Changes made since the last occasion

A summary of changes made since the last occasion.

Learning objectives and syllabus

Learning objectives:

• design and evaluate a real wireless transmission link
• analyze and evaluate different technical solutions
• plan and with adequate methods realize qualified projects within given time frames
• show the ability of team work and collaboration in groups with different background
• discuss and present results in written and spoken English to different groups
• show the ability to identify the need of further knowledge and continuous knowledge development
• show the ability of critical and systematic knowledge integration even with limited information
• develop a product with regards to ecological sustainable development.

Link to the syllabus on Studieportalen.

Study plan

If the course is a joint course (Chalmers and Göteborgs Universitet) you should link to both syllabus (Chalmers and Göteborgs Universitet).

Examination form

Students are individually graded as "Fail", 3, 4 or 5. The individual grade is referenced to a group grade, which is based on the demonstrated link functionality and performance, such as data rate, distance and modulation format. Individual grades may be adjusted based on individual contributions and on individual level of reporting and presenting results.