Course syllabus

Course-PM

MCC125 MCC125 Wireless link project lp2 HT21 (7.5 hp)

Course is offered by the department of Microtechnology and Nanoscience.

 

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

In the course you will  design, implement and demonstrate a simplex wireless data transmission 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 analog up/down conversion (the RF) part of the link using a selection of microwave components, such as mixers, amplifiers and other passive components. The structure the transmitter and receiver will be motivated through a link budget, which ensures the hardware is capable of performing transmission over a distance of 100m. Groups will design their own printed circuit boards (PCB), The PCBs will be processed at Eurocircuits (https://www.eurocircuits.com/) using their STANDARD pool process on a 1mm thick FR4 dielectric.  Groups will register their own account at Eurocircuits and upload their designs for "design rule check" (DRC) using Eurocircuits online tool called "PCB Checker". DRC is necessary to make sure the layouts comply with the process, to correct layout errors and ensure the quality of the PCB. 

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.

Contact details

List of...

• Vessen Vassilev <vessen.vassilev@chalmers.se> - examiner and course responsible
• ?? <hassona@chalmers.se> - 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 manufactured 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 1th 2021 and after 7 weeks, it ends on December 16th with a final presentation given by the groups. Before that, on December 13th 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

Description of the course's learning activities; how they are implemented and how they are connected. This is the student's guide to navigating the course. Do not forget to give the student advice on how to learn as much as possible based on the pedagogy you have chosen. Often, you may need to emphasize concrete things like how often they should enter the learning space on the learning platform, how different issues are shared between supervisors, etc.

Provide a plan for

• lectures
• exervises
• laboratory work
• projects
• supervision
• feedback
• seminars

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

This year students will preform themselves the DRC check using Eurocircuits online tool called "PCB Checker".

Learning objectives and syllabus

Learning objectives:

• design and evaluate a real wireless transmission link
• analyze and evaluate different technical solutions to reach the objective
• learn to design printed circuit boards at microwave frequencies and comply with design rules specific for the PCB process
• learn to design, assemble, debug and verify hardware at microwave frequencies
• 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.

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.