Course syllabus

Course-PM

MCC125 MCC125 Wireless link project lp2 HT24 (7.5 hp)

Course is offered by the department of Microtechnology and Nanoscience

Contact details

The teaching team:

• Vessen Vassilev: Examiner
• Rob Vissers: Teaching Assistant HW
• Lucian Petrisor Ion: Teaching Assistant SW

Course purpose

Students studying digital communications focus on 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 microwave/hardware designers. Effects such as non linearity, heat dissipation and oscillations are often overlooked 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, correct for signal impairments, 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

We will provide assistance and supervision on Mondays afternoon and Thursdays before noon during the duration of the course. Other times are also OK provided we are available. The following events in the course are compulsory and require presence:

21 November - Receiving feedback on PCB designs before sending the layouts for production.

28 November - Mid term presentations

16 December - Demonstration of wireless data transmission

19 December - Final presentations

Here is the full list of events in the course:

Time	Event	Place
Monday 4 Nov, 13:15-17:00	Introduction Lecture	A820
Thursday 7 Nov, 9:00-12:00	Lectures HW/SW	A820
Wednesday 13 Nov.	Groups present their Link Budget
Thursday 14 November, 10:00-11:30	Guest Lecture Dhecha Nopchinda	A820
Wednesday 20 Nov.	Preliminary PCB designs ready for DRC check
Thursday 21 Nov	TA deliver Feedback on your PCB designs	B518
Friday 22 Nov.	Final PCB designs are submitted for fabrication
Thursday 28 November, 9:00-12:30	Mid term presentations	A820
By Thursday 28 Nov.	SW groups demonstrate data transmission over cable	B 518
Monday 16 Dec	Link demonstration	MC2 corridor
Thursday 19 Dec, 9:00-12:30	Final Presentations	A820
15 Jan 2025	Report submission

Course literature

This is a project course, we do not have particular book that follows the course. However, to refresh your knowledge in digital communications we can recommend:

[1] A Quadrature Signals Tutorial: Complex, But Not Complicated by Richard Lyons,
https://mriquestions.com/uploads/3/4/5/7/34572113/quad_signals_tutorial-lyons.pdf
[2] H. Meyr, M. Moeneclaey, and S. A. Fechtel, Digital Communication Receivers, Synchronization, Channel Estimation, and Signal Processing. Wiley, 1998.
[3] U. Mengali, and A. N. Andra, Synchronization Techniques for Digital Receivers. New York: Plenum Press, 1997. –This text is available online from the Chalmers library.

 

Course design

You will be working in small (4-6 persons) groups combining students with different expertise, comparable to industrial development teams. To complete the course each group will need to demonstrate a simplex transmission of data (text, or picture or other file of your choice) over a distance of 100 m using your own designed and assembled hardware. You will construct and use your own software to modulate the carrier in the transmitter, to detect your message in the receiver and to correct the hardware impairments such as frequency offset, phase offset, timing synchronization, etc. To successfully complete the course on time, you will need to meet a certain deadlines, as for example submitting your PCB designs.

You will be given access to a well equipped laboratory where you can design, assemble and test your hardware. We provide a selection of spectrum/network analyzers, signal generators, sources and other laboratory equipment.

The course starts with an introductory lecture, followed by a 2 more lectures on hardware and software designs. Students will then start their design-work by select the structure of their hardware and submit a link-budget, which will be reviewed by the teaching team. The link budget is followed by layouting of the printed circuit board (PCB), which is reviewed and send for fabrication. After receiving the boards, it is time for the assembly and testing of the PCBs.

The software design is running in parallel and its functionality includes: detecting of the message start, correcting for frequency and phase offsets, decoding and displaying the message. The software functionality can be tested before the actual hardware is ready, by using external up-down converter modules, provided in the lab. The final step is to connect the HW with the SW and test a data transmission. Final test is taking place in the MC2 building where transmitter and receiver are located 100m apart.

In order to complete the course in time, it is important that the link budget/´and PCB designs are submitted on time.

Changes made since the last occasion

Students to receive feedback on their HW designs becomes compulsory. The date for receiving feedback is set to Thursday 21 November. 

Learning objectives

• design and evaluate a real wireless transmission link
• analyze and evaluate different technical solutions
• learn how to identify and solve technical problems
• learn how to use laboratory instruments to characterize your hardware
• show the ability to work in a team and collaborate within groups of different background
• present results in written and spoken English

Link to the syllabus on Studieportalen.

https://www.chalmers.se/en/education/your-studies/find-course-and-programme-syllabi/course-syllabus/MCC125/?acYear=2024/2025

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 grades depend on the demonstrated link performance, such as achieved modulation format, data rate (bandwidth) and distance. Individual grades are adjusted based on individual contributions and on individual level of reporting and presenting results. The course is completed after submitting a final report. The report should be concise and limited to maximum 4 pages, it is individual and will be evaluated independently.

The focus in the report can be on what individual contributions are, but should also cover other aspects of the link, including the link budget, SW and HW designs. We require a block diagrams of the SW in the transmitter and the receiver and a block diagram of the HW.

Laboratory tests of the HW: for example for the TX it is useful to have small signal gain and  a plot of Pout vs. Pin in order to find saturation levels. For the Rx a measurement of the NF and gain are useful figures of merit.

Finally the report need to cover results from the link demonstration, namely symbol rates and modulation formats of successful message transmissions. We recommend to include figures displaying received signal constellations and spectrum as well as achieved data rate.