Course syllabus

Course-PM

MCC125 Wireless link project lp2 HT25 (7.5 hp)

Course is offered by the department of Microtechnology and Nanoscience

Contact details

• Vessen Vassilev: Examiner
• Rob Vissers: Teaching Assistant HW
• Hossein Zaheri: 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 for 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 3 Nov, 13:15-17:00	Introduction Lecture	A820
Thursday 6 Nov, 9:00-12:00	Lectures HW/SW	A820
Wednesday 12 Nov.	Groups present their Link Budget
Thursday 13 November, 10:00-11:30	Guest Lecture Dhecha Nopchinda	A820
Wednesday 19 Nov.	Preliminary PCB designs ready for DRC check
Thursday 20 Nov	TA deliver Feedback on your PCB designs	B518
Friday 21 Nov.	Final PCB designs are submitted for fabrication
Thursday 27 November, 9:00-12:30	Mid term presentations	A820
By Thursday 27 Nov.	SW groups demonstrate data transmission over cable	B 518
Monday 15 Dec	Link demonstration	MC2 corridor
Thursday 18 Dec, 9:00-12:30	Final Presentations	A820
15 Jan 2025	Report submission

TimeEdit

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

The requirements to successfully pass the course are specified in more detail. The occasions where presence is mandatory are specified.  

Learning objectives and syllabus

Learning objectives:

 

• design and evaluate a real wireless data-transmission link
• analyze and evaluate different technical solutions
• characterize and debug transmitter/receiver HW using laboratory instruments
• develop understanding of how the HW imperfections will affect the link
• learn techniques for signal impairment corrections in the SW
• build ability of team work and collaboration in groups with different background
• present and discuss results in written and spoken English
• learn to consider cost and energy efficiency in your designs and how they can contribute to more sustainable development

 

Link to the syllabus on Studieportalen.

https://www.chalmers.se/en/education/your-studies/find-course-and-programme-syllabi/course-syllabus/MCC125/?acYear=2025/2026

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. Your grade is based on your contribution to the project. Each student should be able to specify his contribution in detail, for example Tx design, layout, assembly, verification.
• Your grade will be influenced by the content and quality of your final report. 

• Students are expected to be aware of others work and have understanding of all the components in the wireless link.

• Results from the link-demonstration can influence your grade.

• A time log of the hours spent on the project and the task you have been working on may be required by the examiner. We advise you to keep a personal log of your work during the course.

 We require student presence in the following occasions:

• Mid-term (27 Nov.) and the final presentations (18 Dec.)
• the link-demonstration on 15 December
• Students designing HW need to be available on 20th November when we deliver Feedback on your PCB designs before fabrication
• Students designing SW need to demonstrate data transmission over cable before 27 of November

IMPORTANT: 

You will not receive a grade without successful demonstration of wireless data-transmission. We do not offer a re-exam in this course!! However, you will not need re-examination if you work consistently for the duration of the course. The course ends on December 18 and you need to have working wireless link by then. As long as you follow the schedule of the course as specified above, you will comfortably complete the course on time.  

Having said this we, the teaching team, and the majority of our students over the years think that this is a very fun and useful course.