Course syllabus

Course-PM

The Course-PM is available here.

Schedule

Available in TimeEdit: EEN250 Schedule

Contact details

Lecturer

Guest Lecturers

Teaching Assistant

Consultation Hours: Wednesdays 13:15-15:00 

E2 Student Administration Office 

Course literature

Main text book

B. Forouzan, Data Communications and Networking, 5th Edition, McGraw-Hill, 2013, ISBN 978-981-4577-51-9. The book is available at Cremona. Appendices, errata, and other extra material can be found at www.mhhe.com/forouzan

Additional texts

We will use parts of the following books

J. R. Barry, E. A. Lee, and D. G. Messerschmidt, Digital Communications, Third edition, ISBN: 978-1-4613-4975-4 (Print) 978-1-4615-0227-2. Available as an e-book at http://link.springer.com/book/10.1007%2F978-1-4615-0227-2

U. Madhow, Fundamentals of Digital Communication, Cambridge, 2008, eISBN-13: 9780511573804, eISBN-10: 0511573804. Available as an e-book at Chalmers's Library.

If you have problems accessing the e-books with the links above, try connecting to Chalmers via VPN or go to http://www.lib.chalmers.se/ and search for the book.

Handouts 

Course purpose

There are two main aims of this course.

The first is to provide a broad introduction to communication systems as the enabler of information and communication technology (ICT) applications, e.g., E-health, smart grid, automation, process control, and traffic safety, to mention a few. A modern engineer in any field will interact with ICT systems. However, when specifying the requirements of a communication system to support a specific ICT application, the non-communication engineer would benefit tremendously from knowing the terminology, possibilities, and limitations of communication systems.

The second aim is to provide a solid introduction to communication systems for the student planning a career as a communication engineer. We will treat, in some detail, the lower layers of the communication stack. In other words, we are mainly concerned with the basic task of transmitting packets of bits from point A to point B over a physical medium (e.g., a piece of fiber optical cable or a wireless channel). Once we master this task, the communication links will be used to form complex networks, such as the Internet, that are so important today.

Course design

Please check the Course-PM for details about lectures, exercises, projects, quizzes, exams, and grading rules.

Changes made since the last occasion.

Starting in the 2025–2026 AY, the course will have a new code (EEN250 instead of SSY305) due to a revised credit distribution. The project now awards 2.5 credits, and the written exam awards 5 credits. Consequently, both components have been updated. The project now consists of two parts instead of three plus the oral exam has been replaced by a written test. The written exam now includes four problems and a quiz that evaluates knowledge of the guest lectures. This quiz replaces part three of the former project format (SSY305). The minimum number of points required to pass both the project and the written exam has also been adjusted to reflect these changes.

Info for Students who have followed SSY305

The following rules apply only to students who have been registered for SSY305. 

Students that have

  • Passed the SSY305 project but not the exam:
    • Pass the SSY305 re-exam 
    • The SSY305 project cannot be reported as an approved EEN250 project (due to differences in the projects)
    • Students registered for EEN250 should deregister from the course. In case Canvas access is revoked, email Paolo Monti mpaolo@chalmers.se for renewed access
  • Passed the SSY305 exam, but not the project
  • Has not passed SSY305 project or exam
    • Take EEN250, i.e., register for the course and complete all requirements
    • Cancel SSY305 (lägg avbrott) 

As needed, please contact a student counselor (studievägledare) for advice.

Learning outcomes

  • describe how sustainable development is facilitated by communication
  • describe the purpose of the layers in the OSI model for communication, with emphasis on the network, data link, and physical layers
  • describe the purpose of the main components in the TCP/IP protocol suite
  • analyze the requirements an ICT application (e.g., smart grid, vehicular traffic safety) poses on a communication system
  • explain the blocks in Shannon's model for digital communication
  • define and compute performance metrics for communication
    • error probability
    • spectral efficiency
    • power efficiency
    • latency
    • throughput

explain the concepts of symmetric cryptography, asymmetric cryptography, and hash-functions and how these can be used to provide confidentiality, integrity, and authentication

Examination form

Please check the Course-PM for details about examination and grading rules.