Course syllabus

MCC125 Wireless link project lp2 HT19 (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 or LabVIEW will be used to set up and communicate with the USRPs. 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. 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 upto 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

We who are running the course are:

• Vessen Vassilev: examiner/lecturer, vessen.vassilev@chalmers.se
  
• Thomas Eriksson: lecturer, thomase@chalmers.se
  
• Dhecha Nopchinda: Instructor software, dhecha@chalmers.se
  
• Ahmed Hassona: Instructor hardware, hassona@chalmers.se

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 linearities, heat dissipation and osccilations are often ignored during the design stage, but manifest themselves after the designs are manifactured and tested. 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 at 13:15 on Monday 4 of November with an introduction lecture at room A820 in the MC2 house. The course is completed on Thursday 19 of December with a final presentation of the results achieved from the link demonstration, this event takes place in room A820 and starts at 9.00. The data transmission demonstration is scheduled for 16 of December and takes place in the corridor of the MC2 house (5th floor). A complete list of the events and deadlines within the course are given below:

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.

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 individualy 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.