Brief Outline

The past decade has seen many advances in physical-layer wireless communication theory and their implementation in wireless systems. This course takes a unified view of the fundamentals of wireless communication and explains the web of concepts underpinning these advances at a level accessible to an audience with a basic background in probability and digital communication. Topics covered include MIMO (multiple input multiple output) communication, space-time coding, opportunistic communication, OFDM and CDMA. The concepts are illustrated using many examples from wireless systems such as GSM, IS-95 (CDMA), IS-856 (1x EV-DO), Flash OFDM and ArrayComm SDMA systems. Particular emphasis is placed on the interplay between concepts and their implementation in systems.

Detailed Course Outline

Prerequisite

The prerequisites are ECE 534 (Random Processes) and ECE 461 (Communication II). A certain maturity and level of comfort with the basic concepts of reliable communication is all that is really essential. An engineering background (such as that acquired by having worked at an industry) is also very useful.

Requirements
The course is homework intensive. In particular, there are weekly homeworks, one for every week of the 14-week course. There is a midterm on September 24th and a take-home final at the end of the course.

Homeworks 50%
Midterm 20%
Take-home Final 30%

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Teaching Staff

Instructor: Professor Pramod Viswanath
Office Hours: Tuesdays 3-4pm in 127 CSL
Phone: 244-8999
E-mail: pramodv at uiuc.edu

Teaching Assistant: TBA