ETN3136DigitalCommunications

Assignment

ImportantDates:
CommencementDate :22
nd
July2014
DueDate :27
th
August2014,12:00pm(noon)
AssignmentStructureandMarksDistribution:
PartA:ComputerSimulationbasedQuestions:3%
PartB:Research/DescriptionbasedQuestions :12%

AssignmentInstructions:
Youcanchoosetoworkindividuallyorinapair.Inthelattercase,youareexpectedtosubmitalongerand
morecomprehensivereport.Andbothyouandyourpartnerwillsharethesamescore.
Submitonehardcopyoftheassignmentreport(allparts)foryourgroupwithacoverlettercontaining
detailsofthegroupmemberstothepigeonholeofDr.ChuahTeongCheeat1
st
FloorFacultyof
Engineeringbuildingbeforetheduedate.Pleaseusethecoverpageattached.
Plagiarism(betweengroupsandindividuals)isstrictlyprohibited(youwillbepenalizedoncedetected).

PARTA:ComputerSimulationofPulseCodeModulation(PCM):
AfterconductingtheDTL1LabExperimentonPulseCodeModulation(PCM),youarerequiredtosolvethe
followingtwoproblems.
PROBLEM(1):
ConstructaMATLABscriptforamidtreaduniformquantizer(oddnumberofquantizationlevels)thatcandigitize
theanalogsignalm(t)=t
2
sin(t),10sect10secwithasamplingdurationof1secand7quantizationlevels.
Showthesignalsamples,theirquantizedvalues,andthecorrespondingcodewords.Plottheoriginalandquantized
signalsandthenverifygraphicallythecorrectnessofthecodewordsobtained.Then,varytheoddnumberof
quantizationlevelsandplotthecorrespondingSQNRvaluesasafunctionofthenumberofbitspercodeword.
ConsiderthatthenumberofquantizationlevelsisL=2
i
1,wherei=3,4,,8.
PROBLEM(2):
DeveloptwofunctionsforanAlawcompressoranditsinverseandtesttheircorrectfunctionalityastheyare
supposedtocompensateeachotherforanarbitraryinputsequence.Modifythetwoscriptsnonuniform_ex4.m
andnonuniform_ex5.mbyreplacinglawanditsinversefunctionswithAlawanditsinversefunctions,
respectively,andthentabulateandcomparetheSQNRvaluesobtainedfor3differentquantizationlevels.Discuss
thePCMperformanceinthetwocasesanditssensitivitytothedynamicrangeoftheinputsequence.

PARTB:LiteratureSurveyontheGSMSystem:
Objectives:
1. Togivestudentstheopportunitytolearnadvanceddigitalcommunicationtechniquesattheirinitiative;
2. Toacquirebasicresearchanddevelopment(R&D)skills;
3. Totrainstudentstoreadefficientlyandthinkcritically;
4. Toimprovestudentstechnicalwritingskills.

IntroductiontotheGSMSystem
GSM(GlobalSystemforMobileCommunications,originallyGroupeSpcialMobile),isastandarddevelopedbythe
EuropeanTelecommunicationsStandardsInstitute(ETSI)todescribeprotocolsforsecondgeneration(2G)digital
cellularnetworksusedbymobilephones.Itisthedefactoglobalstandardformobilecommunicationswithover
90%marketshare,andisavailableinover219countriesandterritories.
TheGSMstandardwasdevelopedasareplacementforfirstgeneration(1G)analogcellularnetworks,andoriginally
describedadigital,circuitswitchednetworkoptimizedforfullduplexvoicetelephony.Thiswasexpandedover
timetoincludedatacommunications,firstbycircuitswitchedtransport,thenpacketdatatransportviaGPRS
(GeneralPacketRadioServices)andEDGE(EnhancedDataratesforGSMEvolutionorEGPRS).Subsequently,the
3GPPdevelopedthirdgeneration(3G)UMTSstandardsfollowedbyfourthgeneration(4G)LTEAdvanced
standards,whicharenotpartoftheETSIGSMstandard.
Source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GSM

TaskDetails
ThereisagreatdealtowriteabouttheGSMsystem,however,inthiscourse,ourfocusisonthephysicallayer
technologiesemployedintheGSMsystem.Withthebasicscoveredinthiscourse,youshouldnowbeableto
relateonepieceofinformationtotheothers.Afteranalyzingallyouhaveread,youshouldhaveaclearerpicture
onthephysicallayertechnologiesusedintheGSMsystem.Youneedtoputdowntheknowledgeyouhavejust
gainedandyourthoughtsinyourownwritingintheformofasurveyreport.Yoursurveyreportshouldmainly
cover(notlimitedto)thefollowingtopicsrelatedtotheGSMsystem:
PulseshapingwhytheparticularpulseshapingtechniqueisusedinGSMsystems?Whatareitsadvantages
anddisadvantages,otherissues,etc;
Intersymbolinterference(ISI)whatarethemechanismsthatinduceISIintheGSMsystems?IsISIdueonly
tothephysicalchannel?
Modulation/demodulation technique what is the modulation technique used? How modulation and
demodulationarecarriedout?
ChannelequalizationhowISIismitigatedintheGSMsystem?Whattypeofchannelequalizerisused?How
is the channel equalizer being implemented in practice? Why a channel estimator is required in the channel
equalizerandhowdoesitwork?etc.
Optionaladvancedtopic:howspeechcodingisaccomplishedinGSMtransceivers.

Inyoursurveyreport,trytousefiguresandminimalmathematicalequationstoillustrateyourexplanation.The
figurescanbedrawnbyyouortakenfromsomewhereelse;inthelattercase,thesourcesoffiguresmustbecited
otherwisemarkswillbededucted.

RequirementsontheReport
Youmustwriteyourreportfollowingthestyleofasurveyresearchpaper,asampleentitledEqualizationinHigh
SpeedCommunicationSystemsisenclosedforyourreference.
Inyourreport,youmustusesinglespacing,fontsize1012,single/doublecolumn.
Ifyouworkindividually,yoursurveyreportmustnotexceed12pages(includingthetitlepageandthelistof
references).Ifyouworkinpair,yourreportmustnotexceed18pages.
Yourreportmustcontainthefollowinginthecorrectorder:
Abstract
Introduction
Mainbody
Conclusion
References(followthestyleintheenclosedsamplepaper)

Note:
Introductionisanoverviewofallthecontentsthatfollows,Abstractisanoverviewofthewholearticle.
Abstractisshortandmustnotexceedhalfapage.
The main body must be the longest among all the sections listed above. The main body itself consists of
several sections. Organize the information you have gained through reading and name the sections
appropriately(refertotheenclosesamplepaper).
Conclusionsummarizesthewholearticleandstatesthemainpointsyouwanttoconveytoyourreaders.
All the sources that appear in the References list MUST be cited somewhere in your report. Do NOT
attempttocreatealonglistofReferencessimplytoimpressyourreadersthatyouhavereadalot.You
are only required to read and cite the most relevant literature. Citing unnecessary and irrelevant
referenceswillresultinmarksdeduction.

Sincethisisatechnicalwritingassignment,youmustwriteandpresentyourreportPROFESSIONALLY.Becarefulin
thelanguageyouuseandthewordsthatyouchoose.Bespecificandstraighttothepoint.Donotbeataroundthe
bush.DoNOTcopyblindlywithoutthinking.RepeatingwordbywordcanEASILYbedetected,andisconsideredas
plagiarism(unlesspropercitationisgiven).Youmaywishtolearnsometechnicalwritingskillstoaccomplishthe
task.TherearenumerousguidesintheInternetandalargevolumeofbooksthatdiscussonthis.

AssessmentScheme
Thefollowingaspectsofthereportwillbeassessed:
1. 30% Originality (how many percent of the report is the authors own writing, does the author share his/her
ownopinions/ideasonthetopic)
2. 20% Genuineness (is what the author writes in the report correct and makes sense, does he/she have
supportsfortheargumentsmade)
3. 20% Organization (do the presented points/facts follow a logical sequence, can the author convey his/her
ideasclearly)
4. 20%Presentation(howwelltheauthorpresentsthereport,isitprofessional,doesthereportcontainalotof
grammaticalandspellingmistakes,doesitfollowtheformatandwritingstyleofresearchpapers)
5. 10%Generaleffort(howmuchefforttheauthorhasputinandtheextentofworkdone)

Guidelines
Whattoread?Wheretolookforinformation?Howtostart?
Booksandpublishedpaperswillbeyourmainsourcesofreference.Readingabookisasimpleandstraightforward
method.However,astechnologyisevolvingfast,thelatesttrendsandR&Dresultsarenotincludedinbooks.You
willneedtorelyonpublishedpapersonthese.
Researchersreporttheirlatestfindingsandsignificantprogressintheformofresearchpapersthatarepublishedin
journalsorconferenceproceedings.Thesepapershavebeenreviewedbytheirpeersbeforebeingacceptedfor
publication.Theyarewrittenconciselyandareofhighquality.Youshouldsearchforthepapersthatarerelevantto
theabovetopics.Beawarethattherearealreadytonsofpapersthathavebeenpublishedonthetopic(onvarious
aspectsofthetechnology).Chooseonlythosethatarerelevanttoavoidwastingyourtime.
PaperspublishedbyrenownedjournalandconferenceproceedingspublisherssuchasIEEEcanbeaccessedviathe
IEEEXplore:http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/Xplore/dynhome.jsp
Ifyouwishtodownloadarticlesfromthissite,youcanonlydosoifyouareconnectedtothecampusnetwork.

Mostresearchpapersappeardifficulttounderstand(especiallywhenyoudonthavethebackgroundknowledge).
Therearetechniquesthatyouneedtolearnupinordertomakeyourreadingeffortrewarding.Youhavetoknow
howtoreadcriticallyandbeabletoextractimportantinformationfromthepapers.Sometipsonhowtoread
effectivelyareprovidedasfollows:
Howtoreadaresearchpaper
http://www.cs.rpi.edu/courses/spring01/mobilerobotics/handouts/reading.pdf

FinalRemarks
Itisnotthelengththatcountstowardsthemarks;butthequalityofyourreport!Trytodemonstrateyour
understanding of the different aspects of the technology you study. Attempts to lengthen your report by
ramblingwillresultinlossesofmarks.
Plagiarism (e.g. copyandpaste published materials) can easily be detected using powerful software and
willbedealtwithseriously.
Avoidincludinglongderivationsavailableintheliterature;explainthekeyconceptwithneatdiagramsand
minimumamountofmathematicsessentialforunderstanding.Youmayincludematerial(e.g.,figures)from
other sources where necessary, provided it is made clear that the material is another author's work and a
propercitationisgiven.
The citations must be done inside square brackets [ ], which contain the number(s) for the specific
references compiled in the references list; without doing so will result in loss of marks. Please follow the
styleintheenclosedsamplepaper.