Offer of some units is subject to viability, and information in these Unit Outlines is subject to change prior to commencement of the teaching period.
Overview
This intermediate unit addresses core concepts, characteristics and performance requirements in analog and digital communications. Knowledge and skills developed in this unit are relevant to communication and signals stream in the electrical engineering major. This unit introduces basic building blocks of analog and digital modulation techniques for single and multi-user communications, as well as fundamentals of RF relevant to telecommunications. You will learn to use time and frequency domain signal analysis, apply information theory to compress digital data, choose appropriate modulation techniques to transmit signals and analyze the performance of communication systems in noisy channels. You will also gain knowledge on RF building blocks of telecommunications systems. You will build on this unit in EGH443 Advanced Telecommunications and RF and EGH444 Digital Systems and Image processing by extending analytical understanding for design and analysis of more complex systems.
Learning outcomes
On successful completion of this unit you will be able to:
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Incorporate social and professional accountability in devising solutions to telecoms and signal processing problems, at a developed level.
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Interpret, report and critically reflect on problem solutions using appropriate information display methods, at a developed level.
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Demonstrate your knowledge and understanding of key telecoms and signal processing methods and RF buildings blocks of telecommunications systems, at a developed level.
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Demonstrate your ability to investigate and solve contextualized practical telecoms engineering problems using abstraction and interpretation methods, at a developed level
Learning approaches
Teaching Mode:
Lectures with embedded interactive components - 3 hours per week (2+1)
Tutorials - 2 hours per week
Learning approaches:
This unit will be delivered using interactivity-fortified lectures, blended with inverted classroom components. The Tutorials will contain small group work on problems solved using analytical development (by hand) alternated with Matlab based exercises. The alternating pattern is designed to combine the analytical skill development while addressing the communications and professional aspects of the unit learning outcomes.
Lecture sessions will build on students pre-lecture reading materials to introduce and facilitate the definition of the technical areas to be addressed. Tutorial and group activities will further refine the technical skill development and examine solution strategies. Submission of individual and team assignment solutions, in the form of reports and Matlab code, will be supported by the feedback and discussions planned to occur during lecture sessions, to close the cycle of problem formulation, analysis, solution and reflection.
Feedback on learning and assessment
Formative feedback will be provided throughout the discussion and workshop sessions. Review of submitted assessment items will provide both summative and formative feedback.
Assessment
The assessment for this unit is designed to measure your acquisition of key concepts and your ability to apply and implement theoretical developments to contextualized communications engineering problems. You will be working individually as well as in small teams solving problems using a variety of analytical and computer based techniques, including the use of the Matlab environment. Wherever possible a project based approach to assignment design will be utilized, to assist with contextualization and enhance the relevance of assignment tasks.
Assessment 1: Problem Solving Task
Project-based tasks addressing a telecommunications scenario. A combination of problem
problem-solving and computer programming tasks.
Assessment 2: Problem Solving Task
Contextualized Project-based tasks addressing a telecommunications scenario. A
combination of problem problem-solving and computer programming tasks.
Assessment 3: Examination (written)
Invigilated assessment focusing upon mathematical methods and problem solving.
“On Campus invigilated Exam. If campus access is restricted at the time of the central examination period/due date, an alternative, which may be a timed online assessment, will be offered. Individual students whose circumstances prevent their attendance on campus will be provided with an alternative assessment approach.”