Course Syllabus

• Signals and Systems

• Fourier Series and Fourier Transform

• Concepts of Energy, Power, and Bandwidth of Signals

• Baseband and Passband Signals

• Analog Communication Techniques: AM and FM

• Link Budget Modeling

• Brief overview of Digital Communication Systems
  

Textbook

Introduction to Communication Systems, Upamanyu Madhow

Grading Policy

• Exam - 80%

• Project - 20%

Project

The students submitted two projects -

1. AM/FM Transmitter Circuit
   Some students made an AM transmitter and receiver. Some other students made an FM transmitter circuit. These circuits were equipped with microphone. The transmitted signal, either a persons voice or an audio signal was heard at the receiver by connecting to an external FM receiver or an earphone.
   
   An example project demonstration of an AM Tx and Rx is available at [AM Tx and Rx]
   
   
   For the FM transmitter circuit, a vegakit VK556 is provided to the students which includes all the components and IC's required for making a working FM transmitter circuit. The data sheet can be found here and here.

2. Impulse Response Project
   Inspired by the convolution project from Erik Perrins, students generated an acoustic impulse response either in a hall-way, or in their hostel room, or in an indoor court. An audio file was passed through the LTI system where the impulse response was captured. This was implemented by convolving the input audio signal with the collected acoustic impulse response. The resulting output audio file was observed in order to understand the effect of speaking inside a room, or inside an indoor court.
   
   The students tried the following mechanims to generate accurate impulse responses:

   1. [Clapping of hands] [Input Audio] [Output Audio]

   2. [Popping a ballon]

   3. [Banging keys to an iron pole]

   4. [Slamming a notebook]

   5. [Slamming the floor]

   6. [Scream]
      
      The students also experimented with the sampling rates of the audio files, cleaning up the impulse response by editing the acoustic impulse response file using Matlab, Scilab or Octave. The students enjoyed this project as it gave them a practical demonstration of the effect of impulse response, the effects of having an impulse trains in the response, and the effects of sampling rates on a variety of audio files.