| University of Dar es Salaam | Department of Electronics and Telecommunications Engineering | _______________________________________________________________________

| TE 412 Introduction to Wireless Communications | Christine Mwase | 10/03/2014 |

TE412 Introduction to Wireless Communication

The course takes up 3 units and is made up of 60 hours. Aimed at fourth year B.Sc. in

Telecommunications Engineering students, this course introduces techniques in the broad

field of Wireless Communications. The following outcomes are identified:

Understand the fundamentals of mobile radio channels, and the limitations imposed

by systems,

Understand the architectures of mobile communication systems, and some standard

mobile radio systems,

Develop essential analytical skills for understanding wireless communications

systems and their future evolution,

Contrast mobile radio propagation and multiple access techniques in wireless

communication systems,

Analyze and evaluate the performance of a mobile communications system, taking

into account the design trade-offs, capacity and limitations of the technology adapted.

Prerequisites: TE311, TE312 (Analogue and Digital Electronics for Engineers II)

The program begins with the area of mobile radio propagation, which is covered in detail.

Aspects such as shadowing and fast fading are covered, with both Rayleigh and Rician

distributions introduced. Narrowband aspects such as random FM and Doppler shifts are

covered. Wideband propagation effects such as time delay spread, intersymbol

interference and coherence bandwidth are also introduced. The propagation material is

delivered from the context of its impact on digital communication systems. Narrowband

Rayleigh and Rician statistics are further developed with the introduction of Level

Crossing Rates and Average Fade Duration. These statistics are used to highlight the

bursty nature of the radio channel. The importance of this information in the planning of

current networks will be highlighted.

Having studied the performance of single links, the material now considers the structure

of modern mobile radio cellular networks. Subjects such as cochannel interference,

frequency reuse, cluster size and handover are introduced. The basic cellular radio design

equations are developed allowing simple capacity and coverage predictions to be made

for analogue and digital cellular networks. The trade-off between bandwidth efficiency,

spectral efficiency, coverage and capacity are discussed. The need for future capacity is

highlighted and microcellular networks are considered as one possible solution. The

simple capacity equations are extended for a microcellular case and the projected

capacity calculated. Some of the problems currently associated with the deployment of

microcellular networks will be covered.

The radio spectrum is studied, in particular the means of administering it. Wireless

communication generations are looked at from the early first generation, through to the

second and third generations, and future possibilities. Multiple access techniques are then

| University of Dar es Salaam | Department of Electronics and Telecommunications Engineering | _______________________________________________________________________

| TE 412 Introduction to Wireless Communications | Christine Mwase | 10/03/2014 |

covered before studying the GSM network in depth. The GSM network elements as well

as its operation are delved into. Finally, fixed wireless architectures and technologies are

introduced.

Assessment: Coursework + Examination

Reading List: Textbooks:

Theodore S. Rappaport, “Wireless communications: Principles & Practice”. Prentice

Hall, 1996.

Gordon L. Stuber, “Principles of Mobile Communication,” Second Edition, Kluwer

Academic Publishers, 2001.

Lee, E.C.Y., “Mobile Cellular Telecommunications Systems”, McGraw Hill, 1989.

Sampei, S., “Applications of Digital Wireless Technologies to Global Wireless

Communications”, Prentice Hall, 1997.

Twitter account: @TE412

Instructor: Christine Mwase

Consultation hours: Tuesday 11 – 1pm, Thursday 11 – 1pm, or by appointment.

Tutor: Josephine Stephen

Consultation hours: Weekdays TBA

Announcements: Announcements will either be made during sessions, through the

class representatives or via twitter. You are advised that not knowing information

which has been presented is due to your negligence. You should therefore regularly

check with the class representatives, twitter and, of course, attend all sessions.

Late Submissions: Unless you are given an extension prior to the deadline, any late

submission will be subject to a penalty of 10% per day (less than one day is counted

as one day). Submissions received one week after the deadline will not be accepted.

Extensions will generally not be granted without good reason and prior request.

Plagiarism: All forms of cheating and submission of plagiarised work, i.e.

work that contains content copied from an unacknowledged source, is unacceptable

and shall result in disciplinary penalties ranging from the loss of grades to

discontinuation from the university.