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This is an archived syllabus from 2013-2014

COMP38512 Digital Wireless Communications and Networks syllabus 2013-2014

COMP38512 Digital Wireless Communications and Networks

Level 3
Credits: 10
Enrolled students: pending

Course leader: Nick Filer


Additional staff: view all staff

Requisites

  • Pre-Requisite (Compulsory): COMP28411

Assessment methods

  • 60% Written exam
  • 40% Coursework
Themes to which this unit belongs
  • Mobile Computing and Networks

Overview

For 2013-14 this course has undergone a major re-design. See below.

Mobile systems are rapidly becoming ubiquitous in the form of laptops, tablets and smart-phones. These use a mixture of wireless technologies such as 4G (LTE), 3G (UMTS, 2G (GSM), WiFi (IEEE 802.11), Bluetooth, NFC and others to communicate. Future common devices will start to fulfil the Internet of Things (IoT) with massive numbers of static and mobile sensors envisaged all of which will need to upload values as well as receive instructions and updates.

This course aims to raise your awareness of the networking underlying many of these systems and to investigate future trends using a mixture of lectures and directed reading of research papers and on-line tutorials.

Aims

The core 2nd year networking course has introduced the background that all computer scientists need. That course is almost entirely about wired networks. This course extends the networking to various types wireless networks both centrally controlled and distributed. The course covers wireless propagation, various types of wireless data distribution, issues with connectivity, routing and transport. The main goal is for students to build a deeper understanding of how today's wireless networks operate and to be aware of current and possible future developments in this domain.

Objectives

To develop awareness and experience of:

  • Wireless propagation in theory and practice.
  • To learn about the techniques used to modulate digital data onto radio waves, error detection and prevention.
  • To overview the different types of digital communications in use today.
  • To overview and gain insight of wireless system evolution.
  • To be aware of the latest research being carried out and its relevance to future wireless and network developments.

Teaching methods

Lectures

Up to 22 lecture and class sessions, 2 per week..

Feedback methods

The course consists of lectures introducing different networking topics following which students are given research papers (mainly surveys) to read and report on. Some sessions are kept for students to talk about what they have read as a group with feedback both from the lecturer and their peers. In these sessions more diverse ideas and examples can be raised and used as examples for system design and other applications oriented problem solving.

Study hours

  • Lectures (15 hours)
  • Practical classes & workshops (9 hours)

Employability skills

  • Analytical skills
  • Problem solving
  • Research

Learning outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, a student will be able to:

Learning outcomes are detailed on the COMP38512 course unit syllabus page on the School of Computer Science's website for current students.

Reading list

No reading list found for COMP38512.

Additional notes

Course unit materials

Links to course unit teaching materials can be found on the School of Computer Science website for current students.