Wireless Communication Course

Lesson 1 • Electromagnetic Spectrum and Radio Waves

Covers frequency bands, wavelength relationships, and spectrum allocation. Establishes the physical basis for all wireless transmission studied in the chapter.

Lesson 2 • Wireless System Architecture Overview

Maps the end-to-end structure of a wireless link from transmitter to receiver. Provides a framework for understanding each subsystem covered later.

Lesson 3 • Analog vs. Digital Signal Concepts

Distinguishes analog and digital representations and their trade-offs. Prepares students for modulation and coding topics in later chapters.

Lesson 1 • Analog Modulation Methods

Covers amplitude, frequency, and phase modulation of continuous carriers. Grounds students in classical techniques before digital methods are introduced.

Lesson 2 • Demodulation and Detection

Covers coherent and non-coherent detection strategies and their performance. Ties receiver design decisions to bit-error rate outcomes.

Lesson 3 • OFDM and Multicarrier Modulation

Details orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing for high-data-rate channels. Establishes the foundation for 4G and 5G air interfaces covered later.

Lesson 4 • Digital Modulation Schemes

Introduces ASK, FSK, PSK, and QAM for digital data transmission. Links spectral efficiency and bit-error rate to modulation order.

Lesson 1 • Time and Frequency Dispersion

Examines delay spread, coherence bandwidth, and Doppler spread in mobile channels. Guides selection of modulation and equalization strategies.

Lesson 2 • Indoor and Special Environment Models

Addresses propagation in indoor, tunnel, and body-area environments. Extends general models to scenarios encountered in IoT and industrial deployments.

Lesson 3 • Large-Scale Path Loss Models

Presents log-distance, Okumura-Hata, and COST models for coverage prediction. Enables link budget calculations across urban, suburban, and rural settings.

Lesson 4 • Small-Scale Fading Characterization

Analyzes Rayleigh, Rician, and Nakagami fading distributions for multipath channels. Connects fading statistics to diversity and equalization design.

Lesson 1 • Fundamental Antenna Parameters

Defines gain, directivity, radiation pattern, and impedance for any antenna. Provides the vocabulary needed to compare and specify antennas throughout the course.

Lesson 2 • Wire and Dipole Antennas

Analyzes half-wave dipole, monopole, and loop antenna behavior. Establishes reference designs used in many practical wireless devices.

Lesson 3 • Aperture and Microstrip Antennas

Covers horn, patch, and slot antennas suited for higher-frequency systems. Connects compact form factors to mobile and millimeter-wave applications.

Lesson 4 • Antenna Matching and Measurement

Addresses impedance matching networks and antenna test methods. Ensures students can verify antenna performance in lab and field settings.

Lesson 1 • Random Access Protocols

Examines ALOHA, CSMA, and reservation-based protocols for uncoordinated access. Connects protocol choice to throughput and delay performance.

Lesson 2 • Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiple Access

Extends OFDM to multi-user resource allocation via subcarrier assignment. Links OFDMA to LTE and 5G NR downlink design.

Lesson 3 • Duplexing Methods

Compares frequency-division, time-division, and full-duplex operation. Addresses self-interference cancellation requirements for full-duplex systems.

Lesson 4 • Code Division Multiple Access

Details CDMA spreading, orthogonal codes, and near-far problem mitigation. Connects CDMA principles to 3G network design.

Lesson 1 • Heterogeneous Network Deployment

Addresses small cells, femtocells, and relay nodes within macro-cell networks. Prepares students for dense urban deployment strategies in 4G and 5G.

Lesson 2 • Capacity Planning and Traffic Engineering

Applies Erlang models and blocking probability to dimension cellular capacity. Connects traffic demand forecasting to cell splitting decisions.

Lesson 3 • Handoff and Mobility Management

Covers hard and soft handoff triggers, hysteresis, and location registration. Ensures students understand how mobility is managed without service interruption.

Lesson 4 • Cell Coverage and Link Budget

Guides construction of a link budget including margins for fading and interference. Translates propagation models into cell radius and coverage area estimates.

Lesson 1 • Spatial Multiplexing Techniques

Covers V-BLAST and layered space-time architectures for parallel data streams. Connects detection complexity to achievable multiplexing gain.

Lesson 2 • MIMO Channel Capacity

Derives capacity gains from spatial multiplexing using singular value decomposition. Quantifies how antenna count and channel rank affect throughput.

Lesson 3 • Massive MIMO Systems

Analyzes large-scale antenna arrays with hundreds of elements for 5G base stations. Addresses pilot contamination, channel estimation, and energy efficiency.

Lesson 4 • Space-Time Coding for Diversity

Presents Alamouti code and general space-time block codes for transmit diversity. Balances diversity gain against multiplexing gain trade-offs.

Lesson 1 • 5G Use Cases and Requirements

Defines eMBB, URLLC, and mMTC service categories with their KPI targets. Motivates the architectural and air-interface innovations introduced in 5G NR.

Lesson 2 • Beyond 5G and 6G Research Directions

Surveys terahertz communications, reconfigurable intelligent surfaces, and AI-native air interfaces. Positions students to follow emerging research and standardization activities.

Lesson 3 • Millimeter-Wave Communications

Addresses propagation challenges and beamforming requirements above 24 GHz. Evaluates mmWave suitability for dense urban and indoor deployments.

Lesson 4 • 5G Core Network and Network Slicing

Explains service-based architecture, network functions, and slice management. Shows how the core network enables differentiated services over a shared infrastructure.