At the end of this course, the students will know the key characteristics of modern communication systems, the most advanced techniques used for wireless and wired systems, and the practical scenarios and applications where they are used (especially space communication and 5G). In particular, they will have an in-depth knowledge of the physical layer constituent blocks from the bits to the OFDM modulator. Moreover, thanks to the course structure based on assignments and learning-by-doing, they will be able to understand, analyze the key blocks of any Communication Systemsm to write programs in Matlab or Python to simulate them and describe the results by a professional technical report.

Basic notions of probability and signal processing (Fourier Transform).

Main topics of the course: - Introduction to Communication Systems (4h) - Introduction to wireless channels (AWGN, multipath fading, Doppler) (6h) - Multiplexing (TDM/FDM) (2h) - Multiple Access (TDMA, FDMA, CDMA, introduction to NOMA) (6h) - Block diagrams of the Physical Layer of a Communication System (e.g., satellite link or 5G data channel) (2h) - Framing and introduction to frame sync (4h) - Introduction to error detection (CRC), error correction (block codes), and ARQ (10h) - Randomizer (2h) - QAM modulations (4h) - OFDM modulation (14h) - Use cases and relative link budgets: space links and 5G (6h)

The course is organized in six sections. For each section, the teacher presents the topic and proposes an assignment. The students must write Matlab or Python programs to solve the problems and prepare a report to discuss the results. For each section, we will offer tutoring to help the students with their programs. During the course we also host seminars and presentations from ICT companies on state-of-the-art topics.

Teacher material, available on the course web portal. Suggested books: Proakis-Salehi "Communication Systems Engineering" Erik Dahlman, Stefan Parkvall, Johan Skold, "5G NR The next generation wireless access technology"

Exam: Optional oral exam; Individual project;

The scope of the exam is to verify that the student is able to understand, simulate, and discuss the key blocks of a wireless communication system, and to present the results of the analysis in a technical report. The course is divided in 6 section. For each section an assignment (to be solved individually) is proposed. The student must deliver a pdf report containing all the results, the figures and the required answers and all the written Matlab or Python programs. Each assignment is evaluated and receives a mark (max mark = 30). To encourage the students to stay aligned to the course, the students who deliver their assignment withing 2 weeks from when it is assigned received 2 more bonus points (max mark = 32). An extra assignment (or an oral exam) is proposed to students who want to further increase their mark (max +3/30 for the final mark). Students who get at least 32 receive 30 cum laude.

In addition to the message sent by the online system, students with disabilities or Specific Learning Disorders (SLD) are invited to directly inform the professor in charge of the course about the special arrangements for the exam that have been agreed with the Special Needs Unit. The professor has to be informed at least one week before the beginning of the examination session in order to provide students with the most suitable arrangements for each specific type of exam.