Integration of System Design and Standard Development in Digital Communication Education

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Integration of System Design and Standard
Development in Digital Communication Education

• Xiaohua(Edward) Li
• State University of New York at Binghamton

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Contents

• Introduction
• SAM project in digital communications
• Technical standard of SAM
• Conclusions

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Introduction

• Digital communications education should
• teach theory with a systematic view
• use MATLAB projects to strengthen the systematic
  view
• develop practical system design experience
• Traditional ways of teaching may not perform well
  enough

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Introduction

• Our approach joint theory, system design and
  technical standard drafting
• Objectives
• Integrate theory with hands-on experience
• Cost effective computers only
• Convenient Matlab programming only
• Competitive drafting standards

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Design of the SAM Project

• SAM soft acoustic modem
• a modem with PC and MATLAB
• Overview
• Phase 1 baseband transmission
• Phase 2 passband transmission (wireline)
• Phase 3 passband with coding (wireless)
• Modem standard discussion and draft
• Work of students
• demonstration, presentation, standard draft

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The SAM Project (1)

• Phase I. Baseband system design
• Theory data packet, pulse shaping,
  synchronizations
• Hardware one PC
• Software MATLAB

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The SAM Project (2)

• Phase II. Passband wired transmission
• Theory modulation/demodulation, synchronization
• Hardware one or two PC
• Software MATLAB

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The SAM Project (3)

• Phase III. Wireless modem
• Theory wireless, SNR, channel coding/decoding
• Hardware two PCs

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The SAM (4). Software MATLAB
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The SAM Project (5)

• Typical transmitter and receiver block diagrams
• Simulation results of one student group

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Technical Standard Activity

• Technical standard
• Provide design guide and inter-operability
• Encourage competition
• Approaches for drafting standards
• Only design objective is assigned
• Students are free to choose techniques
• Perform regular discussion to define common
  parameters
• Each group draft a standard, among which the
  most competitive one is recommended

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Conclusions

• Project that stimulates students interest
• Use practical design projects which involve both
  software and hardware
• Use tools which are under students control
• Introduce competitions
• Make it challenging by leaving questions open
• Draft standards instead of writing ordinary
  reports