ME502 Overview of Digital Communications Assignment 1: Individual Written assignment Topic: Principles of Digital Communications & Waveform Encoder Design Using MATLAB/Simulink Submission Deadline: Week 6 Total Marks = 100 (Assignment's contribution to final grade: 10%) Word Limit: Altogether 1200 words (11-point font in Times New Roman should be used.) Accepted File Type: Microsoft Word Purpose of the assessment: The purpose of this assignment is to motivate students to seek to understand the fundamental principles in modern digital communication systems. The assignment has two parts: Part A and Part B. Part A: Contribution to unit's forum at Moodle (60 marks) Every student has to watch all the weekly YouTube videos relating to the topic for the week posted on the unit's forum at Moodle site. The student has to formulate one technicallyinteresting question from the content of the video and post it to the forum for discussions with other students. It is not allowed to post the same question posted by another student. That would be plagiarism. Also, each week every student has to respond to at least one question posted by another student. Students are expected to answer another student's questions so that co-operatively every student understands the subject matter. A student is expected to post an answer to a question asked if no one was able to answer it correctly. Note: each post, either a question or answer, should never be longer than ½ A4 page using 11-point font size. Engineering Learning Journal: As part of the submission of the Assignment 1, every student shall add the question she/he posted and the ones she/he answered in a weekly basis (on Weeks 1 to 5 videos) with the appropriate date and topic as headings. The learning journal has date and activities performed underneath the date. Below is an example (Note: dates below are only for example.): Week 1 Videos Question posted date: 20th July 2016 Copy from forum's webpage the question you posted and paste here. Answer posted date: 21st July 2016 Paste your answer here (i.e. in your report) Week 2 Videos Question posted date: 27th July 2016 Copy from forum's webpage the question you posted and paste here. Answer posted date: 27st July 2016 Paste your answer here (i.e. in your report)Dr A. Gyasi-Agyei | ME502 Overview of Digital Communications | Assignment 1 Individual Page 2 of 5 Week 3 Videos Question posted date: 2nd August 2016 Copy from forum's webpage the question you posted and paste here. Answer posted date: 1st August 2016 Paste your answer here (i.e. in your report Week 4 Videos Question posted date: 9th August 2016 Copy from forum's webpage the question you posted and paste here. Answer posted date: 8th August 2016 Paste your answer here (i.e. in your report) Week 5 Videos Question posted date: 15th August 2016 Copy from forum's webpage the question you posted and paste here. Answer posted date: 15th August 2016 Paste your answer here (i.e. in your report Description of the assessment: 1. Background Technology is a faced-paced industry, and digital communication systems are not exceptions. For example, the transmitter and receiver (generically called transceiver) of communication systems have been traditionally operating in hardware. The current thinking is that we implement as much as possible the transceiver in software. Therefore, it is paramount that students seek to understand the principles behind the technologies so they can adapt to the dynamics in the industry and be employable. 2. Requirements The requirements are found in the marking criteria table below. 3. Submission Guidelines: MIT General Guidelines for Presentation of Academic Work is used in this assignment. Students are expected to know and adhere to it. The assignment must be submitted in soft (electronic) as .doc file on Moodle page provided at MIT intranet. The page numbers of the assignment must be clear on each page. Marking criteria: Marks are allocated as follows:Dr A. Gyasi-Agyei | ME502 Overview of Digital Communications | Assignment 1 Individual Page 3 of 5 Section to be included in the report Description of the section Marks Part A: Question formulated and posted to forum Weekly question formulated Did the student post any question to the forum in a timely manner, i.e. in the appropriate week? 5 Technical relevance of question formulated Is the question posed technically interesting to the subject matter? Did the student reflect on the question? Is the question not trivial? 5 Critical reflection Does the question posted by the student demonstrate reflection and understanding of the topic or it was hastily formulated? 5 Research depth Does the answer posted by student demonstrate that the student consulted additional references on the topic and used the IEEE referencing style well? 5 English grammar and coherence Does the question posted contain good English, good grammar, admirable writing style, no typos, good format, etc.? Is the question not longer than ½ A4 page with 11-point font? 10 Plagiarism Did the student do any of these without reference and reflection? - Copy from other student(s) - Copy from Internet source/textbook - Copy from other sources -30 Part A: Question answered in the forum Weekly answer posted to the forum Did the student respond to any of the questions posted to the forum each week in a timely manner, i.e. in the appropriate week? 5 Technical relevance of the response to a question Is the provided to a question correct and technically interesting to the question? Did the student reflect on the question before answering it? 5 Critical reflection Does the answer to a question posted by the student demonstrate reflection and understanding of the topic or it was hastily formulated? 5 Research depth Does the answer posted by student demonstrate that the student consulted additional references on the topic and used the IEEE referencing style well? 5 English grammar and coherence, and professional report writing Does the answer contain good English, good grammar, admirable writing style, no typos, good format, etc.? Is the answer not longer than ½ A4 page with 11-point font? 10 Plagiarism Did the student do any of these without reference and reflection? - Copy from other student(s) - Copy from Internet source/textbook - Copy from other sources -30Dr A. Gyasi-Agyei | ME502 Overview of Digital Communications | Assignment 1 Individual Page 4 of 5 PART B: -law and A-law Compander Design Using MATLAB/Simulink (40 marks) Most modern communications systems operate in the digital domain for various reasons. However, most practical signals handled by these systems are naturally analogue in nature. Thus, an interface is needed between the signals and the systems handling them. This interface is called analogue-to-digital converter (ADC) and its reciprocal, digital-to analogue converter (DAC). The three main components in the ADC are sampler, quantizer and encoder. Task: Implement in MATLAB/Simulink nonlinear quantizers using -law and A-law Compander and compare them. Learning Outcomes 1. Student demonstrates competence in programming in MATLAB. 2. Student demonstrates the ability to implement a function in a digital communication system in software. 3. Student demonstrates the understanding of analog-to-digital conversion (ADC), and its purpose in the entire transceiver of modern technologies such as UMTS/WCDMA and LTE-Advanced. Marking criteria: Marks are allocated as follows: Section to be included in the report Description of the section Marks PART B MATLAB programming competence Does student demonstrate competence in programming in MATLAB? Does the code run? Does the code solve the intended problem? 5 ADC/DAC competence Does student demonstrate the ability to implement a function in a digital communication system in software? 10 Competence in modern technology Does student demonstrate the understanding of ADC/DAC, and its purpose in the entire transceiver of digital wireless communication systems? 5 Critical reflection Does the report demonstrate reflection and understanding of the topic or it was hastily written? 5 Research depth Does the student work demonstrate that the student consulted additional referenced materials on the topic and used the IEEE referencing style well? 5Dr A. Gyasi-Agyei | ME502 Overview of Digital Communications | Assignment 1 Individual Page 5 of 5 English grammar and coherence, and professional report writing Does the question posted contain good English, good grammar, admirable writing style, no typos, good format, etc.? Is the report void of cut-and-paste figures and tables? Are all graphics captioned and referenced appropriately in the report? 10 Plagiarism Did the student do any of these without reference and reflection? - Copy from other student(s) - Copy from Internet source/textbook - Copy from other sources -40 Extensions: Requests for an extension, accompanied by supporting documentation, must be received by the student in writing before 3 working days from the due date else penalties may apply for late submission without an approved extension. Special consideration form is available on level 8 reception. Penalties: Academic misconduct such as cheating and plagiarism may incur penalties ranging from a reduced result to program exclusion.