Pictures of the lab

Finally, Lab 5 closed the course with an introduction to Error Control Codes. Those interested in learning this topic more in depth should check out the web-page for ECE1501.

In Lab 4 the students simulated a Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM) system (both transmitter and receiver), and observed the effects of phase shift, noise and ISI introduced by the channel.

Lab 3 is an extension of Lab 2, in which we designed, simulated and built a "basic" communication system. In Lab 3, however, we dealt with noise as well as ISI. Prior to this lab, it may be a good idea to review the design and application of Matched Filters.

In Lab 2 we put together a generic communication system, with a bit source, a pulse shaping stage, a filter representing a band-limited channel and a receiver filter. In this lab, the main focus is on inter-symbol interference (ISI). The students played with the channel bandwidth and utilized an eye-diagram to verify the effects. The Lissajous figure on the oscilloscope nearly caused a riot in the lab.

After a well deserved year-end break, Lab 1 was presented to the first group of intrepid ECE417 students. This first experiment tackled non-uniform quantization , and it is somewhat a continuation of the last experiment on ECE416. Students experimented with A-Law and mu-Law compression algorithms.

Lab 1 is a general introduction to Matlab, Simulink, Code Composer Studio and DSP hardware fundamentals. Though the students may be familiar with the two first, in this course we add one more tool and use the three of them to a good extent. The student must become familiar with moving data from one tool to the other, and with manipulating the data properly before interpreting the results obtained. Since DSP programming is not the emphasis of this course, interpreting the C language utilized is a "bonus". Since this is not part of the experiment, the student is encouraged to look at it and make modifications to it if time allows.

In Lab 2 an introduction to digital filters is presented. This experiment was designed to bring together concepts from Signals and Systems through the design, simulation and testing of digital filters. Instead of working with the synthesis of a square wave (as every other course does), in this experiment the student designs, implements and tests filters to break the signal down to its fundamental. The concept of band limitation is introduced here.

Amplitude Modulation was the topic in Lab 3. We even had some Comp Eng folks taking it.

Lab 4 was FM.

Lab 5 was uniform PCM.

You can check out the results of a student satisfaction survey that was ran at the end of the term. This survey was related to the laboratory part of the course, and was intended to gauge if the students perceived the laboratory as useful in their learning experience.

We use the Summer to put the structure of the lab together, so it can hold strong for the courses of the following school year. In 2002, this included planning the physical size of the workstation, purchasing all equipment, installing all software, writing a lot of code, testing a lot more code, making presentations to the professors, etc, etc. We made it a project to take one student per Summer for a 3 month "internship" in the lab. For 2003, there will be work to do in hardware/firmware/software. By working here, Summer students have the oportunity to improve their skills on software packages and on a state-of-the-art hardware platform that are all widely used in the industry.

Summer 2002

Summer 2003 - TBA (keep an eye out for the application!)