Telecommunication Circuits ELEC 4505


2011 Course Outline


Course Outline 2011 (pdf)

General Handout (pdf)

Lectures: ME 4494
Times Tue, Thu 13:00-14:30,
Labs: ME4135 Odd Weeks, Mon 11:30-14:30, Mon 14:30-17:30, Thu, 8:30-11:30
TAs, and Office Hours:

Office Hours for Prof. Plett



Link to the year 2010.
Link to the year 2008.
Link to the year 2007.

Link to the year 2006.

Link to the year 2005.

Consulting for Exam, Lab 3 returns, etc, Mon Dec 12, 2:00-4:00, ME 4124

Final Exam, Fri. Dec.16, 2011, 2-5 PM, TB 446

Coming Soon in Student Area: Comments on marking progress, high scores

Extra Info for Assg 3, Lab 3

Extra Info for Lab 2

Extra Info for Assignment 2

Extra Info for Assignment 1

Extra Info for Lab 1

Course Objective

To learn about the design of communications circuits. In other courses, the block diagram approach has been used but in this course the emphasis will be on the actual circuitry which makes up these blocks. Examples of such blocks are tuned amplifiers, mixers, oscillators, phase shifters and detectors. Communications systems considered are AM, FM, television and telephony. Use of the PLL will be discussed.

Course Content

  1. Introduction to Telecommunications: Components of a radio systems; noise, distortion impedance matching.

  2. Amplfier Design: Tuned amplifers, class C amplifiers, extension to frequency multipliers.

  3. Mixers and Modulators

  4. Phase-Locked Loop and Applications: Introduction to PLLs and applications such as: synthesizers and FM demodulation.

  5. Oscillators: (For 2011, done after Amplifiers, before Mixers)

  6. Amplitude Modulated Radio

  7. Frequency Modulators and Demodulators

  8. Television Systems: Transmission and Reception of video and audio. May also discuss high-definition TV, stereo sound.

Labs

Simulation Labs and Hardware Labs - Groups of 2, one writeup per group, due one week after the scheduled lab day, 4:15 PM. (Note, assignments are done individually)
  1. Tuned Amplifiers: (Dates Tentative) (Intro Week 1 Sept 12, 15, L1, A1, Week 3 Sept 26,29) Simulation Lab. Design and simulation (in ADS) of a 7 MHz tuned amplifier, built with a bipolar transistor and passive components. You will learn about use of transistor parameters, tuned circuits, noise figure, and impedance matching.

  2. Mixers and Modulators: (Hardware Lab) (Week 7, Oct 24, 27) Use of an analog multiplier on an IC to build frequency changers. Observation of double-sideband suppressed carrier, filtering to see single sideband output.

  3. Phase-Locked Loops (Hardware Lab): (Week 9 Nov 7,10, Week 11 Nov 21, 24) Use of a commercially available package to build a tracking filter, a synthesizer and a an FM demodulator. The IC contains a voltage-controlled oscillator a phase detector, and amplifiers. In this lab, the VCO and phase detector will be characterized, then a complete phased-lock loop will be built. The main external components will consist of a simple loop filter and a divider to realize the synthesizer.

Assignments:

Asg 1 is an extension of Lab 1, Asg 2 in Week 5 is an oscillator simulation, Asg 3 is on PLLs.

Marks:

a) Three assignments worth 5% each
b) Three Labs worth 10, 10,15 (about 20% for demo)
c) One written exam worth 50%.
**** Students must get at least 35% in the final exam. ****

Text, Course Notes

There is no official course text, but detailed course notes are available on a password protected course web page. If you are registered for this course and do not have access to it, please contact the course instructor. The course notes should provide enough material, or some of the references can be consulted.

References:

Password Protected area for Students