THE OPEN UNIVERSITY OF SRI LANKA

Faculty of Engineering Technology

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Bachelor of Technology –Level 04

EEX 4533 – Communication

Academic Year 2018
Course Information

Target Group Students who are reading for Diploma/Degree in Electronic and
Telecommunication Engineering.

Course Mr. DS Wickramasinghe

Coordinator Contact Information
Phone 011-2881437 (Ext -437)
Email dswic@ou.ac.lk
Mail The Course Coordinator – EEX 4533
Department of Electrical &Computer Eng.,
Faculty of Engineering Technology,
The Open University of Sri Lanka,
Nawala, Nugegoda 10250.
Room No E302 – Science and Technology Building
Skype dsampw
FB https://web.facebook.com/dsampw

Students are expected to register and access moodle class

frequently. All-important notices and other resources will
be publish in the moodle class.
Go to the OUSL-NODES page http://ousl.nodes.lk/ and log on
Online resources and facilities

using the following.

Username : <your NIC number, including the character
(V/X) at the end>
Moodle virtual Class Password : s-user

Change the password to a private one on your first login

itself. If you have problems in logging
and accessing your course, please contact Ms. Geetha
Kulasekera (dgkul@ou.ac.lk).

If you have any queries regarding the content of the course,

please contact the course coordinator
Google drive folder https://goo.gl/tM79s4
FB group https://web.facebook.com/groups/ECX4233/

Telecommunication function, basic functional blocks in a

Course contents Introduction to telecommunication system, network hierarchy,Historical
Telecommunications development,Current and future trends,Regularity aspects

1 ECX 4233 – Communication 2018

 Introduction to multiplexing, Multiplexing techniques, FDM,
Multiplexing TDM, CDM, PDM,Standard multiplexing hierarchies

PCM encoding, sampling theorem, Nyquist rate, aliasing,

Digitization of quantization (linear and non-linear), encoding, DPCM, delta
Analog Signals modulation
Introduction to switching, Evolution of switching systems;
Switching concepts, availability, blocking probability,
Switching hierarchical switching, multi stage switching,Digital
switching principles, T-S, S-T, T-S-T, SPC, Signaling, CAS, CCS,
SS#6, SS#7
Fundamentals of Fundamental parameters, busy hour, average call duration,
Course contents Teletraffic Erlang, offered and carried traffic, GOS, Traffic calculations,
Engineering Erlang B formula, Teletraffic tables
Analog/Digital Amplitude modulation (AM), Angle modulation, Generation
modulation of FM waves,Digital modulation techniques – ASK, PSK, FSK
techniques ,QAM, Bit rate, Baud rate, SNR, BER
Cellular concept,Multiple access, generations,Power control
Cellular & Mobile Handoffs and roaming,Network architectures
Communication
Cable types (open wire, coaxial, twisted wire, fiber optics
Transmission Lines etc.), Transmission line parameters, matching of
transmission lines, Use of Smith Chart, Fiber optics
Polarization of an antenna, Antenna parameters
Antenna basics Commonly used antennas: dipoles, long wire, V, Rhombic,
antenna arrays, impedance matching of antennas, Simple
power calculation of antenna links,

Students are expected to collect the following at the registration:

1. Text issued - Book 1 & 2 , Supplementary lesson material 1&2
2. Assignment # 1 , Assignment #2 and 3 will be post in the moodle virtual class
In addition to the given study materials, you are expected to search for and read
relevant material from the library and from the Internet.
• R.L. Freeman, “Fundamentals of Telecommunications”,
John Wiley & Sons, 2nd Ed, 1999, ISBN: 0-471-29699-6
Course Materials • B.P. Lathi & Z. Ding, “Modern Digital & Analog
Communication Systems”, Oxford University Press, 4th
Ed, 2010, ISBN: 978-0195331455
• J.E. Flood, “Telecommunication Switching, Traffic and
Networks”, Prentice Hall, 1st Ed, 1995, ISBN:
0130333093
References • T.S. Rappaport, “Wireless Communications”, Prentice
Hall, 2nd Ed, 2002, ISBN: 0-13-099572X
• T.G. Robertazzi, “Planning Telecommunication
Networks”, Wiley-IEEE Press, 1st Ed, 1998, ISBN:978-
0780347021
• John D Kraus, “Antennas”, McGraw Hill, 1988, ISBN:
007-100482-3

Course Schedule Course Schedule is as in the Activity Diary 2018

2 ECX 4233 – Communication 2018

 Continuous assessment consists of 3 Tutor Marked
Assignments(TMA).
Continuous TMA 1,2,3– Assignment submission
Assessment Laboratory classes - 4 sessions (All compulsory)
Two Continuous assessment tests – CAT1, CAT2

To get the eligibility for the final examination the following

Assessment Eligibility Criteria
eligibility criteria should be satisfied.

CA Mark = (BTMA)0.15 + (SBTMA)0.15 + 1B(CAT)0.3 +

(LAB)0.4 >= 40; (LAB)1 >= 40

Where, CA – Continuous assessment , BTMA- Best TMA,

SBTMA – Second Best TMA, and BCAT – Best CAT mark

Eligibility for the final examination : CA mark >= 40%

Final Examination: Closed book test: 3 hours
The overall Grade is based on the average of the CA mark
Overall Assessment
and final examination mark, provided you obtain a minimum
of 40% at the final examination.

You are required to fill following forum

Student Details
Student Details forum – ECX 4233_2018
forums
Link – https://goo.gl/forms/b5k48nhL46y5fmIA2
Your contact information will be used to inform unscheduled
course work and other important messages.

Labotory Practicals Strictly you have to attend your own Lab groups. Attending
Important

lab calss on time is highly important. Lab groups can be

changed on the mutual transfer basis.

Online courses Registering for an online course (moodle class/google drive

folder/ FB group) will help you to get information fast and
keep in touch with the course coordinators and peers.
Contacting course Student contacting days – Wednesday of first and last week
coordinator of the month. Before you come, you're required to make an
appointment.

When sending an E-mail, Email subject should be in the given

format. EEX4533 – “email titile”.
Student registration number and the study center need to
mention in the email.

3 ECX 4233 – Communication 2018

ECX 4233 – Communication
Academic Year 2018

Due date: Refer activity diary

Tutor Marked Assignment #1

Important
• Marks will reduce according to the department assignment policy
• Zero marks will be given for plagiarism.
• Write on your own words.
• Clear and brief answers with no unnecessary details will gain maximum marks.

Guidelines
• You may need to refer study materials in addition to given course materials.
• State your references (other than giving references.)
• Write your answers in point form.

Activity 1

1) What is telecommunication. Explain it in your own words. Discuss the function of

Telecommunication.

2) Study historical evolution of telecommunication industry from the invention of

telephone to up to day technologies. Discuss how analog to digital, circuit to packet
switching and wired to wireless technology helpful to the growth of the industry.

3) Telecommunication Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka (TRC) is the national

regulatory agency for telecommunication in Sri Lanka. List four main functions of
the TRC in context of telecommunication industry.

4) ITU, IEEE and TIA are three leading global organizations who responsible for
telecommunication standards. List their roles and responsibilities.
Explain the role of standards in achieving interoperability

Activity 2

1) Draw a block diagram of the general communication system and explain the functions
of each block.

2) Traditional PSTN infrastructure was specifically designed to support only continuous,

real time voice communication. Today customer requirements are more complex and
more into data.
a. Draw PSTN and NGN architectures and explain the function of each node
b. Explain how NGN architecture offers modern day customer requirements over
PSTN.

3) Top 3 telecommunication trends can be listed as

• 5G

4 ECX 4233 – Communication 2018

 • IoT
• Data Centers
Search more about these trends and make brief notes on each topic explaining
technologies their using and impact to the telecommunication industry.

Activity 3

1) Explain in your own words, necessity of multiplexing techniques in telecommunication

networks.

2) Compare and contrast TDM and FDM. Differentiate FDM and OFDM.

3) Today telecommunication network heavily used fiber as the transmission media.

WDM is the multiplexing technique used in fiber. Explain working principles of
WDM.

4) Discuss advantages of CDMA.

Activity 4

1) G.711 is the codec used for voice transmission on telecommunication network. State
specification of this codec and calculate the bandwidth.

2) In a voice communication application, voice signals digitalised by PCM and stored in

a RAM buffer and then digital data are processed by the circuitry. Assume bandwidth
of the voice signal is 15kHz.
(i) What is the Nyquist rate for the signal?
(ii) If the Nyquist samples are quantized to 65,536 levels and then binary coded,
determine the number of binary digits required to encode a sample
(iii) Determine the number of binary digits per second required to encode the audio
signal.
(iv) For practical reasons, signal is required to sampled at a rate above the Nyquist
rate. If the sampling rate is increased to 44,100 samples per second, and
quantization levels are not changed, determine the number of bits per second
required to encode the signal.
(v) Calculate the minimum bandwidth required to transmit the encoded signal in
(iv)

3) A Digital E1 carrier frame uses 8-bit time slots and repeats at every 125 μsec.
(i) Draw the frame structure of E1 digital carrier.
(ii) Calculate the size of a single frame in bits.
(iii)Calculate the bit rate of E1 carrier

4) Briefly explains the terms Plesiochronous Digital Hierarchy (PDH) and Synchronous
Digital Hierarchy (SDH) and identify the basic differences between these 2
techniques.

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