| University of Dar es Salaam | Department of Electronics and Telecommunications Engineering |

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TE412 Introduction to Wireless Communication

The course takes up 3 units and is made up of 60 hours. Aimed at fourth year B.Sc. in
Telecommunications Engineering students, this course introduces techniques in the broad
field of Wireless Communications. The following outcomes are identified:

 Understand the fundamentals of mobile radio channels, and the limitations imposed
by systems,
 Understand the architectures of mobile communication systems, and some standard
mobile radio systems,
 Develop essential analytical skills for understanding wireless communications
systems and their future evolution,
 Contrast mobile radio propagation and multiple access techniques in wireless
communication systems,
 Analyze and evaluate the performance of a mobile communications system, taking
into account the design trade-offs, capacity and limitations of the technology adapted.

Prerequisites: TE311, TE312 (Analogue and Digital Electronics for Engineers II)

The program begins with the area of mobile radio propagation, which is covered in detail.
Aspects such as shadowing and fast fading are covered, with both Rayleigh and Rician
distributions introduced. Narrowband aspects such as random FM and Doppler shifts are
covered. Wideband propagation effects such as time delay spread, intersymbol
interference and coherence bandwidth are also introduced. The propagation material is
delivered from the context of its impact on digital communication systems. Narrowband
Rayleigh and Rician statistics are further developed with the introduction of Level
Crossing Rates and Average Fade Duration. These statistics are used to highlight the
bursty nature of the radio channel. The importance of this information in the planning of
current networks will be highlighted.

Having studied the performance of single links, the material now considers the structure
of modern mobile radio cellular networks. Subjects such as cochannel interference,
frequency reuse, cluster size and handover are introduced. The basic cellular radio design
equations are developed allowing simple capacity and coverage predictions to be made
for analogue and digital cellular networks. The trade-off between bandwidth efficiency,
spectral efficiency, coverage and capacity are discussed. The need for future capacity is
highlighted and microcellular networks are considered as one possible solution. The
simple capacity equations are extended for a microcellular case and the projected
capacity calculated. Some of the problems currently associated with the deployment of
microcellular networks will be covered.

The radio spectrum is studied, in particular the means of administering it. Wireless
communication generations are looked at from the early first generation, through to the
second and third generations, and future possibilities. Multiple access techniques are then

| TE 412 Introduction to Wireless Communications | Christine Mwase | 10/03/2015 |

| University of Dar es Salaam | Department of Electronics and Telecommunications Engineering |
_______________________________________________________________________

covered before studying the GSM network in depth. The GSM network elements as well
as its operation are delved into. Finally, fixed wireless architectures and technologies are
introduced.

Assessment: Coursework + Examination

Reading List: Textbooks:

 Theodore S. Rappaport, “Wireless communications: Principles & Practice”. Prentice
Hall, 1996.
 Gordon L. Stuber, “Principles of Mobile Communication,” Second Edition, Kluwer
Academic Publishers, 2001.
 Lee, E.C.Y., “Mobile Cellular Telecommunications Systems”, McGraw Hill, 1989.
 Sampei, S., “Applications of Digital Wireless Technologies to Global Wireless
Communications”, Prentice Hall, 1997.

Consultation hours: Weekdays TBA

Twitter account: @TE412

Announcements and Course Materials: Announcements and course materials will

either be provided during sessions, through the class representatives, the LMS or via
twitter. You are advised that not knowing information which has been presented is
due to your negligence. You should therefore regularly check with the class
representatives, LMS, twitter and, of course, attend all sessions.

Email Submissions: Any email sent to the instructor should have an appropriate subject
line and content in the body of the email which should include a formal salutation and
sign-off with your name. It should be professionally crafted as a formal message, and
not use text-messaging abbreviations. If there is an attachment, the content of the
attachment should be stipulated in the body of the email. The instructor shall not
accept any submission that does not adhere to this fully, for security purposes. Thus,
you should not consider your assignment submitted unless you have received an
acknowledgment from the instructor.

Late Submissions: Unless you are given an extension prior to the deadline, any late
submission will be subject to a penalty of 10% per day (less than one day is counted
as one day). Submissions received one week after the deadline will not be accepted.
Extensions will generally not be granted without good reason and prior request.

Plagiarism: All forms of cheating and submission of plagiarised work, i.e.

work that contains content copied from an unacknowledged source, is unacceptable
and shall result in disciplinary penalties ranging from the loss of grades to
discontinuation from the university.

| TE 412 Introduction to Wireless Communications | Christine Mwase | 10/03/2015 |