Communication systems principles using MATLAB®

Preface History has probably never witnessed such a dramatic rise in technical sophistication, coupled with blanket penetration into everyday life, as has occurred in recent times with telecommunications. The combination of electronic systems, together with readily available programmable devices, provides endless possibilities for interconnecting what were previously separated and isolated means of communicating, both across the street and across the globe. How, then, is the college- or university-level student to come to grips with all this sophistication in just a few semesters of study? Human learning has not changed substantially, but the means to acquire knowledge and shape understanding certainly has. This is through the ability to experiment, craft, code, and create systems of our own making. This book recognizes that a valuable approach is that of learn-by-doing, experimenting, making mistakes, and altering our mental models as a result. Whilst there are many excellent reference texts on the subject available, they can be opaque and impenetrable to the newcomer. This book is not designed to simply offer a recipe for each current and emerging technology. Rather, the underpinning theories and ideas are explained in order to motivate the why does it work in this way? questions rather than how does technology X work? With these observations as a background, this book was designed to cover many fundamental topics in telecommunications but without the need to master a large body of theory whose relevance may not immediately be apparent. It is suitable for several one-semester courses focusing on one or more topics in radio and wireless modulation, reception and transmission, wired networks, and fiber-optic communications. This is then extended to packet networks and TCP/IP and then to digital source and channel coding and the basics of data encryption. The emphasis is on understanding, rather than regurgitating facts. Digital communications is addressed with the coverage of packet-switched networks, with many fundamental concepts such as routing via shortest path introduced with simple, concrete, and intuitive examples. The treatment of advanced telecommunication topics extends to OFDM for wireless modulation and public-key exchange algorithms for data encryption. The reader is urged to try the examples as they are given. MATLAB® was chosen as the vehicle for demonstrating many of the basic ideas, with code examples in every chapter as an integral part of the text, rather than an afterthought. Since MATLAB® is widely used by telecommunication engineers, many useful take-home skills may be developed in parallel with the study of each aspect of telecommunications. In addition to the coding and experimentation approach, many real-world examples are given where appropriate. Underpinning theory is given where necessary, and a Useful Preliminaries section at the start of each chapter serves to remind students of useful background theory, which may be required in order to understand the theoretical and conceptual developments presented within the chapter.

Discover the basic telecommunications systems principles in an accessible learn-by-doing format

Communication Systems Principles Using MATLAB covers a variety of systems principles in telecommunications in an accessible format without the need to master a large body of theory. The text puts the focus on topics such as radio and wireless modulation, reception and transmission, wired networks and fiber optic communications. The book also explores packet networks and TCP/IP as well as digital source and channel coding, and the fundamentals of data encryption.

Since MATLAB« is widely used by telecommunications engineers, it was chosen as the vehicle to demonstrate many of the basic ideas, with code examples presented in every chapter. The text addresses digital communications with coverage of packet-switched networks. Many fundamental concepts such as routing via shortest-path are introduced with simple and concrete examples. The treatment of advanced telecommunications topics extends to OFDM for wireless modulation, and public-key exchange algorithms for data encryption. Throughout the book, the author puts the emphasis on understanding rather than memorization. The text also:

• Includes many useful take-home skills that can be honed while studying each aspect of telecommunications
• Offers a coding and experimentation approach with many real-world examples provided
• Gives information on the underlying theory in order to better understand conceptual developments
• Suggests a valuable learn-by-doing approach to the topic

Written for students of telecommunications engineering, Communication Systems Principles Using MATLAB« is the hands-on resource for mastering the basic concepts of telecommunications in a learn-by-doing format.