ECE463
ECE463 (Digital Communications Lab) is a 2-credit-hour course that satisfies the Technical Elective requirement for ECE majors and satisfies a hardware lab for EEs. It is offered only in fall semesters.
Content Covered
ECE463 is a lab class that follows after taking one of the fundamental communications classes: ECE453, ECE459, and ECE463. As these classes teach you the fundamental theory of communication systems like modulation, pulse shaping, noise processes, filter design, etc., ECE463 will allow you to practice these concepts in a lab environment. The class is structured as a 1-hour lecture and a 3-hour lab. In the 1 hour lab, you will go over some fundamental communications concepts for the lab. In the lab section, you will perform a series of MATLAB exercises where you analyze radio and waveform data. In addition, these exercises will also have you design software demodulate, decode, and filter interesting radio data: FM radio, television, airplane communications. The labs will also have you use GNU Radio Companion to build custom digital radios on Software Defined Radios. This class is the analog of ECE420 after taking ECE310.
Prerequisites
The topical prerequisites are modulation theory, Fourier analysis, waveform analysis at the level of an introductory undergraduate communications course. Students should be familiar with MATLAB and/or python.
When to Take It
This class should be taken after ECE453, ECE459, or ECE461. This class is a lab class and should be taken during late Junior or early Senior year.
Course Structure
This class is just graded on attendance, labs reports, a final group project, and an individual paper. The workload is comparable to ECE420. One should expect to spend 3 to 4 hours outside of normal class hours. This may vary downward or upward depending on if a lab deadline is coming up.
Instructors
The primary instructor for this course is Professor Thomas Moon, the same professor that teaches ECE310, ECE420, and occasionally, ECE220.
Life After
In terms of practical lab coursework in digital communications, ECE463 is the only one. Interested students who are interested in continuing this study should conduct research with a professor or take a graduate digital communications course like ECE562.