Unit 4038 Telecommunication Principles Assignment Brief
| Unit Number | 4038 |
| Unit Title | Telecommunication Principles |
| Unit Reference Number | H/651/0765 |
| Unit Level | 4 |
| Credits | 30 |
Introduction
Telecommunication deals with the transmission of information such as voice, images and data using three elements: transmitter, medium and receiver. Applications of telecommunications are all around us including mobile phones, satellite TV, computer networks, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi.
This unit starts with the fundamental principles of wireless communication systems including frequency spectrum and the sources of noise and interference. Theories and practices of analogue and digital communication are then analysed. The unit further covers the physical practicalities of telecommunication systems such as guided and unguided transmission media, security and network architectures.
It is essential that students have successfully completed level 4 or equivalent units containing electrical circuit theory and analogue/digital electronics before undertaking this unit.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this unit students will be able to:
LO1 Develop fundamental knowledge of analogue electronic communication
LO2 Analyse digital communication techniques
LO3 Assess transmission channels and applications
LO4 Investigate the design of Data Networks.
Essential Content
LO1 Develop fundamental knowledge of analogue electronic communication
Characteristics and performance:
- Sinusoid relationships: frequency, wavelength and velocity
- RF spectrum: ULF, LF, MF, VHF and EHF, Bandwidth, Gain and Attenuation, use of the decibel (dB) Noise: Sources; Internal, external, natural and man-made.
- Effects; Interference, cascaded systems, Calculations; signal to noise ratio, thermal noise, noise factor and power.
Modulation Techniques:
- Amplitude modulation (AM); Applications, carrier frequency, baseband signal, mixers, time and phase representation, modulator and de-modulator circuits, double sideband suppressed carrier (DSB-SC), single sideband suppressed carrier (SSB-SC). Frequency modulation (FM); Applications, Bessel coefficients, Carson’s rule, wideband, narrowband, varicap diode circuit, crystal-controlled phase locked loop (PLL), PLL demodulator circuits. Phase Modulation (PM); Phase shift keying; Binary, Quadrature, 8 point and 16 point.
RF Transmitter and Receiver Circuits:
- Transmitters; Oscillators, Modulation, Power Amplifiers, Matching, Antennas.
- Receivers; Low Noise Amplifiers, Mixers, Tuning Circuits, Detectors. Filtering; Bandpass Chebyshev and Butterworth designs. The Super Heterodyne Receiver.
LO2 Analyse digital communication techniques
Digital Communication Fundamentals:
- Digital Data; Coder-Decoder (CODEC), Baud Rate, Bandwidth, Multiplexing
- Analogue to Digital Conversion (ADC); Dynamic range, quantization error, conversion rate, noise. Sampling, Nyquist Theorem, Digital to Analogue Conversion (DAC); Accuracy, Linearity, Monotonicity, Conversion time, Resolution
- Shannon’s Theory, Design trade-offs meeting objectives against constraints.
Digital Modulation:
- Data transmission; Baseband digital signalling, digital receiver/generator, non-return to zero (NRZ) and return to zero (RZ), Spectrum of a pulse, effects of noise, raised cosine filter, limitations of baseband signalling. Pulse Coded Modulation (PCM); Carrier Based Signalling; Amplitude shift keying (ASK), Frequency shift keying (FSK), Phase shift keying (PSK), Binary phase shift keying (BPSK), filtering techniques, Digital Signal Processors (DSP)
- Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing; Quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) and Quadrature phase shift keying (PSK).
- Coding and Decoding; Hamming, Cyclic-Redundancy, Convolution, Maximum-likelihood Viterbi, Reed-Solomon.
LO3 Assess transmission channels and applications
Characteristics and Selection criteria:
- Transmission line theory; reflections, standing waves and return loss
- Channel terminology; Propagation delay, attenuation, data transfer rate security, mechanical strength, physical dimensions, throughput, configuration, gauge, bandwidth, error performance, distance, cost, capacity.
Media Types:
- Guided; Copper wires, twisted pair, coaxial cable, fibre optics, power line carrier
- Unguided; Infrared, radio wave, microwaves, lasers, satellite radio.
Applications:
- Telephone, computer data transfer, television, radio frequency transmitters and receivers, digital audio, satellite communication, Ethernet, smart grids, video, Bluetooth, paging, global positioning system (GPS), Wi-Fi, WiMax, Radar, Dedicated Short Range Communication (DSRC) for vehicles, internet of things.
Security:
- Implications of unsecured wireless network
- Classifications; spoofing, tampering, repudiation, information disclosure, denial of service, elevation of privilege (STRIDE)
- Standards; ISO27002, IEC-62443.
LO4 Investigate the design of Data Networks.
Network Types:
- Personal Area Network (PAN), Local Area Network (LAN), Metropolitan Area Network (MAN), Wide Area Network (WAN), Internetwork (Internet).
Network Topologies:
- Point-to-point, Bus, Star, Ring, Mesh, Tree, Daisy Chain, Hybrid.
Network Layers:
- Open System Interconnect (OSI) standard layers; Application, Presentation, Session, Transport, Network, Data Link, Physical
- Internet Model; TCP/IP protocol suite.
Network Security:
- Threats; Interruption, Privacy-Breach, Integrity, Authenticity
- Cryptography encryption; Secret Key, Public Key, Message Digest.
Network Switching:
- Categories; Circuit, Message, Packet. Schemes; Space/time division.
Learning Outcomes and Assessment Criteria
| Pass | Merit | Distinction |
| LO1 Develop fundamental knowledge of analogue electronic communication systems | ||
| P1 Identify the range of M1 Illustrate the sections of radio frequency (RF) bands a complete RF transmitter and their applications. and receiver system
outlining the function P2 Examine types of noise, of each section. their sources and effects on electronic communication M2 Evaluate the properties systems. of radio antennas and compare designs for AM P3 Discuss the range of and FM communication. applications inductors and capacitors in play in RF transmitters and receivers. P4 Differentiate modulation techniques by comparing Amplitude (AM), Frequency (FM) and Phase Modulation (PM). |
D1 Design a theoretical bandpass filter circuit as part of an RF receiver from a given specification. | |
| LO2 Analyse digital communication techniques | ||
| P5 Explain the aliasing problem of sampled data and methods to mitigate this.
P6 Analyse the main performance specifications for ADC and DAC in a digital communication system. P7 Describe the operation of a multiplexed PCM transmitter system. P8 Compare different techniques to modulate and demodulate digital data. |
M3 Discuss a range of methods to reduce noise and improve the quality of signals in digital communication systems.
M4 Analyse coding methods for transmission reliability in digital communication. |
D2 Evaluate the trade-offs when meeting design objectives under the constraints and limitations of digital communication. |
| Pass | Merit | Distinction |
| LO3 Assess transmission channels and applications | ||
| P9 Define the general characteristics of transmission channel media.
P10 Assess guided and unguided transmission channel media including applications. |
M5 Investigate security issues of unguided communication systems and methods of mitigating the risks. | D3 Select and justify a guided or unguided communication system solution for a given case study. |
| LO4 Investigate the design of Data Networks. | ||
| P11 Describe the geographical categories of data networks.
P12 Illustrate the differences between popular data network topologies. P13 Explain with examples the principles of layered architecture for data networking. P14 Investigate switching techniques in data networks. |
M6 Investigate methods to control traffic congestion on data networks. | D4 Present a design proposal for a data network for a given specification. |
Recommended Resources
Note: See HN Global for guidance on additional resources.
Print Resources
Dodd, A.Z. (2018) The essential guide to Telecommunication, Prentice Hall.
Frenzel L. (2023) Principles of Electronic Communication Systems. 5th Ed. McGraw-Hill.
Horowitz, P. and Hill, W. (2015) The Art of Electronics.
Sibley, M. (2018) Modern Telecommunications Basic Principles and Practices, CRC Press.
Young, P.H. (1998) Electronic Communication Techniques, Macmillan Publishing.
Website Tutorials
Store.tutorialspoint.com (2020) Premium Ebooks – Tutorialspoint [online] Available at: https://store.tutorialspoint.com/
Links
This unit links to the following related units:
Unit 4019: Electrical and Electronic Principles
Unit 5014: Analogue Electronic Systems.
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