Digital Communication using GNU Radio

By Prof. Kumar Appaiah | IIT Bombay

Learners enrolled: 659 | Exam registration: 9

ABOUT THE COURSE:
This course covers the fundamentals of Digital Communications, and explores the building blocks of modern communication systems ranging from smartphones to optical fibers. Using the open source GNU Radio software, students will be able to design, simulate and analyze communication system models with ease.

INTENDED AUDIENCE: Third and Fourth year UG and first year PG EE/ECE students, Industry participants working in communication engineering

PREREQUISITES: Signals and Systems, Probability and random processes

INDUSTRY WHO MAY BE INTERESTED: Qualcomm, Samsung, Huawei, Apple, Google, Microsoft, Meta, Marvell

Summary

Course Status :	Upcoming
Course Type :	Core
Language for course content :	English
Duration :	12 weeks
Category :	Electrical, Electronics and Communications Engineering Communication and Signal Processing
Credit Points :	3
Level :	Undergraduate
Start Date :	20 Jan 2025
End Date :	11 Apr 2025
Enrollment Ends :	27 Jan 2025
Exam Registration Ends :	14 Feb 2025
Exam Date :	27 Apr 2025 IST

Note: This exam date is subject to change based on seat availability. You can check final exam date on your hall ticket.

Page Visits

Course layout

Week 1: The GNU Radio Signal Model

Week 2: Complex baseband model and Analog modulation

Week 3: Transmission spectrum, bandwidth and pulse design

Week 4: Digital modulation, detection and noise

Week 5: Digital modulation, detection and noise (contd.)

Week 6: Symbol errors and bit errors

Week 7: Matched filtering, synchronization and channel estimation

Week 8: Matched filtering, synchronization and channel estimation (contd.)

Week 9: Digital Equalization

Week 10: Channels with inter-symbol interference and OFDM

Week 11: Introduction to binary error control coding

Week 12: Miscellaneous topics on GNU Radio and Digital Communication

Books and references

Fundamentals of Digital Communication, Upamanyu Madhow
Principles of Digital Communication, Robert Gallager
Digital Communications. Fifth Edition. John G. Proakis.

Instructor bio

Prof. Kumar Appaiah

IIT Bombay

Prof. Kumar Appaiah received the B.Tech. and M.Tech. degrees in electrical engineering from IIT Madras, India, in 2008, and the Ph.D. degree in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA, in 2013. From 2013 to 2014, he was a Senior Engineer with Qualcomm Flarion Technologies, Bridgewater, NJ, USA. Since 2014, he has been with the Department of Electrical Engineering at IIT Bombay, Mumbai, India, where he is currently an Associate Professor. His research interests include signal processing for optical communication, and multiplexing in wireless and fiber-optic communication systems.

Course certificate

The course is free to enroll and learn from. But if you want a certificate, you have to register and write the proctored exam conducted by us in person at any of the designated exam centres.

The exam is optional for a fee of Rs 1000/- (Rupees one thousand only).

Date and Time of Exams: April 27, 2025 Morning session 9am to 12 noon; Afternoon Session 2pm to 5pm.

Registration url: Announcements will be made when the registration form is open for registrations.

The online registration form has to be filled and the certification exam fee needs to be paid. More details will be made available when the exam registration form is published. If there are any changes, it will be mentioned then.

Please check the form for more details on the cities where the exams will be held, the conditions you agree to when you fill the form etc.

CRITERIA TO GET A CERTIFICATE

Average assignment score = 25% of average of best 8 assignments out of the total 12 assignments given in the course.
Exam score = 75% of the proctored certification exam score out of 100

Final score = Average assignment score + Exam score

Please note that assignments encompass all types (including quizzes, programming tasks, and essay submissions) available in the specific week.

YOU WILL BE ELIGIBLE FOR A CERTIFICATE ONLY IF AVERAGE ASSIGNMENT SCORE >=10/25 AND EXAM SCORE >= 30/75. If one of the 2 criteria is not met, you will not get the certificate even if the Final score >= 40/100.

Certificate will have your name, photograph and the score in the final exam with the breakup.It will have the logos of NPTEL and IIT Bombay .It will be e-verifiable at nptel.ac.in/noc.

Only the e-certificate will be made available. Hard copies will not be dispatched.

Once again, thanks for your interest in our online courses and certification. Happy learning.

- NPTEL team

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