6.02 Fall 2011 Calendar

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Week of Mon Tue Wed Thu
Sep 05 Labor Day Registration Day L01: Introduction and objectives for communication systems. What is "information"? Entropy. Source coding. R01: Probability recap. Expected value. Entropy as expected information.
Sep 12 L02: Source coding (compression): Huffman codes, LZW algorithm. R02: Compression. L03: Comm. abstractions. Layering: messages --> packets --> bits --> signals. Digital signaling. Why is reliable communication hard?
PSet #1 due (Huffman and LZW)
R03: Bit-level synchronization & clock recovery.
Sep 19 L04: Additive Gaussian noise. Signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Bit error rate (BER). Binary Symmetric Channel (BSC) abstraction. R04: Probability density function (PDF) and cumulative distribution function (CDF). Student holiday (no class). R05: Digitizing thresholds and BER calculations.
Sep 26 L05: Error detection and correction (channel coding). Hamming distance. Parity bits and simple codes. R06: L06: Hamming codes. Linear block codes. Interleaving.
PSet #2 due (digital signaling & clock recovery)
R07:
Oct 3 L07: Convolutional codes. R08: L08: Viterbi decoding of convolutional codes.
PSet #3 due (noise analysis + linear block codes)
R09:
Oct 7: Add date
Oct 10 Columbus Day Columbus Day L09: Shannon capacity for BSC. BER and rate v. SNR curves.
PSet #4 due (Viterbi decoder + comparing codes)
R10:
Oct 17 L10: Transmitting on a physical channel. Modulation and demodulation (on-off keying, binary phase shift keying). The baseband channel, from modulating input to demodulated output. No recitation
Quiz 1 (evening) 7:30-9:30pm.
Location: 50-340 (Walker).
Topics: through L08/R09/PSet4
L11: Linear, time-invariant (LTI) channel models in continuous time (CT) and discrete time (DT). Step response, unit sample (impulse) response, convolution, causality, stability. Alternative descriptions: difference equations relating input and output. R11: Using step response, time-invariance and superposition property of LTI baseband channel model, to compute response to keyed inputs.
Oct 24 L12: Intersymbol interference (ISI) and eye diagrams. Deconvolution (to undo distortion caused by non-ideal channel), and its sensitivity to noise. Understanding LTI systems through their frequency response. R12: Eye diagrams. Frequency response. L13: Filters and composition. Deconvolution as (noise-sensitive) inverse filtering. Fourier transformation to display the spectrum of a periodic signal (discrete-time Fourier series).
PSet #5 due (convolutions and deconvolutions)
R13: Frequency response and filtering. Discrete-time Fourier series.
Oct 31 L14: More on discrete-time Fourier series. Spectrum of non-periodic signals (discrete-time Fourier transforms. Spectral character of noise. R14: Properties of Fourier series and transforms (effect of time delay). Practice with spectral calculations. L15: Modulation on a sinusoidal carrier, and demodulation (time-domain and frequency-domain interpretations). Sharing spectrum using multiple carriers.
PSet #6 due (signal spectrum and filters)
R15: Shifts and scaling of signal spectrum in modulation and demodulation. Effects of channel delay on demodulation.
Nov 7 L16: Signals in time and frequency, LTI channels, filtering, and modulation/demodulation: how these come together in modem design. R16: L17: Sharing a channel: MAC protocols (TDMA, Aloha). R17:
PSet #7 due (Modulation)
Nov 14 L18: MAC protocols (cont.): stabilizing Aloha, CSMA. R18: L19: Multi-hop networks. Packet switches, queues. No recitation
Quiz 2 (evening) 7:30-9:30pm. Location: 4-270, 4-370.
Topics: L10-16/R11-16/PSet5-7
Nov 21 L20: Network layer: Addressing & forwarding. Routing protocols. R19: Lecture cancelled. (Prep for thanksgiving!)
Drop date
PSet #8 due (MAC protocols)
Thanksgiving
Nov 28 L21: Network layer (cont.): Routing protocols. R20: L22: Transport protocols: reliable data delivery.
PSet #9 due (distance-vector & link-state routing protocols)
R21:
Dec 5 L23: Transport protocols: improving throughput with sliding windows. R22: L24: Designing large networks (an historical view)
PSet #10 due (transport protocols).
R23:
Dec 12 L25: Course wrap-up. R24: Quiz 3 review L26: Quiz 3 review in lecture. No recitation
Dec 19 Quiz 3: Monday, 12/19/2011, 1.30-3.30 pm, in Johnson, L17-end (chapters 16-end)

Last modified on 12/6/11 (hari)