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HKUSTx: A System View of Communications: From Signals to Packets (Part 1)

Explore the tradeoffs in designing communication systems like mobile phones, and the engineering tools to handle them.

7 weeks
4–6 hours per week
Self-paced
Progress at your own speed
Free
Optional upgrade available

There is one session available:

35,755 already enrolled! After a course session ends, it will be archivedOpens in a new tab.
Starts Mar 19
Ends Jun 25

About this course

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Have you ever wondered how information is transmitted using your mobile phone or a WiFi hotspot? This introductory course seeks to enable you to understand the basic engineering tools used and tradeoffs encountered in the design of these communication systems.

This course is divided into three parts. In Part 1, we examine the point-to-point link, which communicates information from a single transmitter to a single receiver. Part 2 examines how multiple transmitters can share the same physical channel. Part 3 discusses how information can be transmitted reliably from one station to another over a network that connects multiple stations. Online interactive exercises are included to help build your intuition.

This course was inspired by and built upon the course 6.02 Digital Communication Systems developed at MIT, which Prof Bertram Shi worked on during his sabbatical in 2009.

At a glance

  • Language: English
  • Video Transcript: English
  • Associated skills:Mobile Phones, Digital Communications, Telecommunications

What you'll learn

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In this course, you will:

  • Learn the point-to-point link which communicates information from a single transmitter to a single receiver.
  • Gain a basic understanding of the engineering tools used and tradeoffs faced in designing digital communications systems.
  • Discuss effective solutions to overcome these challenges and develop intuitive, useful systems.

Learner testimonials

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Nenad Pekez : This is the best course I've ever taken online. As matter of fact, it's better than most of courses I had during my studies. Everything is explained clearly with so many fantastic everyday analogies. Even for those who already have experience with similar topics this is going to be really useful, because even the most basic stuff, for example, binary system is explained in different and interesting ways. I recommend this course definitely! It was such a great experience! Thank you!

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