Summary: This is a 2-part course. The Advanced Protocols for Wireless Ad-hoc Networks will illustrate that in Ad-Hoc networks where there is no underlying fixed infrastructure, tasks such as network self-organization, mobility management, adaptive route detection for unicast and multicast applications, and provisioning of Gateway functionality to interconnect the ad-hoc network to the rest of the Internet space must be handled according to rules that are unique to the ad-hoc nature of the system. Topics related to support of QoS at various network layers will also be discussed, with emphasis on layers 2, 3, and 4 of the network. We will investigate the performance of these protocols in terms of their level of scalability to different sizes, and traffic loads. Topics of security will also be discussed.

Summary: Neural Networks are information processing systems inspired by the ability of human brain to learn from observations and to generalize by abstraction. It has been used in diverse fields such as pattern recognition, speech processing, control, medical applications and more. In recent years, it has emerged as an attractive vehicle in the RF/microwave CAD community to address the challenges in high-frequency electronic modeling and design. Neural networks can learn and generalize from data allowing model development even when component formulas are unavailable. Neural network models are universal approximators allowing re-use of the same modeling technology for both linear and nonlinear problems and at both device and circuit levels.

Summary: RF power amplifiers have received a great deal of attention and development effort over the last decade, mainly due to the challenging requirements of the wireless communications industry. This effort has not only led to some impressive progress in PA performance, it has also led to some revisions and rethinking in traditional PA theory. this course will highlight how these developments will undoubtedly have an impact on PA design in all application areas, including but not restricted to wireless communications.

Summary: This is a hot topic due to immediate demand from industry. However, the key design issues are often ignored, in particular by the students. In this course, these issues will be highlighted from an application point of view. The theoretical analysis is also given to help students understand the broadband radiation behavior well. The following is the abstract of the course.
The research and development of ultra-wideband (UWB) technology has greatly spurred the design of small broadband antennas. The requirements for the UWB antennas include consistent impedance and radiation performance over an ultra-wide bandwidth of 3.1-4.8GHz/6-10.6GHz/3.1-10.6GHz. The miniaturization of the antennas becomes the most critical design challenges in commercial UWB systems such as high-speed wireless USB dongles. This course reviews the development of the small UWB antennas. The key design issues of the UWB antennas such as planar printed UWB antennas are highlighted. The new techniques to reduce the effect of ground plane on the antenna performance, further miniaturize antenna, co-design antenna with RF filters are elaborated. The latest applications of small printed antennas in wireless UWB systems are described in brief.

Summary: In recent years the converging digital technologies of television, publishing, telephony and computers, the so-called multimedia revolution, have prompted the deployment of a multitude of high-speed applications from streaming video to the World Wide Web to desktop video editing. An immediate impact of this evolution is the ever-increasing demand for Internet bandwidth, the more intelligent use of already available resources and the use of overlay networks in the home. Because of the emergence of the home networks, the nature of networking itself is changing dramatically. It is moving away from supporting mainly home business and education applications and into the infotainment world where video and audio are now predominant and IPTV is emerging as the “killer app”. This module will review the Home Networking standards from transmission, like the popular 802.11 wireless, to middleware like OCAP or MHP. It will of course review the important IP protocols, like those related to Quality of Service, that make Home Networking and IP based entertainment possible.

Summary: The IEEE802.11n standard will enable a new class of consumer and enterprise products utilizing wireless LAN connectivity that is ten times faster than is feasible with the current IEEE802.11a/b/g standards. This tutorial will provide a comprehensive overview of the Media Access Control (MAC) Layer defined in the p802.11n draft standard. The 802.11n MAC tutorial is a companion to the 802.11n PHY tutorial although familiarity with the PHY tutorial is not required for this tutorial.

The tutorial begins with an overview of the applications, environments, channel models, use cases, and usage models developed by the study group and task group which provided the framework for proposal development. We continue with a history of the various coalitions that ultimately led to the final joint proposal adopted as the draft standard. This part of the tutorial contains similar information to the PHY tutorial and is repeated in a truncated form for the benefit of participants who may not view the PHY tutorial.

The technical portion of the tutorial begins with an overview of why changes are needed in the MAC to achieve high throughput. The tutorial then covers the major features that improve MAC efficiency, including aggregation and the various modifications made to the block acknowledgement protocol.

The 802.11n amendment introduces 40MHz operation, new frame formats and reduced interframe spacing among other things. The tutorial goes on to describe the features that support coexistance and interoperability with legacy devices as well as among the various capability classes of 802.11n devices.>>Finally the tutorial covers some of the more advanced features added to the standard, including the reverse direction protocol, fast link adaptation and transmit beamforming.

Summary: The IEEE802.11n standard will enable a new class of consumer and enterprise products utilizing wireless LAN connectivity that is ten times faster than is feasible with the current IEEE802.11a/b/g standards. This tutorial will provide a comprehensive overview of the Physical Layer (PHY) technology in the p802.11n draft standard. The course will begin with an overview of the applications, environments, channel models, use cases, and usage models developed by the study group and task group which provided the framework for proposal development. We continue with a history of the various coalitions that ultimately led to the final joint proposal adopted as the draft standard. The technical description of the draft standard starts with a detailed discussion of the key throughput enhancing features: multiple-input, multiple-output (MIMO) / space division multiplexing (SDM) in the PHY. Further throughput enhancements in the PHY include 40 MHz channelization, reduced guard interval, tone filling, high rate coding, and efficient (greenfield) preambles. Additional topics include PHY interoperability techniques such as the mixed mode preamble, legacy spoofing, and auto-preamble detection. An overview will be provided of the robustness enhancements in the PHY. The PHY techniques include spatial spreading, receive diversity, transmit beamforming, space-time block code (STBC), and low density parity check (LDPC) codes.

Summary: This course provides an overview of fiber optic communications technology and applications. It assumes some general technical background in telecommunications, but no prior knowledge of fiber optics. The basic components of an optical fiber communication system include the transmitter (laser and LED), the fiber (multimode, single mode, dispersion-shifted) and the receiver (PIN and APD detectors, coherent detectors, optical preamplifiers, receiver electronics). These technologies are defined, their basic operating principles summarized, key parameters affecting system performance identified, and representative values given for both practical systems and current research results. Factors affecting application (both point-to-point and networking) are identified. Emphasis is on physical principles, performance limits, and technology and application directions.

Summary: Introduction to IEEE 802 will examine the driving forces for the development of communications technology. Government regulations will also be discussed as well as standardization bodies. The course will also review the sesign of standard for wireless communications.

Summary: Introduction to IEEE 802.11 will provide an introduction covering both network and standard architectures. The course will also review access mechanisms and QoS – 802.11e. Physical layers and current trends in wireless local area networking (802.11p, mesh) will also be discussed.

Summary: Introduction to IEEE 802.15 will provide an overview of WPAN. The course will delve into 802.15.1 (Bluetooth); 802.15.2 coexistence between Bluetooth (802.15.1) and 802.11b; and 802.15.3 (high-rate WPAN; 802.15.4) low-rate WPAN.

Summary: Introduction to IEEE 802.16 will discuss network architectures for Broadband Wireless Access (BWA). 802.16 MAC mechanisms and physical layers will also be reviewed. The course will also discuss enhancements for mobile BWA (802.16e).

Summary: As point-to-point links become more sophisticated, single-channel and WDM systems must dynamically adapt to changing environmental and traffic conditions in order to avoid SNR degradation. This scenario erupts into a much greater challenge when channels originate at different locations, as is the case with add/drop multiplexers, reconfigurable cross-connects, circuit-switched networking, and, eventually, optical packet switching. This course is intended for people interested in non-static and reconfigurable WDM systems and networks.

Summary: This is a 2-part module. Introduction to Wireless Ad-hoc Networks will provide a technical overview and introduction to the topic of wireless ad-hoc networks. Wireless Ad-hoc networks will be defined. Major requirements and challenges of wireless ad-hoc networks will be covered. The solution space, and related technologies at different layers will be discussed.

Summary: The IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) is considered as the platform of choice for providing a unified session control on top of various access network technologies for realizing flexible multimedia applications. IMS, with its access-agnostic session layer, is also driving the concept of merging the fixed and mobile telecommunication networks with the Internet and the adoption of IP technologies within the telecom domain. IMS represents conceptually a combination of the traditional fixed and mobile networks from the telecom domain with emerging VoIP and Internet applications in order to implement a seamless multimedia service environment. This tutorial will address IMS vision, IMS concepts, procedures, protocols and services, fixed-mobile convergence, standardization activities, and early deployments of IMS networks.

Summary: Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) is a photonic technology that is able to increase the number of wavelengths in the same fiber, thus achieving higher aggregate bandwidth that exceeds 1 Tbit/s. Currently, WDM technology is considered the only optical communications technology for the present and future to be deployed in access as well as long-haul and ultra-long haul applications and in various network topologies. WDM is made possible by new photonic technology that brought to bear new photonic components. Among them are optical filters, modulators, gratings, optical amplifiers, couplers, splitters, optical add-drop multiplexers (OADM), optical cross-connects, tunable lasers, superfast and sensitive photodetectors, optical switches, polarizers, compensators and equalizers and new improved fiber. This tutorial identifies the photonic phenomena that determine the bounds of photonic transmission and countermeasure strategies, DWDM principles, optical components, systems and networks.

Summary: This course provides an introductory, tutorial-type overview of key optoelectronic devices for optical communication systems, specifically, semiconductor lasers, photodetectors, optical modulators, and some WDM components. The course covers a broad range of devices with an emphasis on fundamental device physics and operating principles. Important performance parameters including design tradeoffs will also be discussed. The laser section will discuss applications and the types of lasers that are utilized for specific systems. Topics include multiple quantum well lasers, distributed feedback lasers, wavelength tunable lasers and vertical cavity surface emitting lasers. Photodetector topics will cover wide-bandwidth PINs and avalanche photodiodes as well as receivers with optical preamplification. State-of-the-art integrated receiver circuits will also be discussed. In the modulator section Mach-Zehnder interferometers, and quantum-confined-Stark-effect devices will be covered. There will be a brief description of recent developments in optical switching using MEMs technology.

Summary: This course addresses needs of radar system analysts, engineers, and simulation programmers for simple, yet descriptive models for evaluating radar system performance. The course provides and explains equations, computational methods and data for modeling radar performance at the system level, and provides insight on how to use the models in radar system analysis. No advanced mathematics or specialized radar engineering knowledge is required.

Summary: This tutorial provides an overview of the different requirements for RF filters in next generation multi-band multi-standard radio platforms. It also presents the required RF filter characteristics in relation to 3G radio performance parameters and system requirements.

Summary: This course reviews key RF transmitter power amplifier linearization issues. The underlying power amplifier nonlinearity problem, that of the competing requirements of power amplifier efficiency and linear signal transmission paths for bandwidth efficient, modulation-complex signals, is presented, together with the linearization solution. Modern linearization schemes and where linearization research, and technology, is headed is addressed.

Summary: In the context of a rich scattering environment, employing multiple antennas at the transmitter and receiver provides a capacity increase that is linear in the minimum of the number of transmit and receive antennas. This seminal result of Foschini & Gans and Teletar has opened the new field of space-time communications. In this tutorial we introduce the key concepts of space-time communications, focusing on transmission in a quasistatic channel for which a good estimate of channel state information is available at the receiver but not the transmitter. Both low-latency (trellis codes) and high-latency (LDPC codes) solutions will be presented. After completing this course you should be able to develop an understanding of: Capacity potential provided by multiple antennas; Layered transmission systems such as DBLAST; Rank and determinant criteria for space-time trellis codes with good average performance in Rayleigh fading; The Alamouti construction and the theory of orthogonal designs; Universal space-time trellis codes for environments where fading is not Rayleigh; Space-time communications using LDPC codes.

Summary: This tutorial traces UWB technology through history, regulations, standards, system implementations and commercial applications. Methods of generating and modulating UWB signals are described and set in the context of UWB proposals for IEEE802 Standards. UWB antenna, radiation, and propagation phenomena, including unique behavior in multipath, are presented in contrast with narrow band radio. Examples of UWB link margins including data throughput versus range and system data capacity (up to 2 Gb/s) are compared with conventional and much higher power 802.11a/b systems. The future of UWB is a mix of wireless communications, precision positioning and radar. UWB can enable an accurate indoor adjunct to GPS with centimeter accuracy. Discussions of applications show that UWB capabilities make possible delivery of location-specific content and information, tracking of high value assets, security systems and various automotive and interesting home based location awareness systems.

Summary: This course reviews the present-day on-chip wiring design practices and the special characteristics of on-chip lossy transmission lines. The deficiencies of present-day RC-circuit-representation-based designs and tools are highlighted through relevant examples. Guidelines are given for how to use controlled transmission line structures and design practices are discussed for best optimizing the wiring structure and design methodologies to circumvent the negative effects and best utilize the transmission line properties in the framework of improved technological advances. CAD tool development needs are explained for wire-aware chip architecture and for migrating to performance-driven routers and layout with R(f)L(f)C interconnect representation. The large, integrated chips that are including major portions of the overall system are inheriting all the problems that package designers have faced for many years. It is explained how the system-on-chip concept needs to adopt and adapt the tools, understanding, and practices used for designing chip-to-chip interconnections.

Summary: This course delves further into the present-day on-chip wiring design practices and the special characteristics of on-chip lossy transmission lines. A new technique is described for reducing computational complexity and improving accuracy of combined power distribution and interconnect noise prediction for wide, on-chip data-buses. The methodology uses lossy transmission-line power-blocks with frequency-dependent properties and the interaction between delta-I noise, common-mode noise, and crosstalk and their effect on timing is illustrated with simulations using representative driver and receiver circuits and on-chip interconnections.

Summary: This tutorial will cover how to optimize transmission of OFDM by taking a look at: Pulse Shaping, Guard Time; Coded OFDM; Peak Power Problem and Remedies; Multicarrier CDMA.

Summary: As one of the few rising stars of the semiconductor industry, WLAN design is engaging more and more engineers and companies. Essential to the overall system design, is the radio design. This tutorial will introduce the various flavors of the 802.11 WLAN PHY standards (A/B/G) and describe their specifications and impact on the radio design. The possible choices for the radio architecture (direct-conversion, low-IF, super-heterodyne) are examined and their impact on the transistor-level design will be studied. The emphasis of this tutorial is on practical aspects of design for wireless LAN radios. After completing this course you should be able to develop an understanding of: What WLAN is; 802.11b/a/g radio requirements and specifications; Radio architectures for WLAN; Impact on cost and power consumption; Choice of process technology; Analog impairments; 802.11 system performance in the presence of analog impairments; Key building blocks and calibration techniques.