Objectives of the course
The objective of the course is to provide the students with the theoretical fundamentals of telecommunication, with particular emphasis on Earth-Space links, to which specific reference is made in the final part of the course. The topics considered are the presentation and discussion of the basic characteristics of the signals constituting the information to be transmitted, the different techniques used to transmit and receive such information, the basic block diagrams of transmitter and receivers analysed in terms of transfer functions of each block and the main characteristics of the different types of antennas. Moreover, the propagation of electromagnetic waves in the real environment, at any frequency, is addressed.
Contents
The topics of the course are:
- Telecommunications basics: Signals classification and characteristics. Analog modulations: amplitude, frequency and phase modulation. Transmitter and receiver block diagrams.
- Components and circuits: Elementary analog circuits (amplifiers, oscillators, mixers, filters, amplitude and frequency detectors, etc.) and their applications. Elementary digital circuits and their applications. Elementary electronic and microwave components.
- Antennas: Basic parameters of antennas (gain, directivity function, beamwidth, equivalent area, etc.), main antenna types and characteristics. Fields of application.
- Electromagnetic wave propagation: Guided propagation (transmission lines, waveguides and fiber optics); radiated propagation (effects of ground, troposphere and ionosphere); dependence of electromagnetic wave propagation on frequency.
- Earth-space links: Frequency allocation; power and bandwidth requirements; noise and interference. Digital modulation schemes. Links with LEO satellites (brief notes to space probes): effects of the medium. Link budget.
Books
Electromagnetic fields and transmission media
- C. Riva, G. G. Gentili, Appunti di campi elettromagnetici, Maggioli Editore
- C. Riva, G. G. Gentili, Handbook of Electromagnetics, Maggioli Editore
Electromagnetic wave propagation
- J.A. Richards, Radiowave propagation. An introduction for the non specialists, Springer
- J.E. Allnutt, Satellite to ground radiowave propagation, IET
- A. Paraboni, M. D’Amico, Radiopropagazione, McGraw-Hill
Didactic material
Exams (with solution)
24th of January 2019
14th of February 2019
26th of June 2019
18th of July 2019
9th of September 2019
14th of January 2020
4th of February 2020
25th of June 2020
17th of July 2020
3rd of September 2020
29th of January 2021
24th of June 2021
15th of July 2021
2nd of September 2021
28th of January 2022
14th of February 2022
27th of June 2022
21st of July 2022
7th of September 2022
25th of January 2023
14th of February 2023
27th of June 2023
24th of July 2023