Fall 2013









General Information


Course Description

Graduate H-Level
Units: 3-0-9
Prereqs: Basic knowledge of computer and data networks

Description: This subject qualifies as a subject in the Computer Systems or Communications Engineering. This class teaches hands-on experience with wireless communication systems. We will focus on how signals are transmitted and received, the impact of the wireless channels, and how to deal with noise and radio imperfections. We will also teach the basics of OFDM, interference cancellation, MIMO systems, interference alignment, wireless localization, low power networks, full duplex radios, 4G LTE ... There will be several labs and a project to teach you how to design and build a wireless system, how to test your system on software radios and how to do cross layer wireless research.


Schedule

Lectures: Thursday 3pm-5pm, Room 32-124
Recitations: Friday 11am-12pm, Room 32-124

Staff

Instructor: Prof. Dina Katabi dina@csail.mit.edu 32-G936Office Hours: by appointment
TA: Haitham Hassanieh haitham@csail.mit.edu32-G934Office Hours: Wednesdays 4 to 5pm, Room: 32-G925

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  • Announcements

    For announcements and labs, this webpage is our form of communication. We expect students to check the 6.888 home page and schedule for both news and labs regularly, every couple of days. If you hear a rumor, check it there.


    Grading

    Grade for this class will be based on:
    • 5% Mini-Assignments
    • 5% Scribe
    • 40% Labs
    • 50% Project

    Lectures

    Required material for each lecture is posted: here. Students are expected to read the material and submit a mini-assignment before class. Students are expected to take notes in class. Each student has to scribe at least one lecture or one recitation. The lectures cover the below topics:

    Topic Date
    LEC 1: Course Intro Sept. 5
    LEC 2: OFDM Primer Sept. 12
    LEC 3: Interference Cancellation Sept. 19
    LEC 4: MIMO 1: Multiplexing, Diversity, Beamforming Sept. 26
    LEC 5: MIMO 2: Interference Alignment, Interference Nulling, Virtual MIMO Oct. 10
    LEC 6: Wireless Localization Oct. 17
    LEC 7: Wireless Based Gesture Recognition / See Through Walls Oct. 24

    Recitations

    Topic Date
    REC 1: Wireless Primer Sept. 6
    REC 2: OFDM Primer Sept. 13
    REC 3: MIMO Primer Sept. 27
    REC 4: USRP Software Defined Radios Oct. 11
    REC 5: Wireless Localization Oct. 18

    Labs

    Lab Due Date
    Lab 1a: OFDM Basic TX/RX Friday Sept. 20, 11:59 pm
    Lab 1b: OFDM Phase Tracking Friday Sept. 27, 11:59 pm
    Lab 2: MIMO Friday Oct. 18, 11:59 pm
    Lab 3: Wireless Localization Friday Oct. 25, 11:59 pm
    Lab 4: Take Home Exam Friday Nov. 1, 11:00 am

    Project

    The course project is intended for students to carry out small research projects in teams of two or three. It has four components:

    • A proposal: which describes your problem, why it is important, prior work, your plan for tackling the problem, and how you are going to evaluate the solution. The proposal should not be more than 3 pages. We will read your proposal and give you feedback. (Due: Wednesday Nov. 6, 2013)

    • A project progress report: which explains your approach, related/prior work, any preliminary results you might have obtained, and why you believe you are on the right track. It may also include material from the proposal after you had the chance to update it based on our feedback. (Due: Wednesday Nov. 20, 2013)

    • A final report: conference-style paper describing the project and its key contributions/findings. (Due: Wednesday Dec. 4, 2013)

    • A presentation: conference-style presentation during the penultimate week of classes. (Due: Wednesday Dec. 5, 2013)
    The entire project will constitute 50% of your total grade (divided between the status report, talk, and paper). Please start early!

    The course staff will meet with each team periodically during the semester to provide guidance and assess progress on the project.

    Late Policy

    You can hand in your lab solutions late, but the total amount of lateness summed over all the deadlines must not exceed 72 hours. If you don't hand in an assignment at all, or don't hand it in by the last day of classes, we'll give the assignment an F. If you hand an assignment in late, and your total late time (including the late time for that assignment) exceeds 72 hours, and you hand it in by the last day of classes, then we'll give it a D. You can divide up your 72 hours among the labs however you like; you don't have to ask or tell us. You can only use the 72 hours for the labs; for example, you cannot use them for any aspect of the final project.

    Collaboration policy

    You must write all the code you hand in for the labs, except for code that we give you as part of the lab. You are not allowed to look at anyone else's solution. You may discuss the labs with other students, but you may not look at or use each other's code.

    Reference Textbooks

    • Textbook 1 : OFDM Wireless LANs : A Theoretical and Practical Guide, John Terry and Juha Heiskala, Sams, 2002. Available @ MIT Libraries
    • Textbook 2 : Fundamentals of Wireless Communication, David Tse and Pramod Viswanath, Cambridge University Press, 2005. Available Online

    Questions or comments regarding 6.888? Send e-mail to the 6.888 staff at .

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