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-G936 | | Office Hours: by appointment |
| TA: | | Haitham Hassanieh | | haitham@csail.mit.edu | 32-G934 | | Office Hours: Wednesdays 4 to 5pm, Room: 32-G925 |
Course mailing list: 6.888-course at mit.edu
Staff mailing list: 6.888-staff at mit.edu
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