ELEC 470, Spring 2004
Prof. Rich Kozick

Homework 1


Date Assigned: Thursday, January 22, 2004
Date Due: Tuesday, January 27, 2004


Nothing needs to be handed in for this assignment, but please work on the following.

  1. Please access the course home page at http://www.eg.bucknell.edu/~kozick/elec47004 .
    Follow some links to Web sites related to communications. Browsing these links should give you an idea about what is currently happening in the communications world with regard to international standards, academic research, and products/services offered by companies.

    Feel free to give me feedback about outdated links or new links that you discover.

  2. Reading: Please read Chapter 1 in the Lathi text. Also, read Chapter 2 on signals. I suggest that you read Chapter 2 rather quickly the first time, trying to get the main ideas without getting lost in the details. For topics that you studied in ELEC 320 (Linear Systems and Signals), you might review your notes and/or text from ELEC 320 to refresh your memory. Then you will be able to reread Chapter 2 several more times as we study it in more detail.

    Next week, I will ask you to review Chapter 3 on linear systems. If you have time this weekend, you might want to take a first look at Chapter 3. How familiar are you with the topics in Chapters 2 and 3?

  3. Think about the differences between analog and digital communication systems. Think about how you would answer a non-engineer friend that asks you:
    "What is the difference between an analog and digital cell phone? Why is the digital cell phone superior?"
    Your understanding about how to answer this question should grow as we go through this course!
Thank you.