UC San Diego | Spring 2025 planner
ECE 157A: Wireless Communications Laboratory
Overview
Course framing and the durable public structure for the wireless communications laboratory.
Current course page
Digital communications through SDRs, labs, and mini-projects.
ECE 157A introduces digital communication systems through a laboratory format. Students move from signal spaces and modulation into synchronization, detection, channel estimation, and OFDM, with SDR-backed labs and mini-projects throughout the quarter.
This public page is built from the Spring 2025 planner you provided. It captures the durable course structure, while quarter-specific logistics can live in class or on Canvas.
The published planner includes 19 lectures, 4 labs, 3 mini-projects, weekly support hours, and a detailed April to June schedule.
Course arc
Foundations and SDR setup
Analog versus digital communication, signal spaces, I/Q modulation, and practical setup for software-defined radios.
Synchronization and detection
Pulse shaping, timing recovery, PLL and Costas loop ideas, optimal detection, and matched filtering.
Channels and multicarrier systems
Bit error rates, channel estimation, multipath equalization, Shannon limits, and OFDM.
Course structure