ECE 381V — Advanced Wireless Communication and Radar Systems

Course Description

Wireless systems are deeply embedded in our everyday lives, changing how we communicate and sense our surroundings. Demand for ubiquitous wireless systems is growing rapidly with the rise of autonomous systems, and wireless systems are moving toward merging communication and sensing into a single platform with shared hardware, waveforms, and spectrum. This course will cover the fundamentals of wireless and radar communication systems, including transceivers, waveforms, and protocols. Then, we will cover recent advances in integrating sensing and communication (ISAC) and discuss the major open challenges of ISAC: hardware sharing, waveform sharing, spectrum sharing, and applications. A goal of the course is to expose students to emerging system designs and to develop their ability to critically evaluate which technologies are promising candidates for future wireless systems so they can come up with their own research ideas at the intersection of sensing and communication. The course will emphasize hardware and software co-design, prototyping, and implementation, and includes a series of student project presentations and a final demonstration.

Prerequisites

Graduate standing in Electrical and Computer Engineering or a related field. Students should be comfortable with signals and systems, probabilities, and linear algebra. Prior exposure to a graduate-level course in wireless communications, digital communications, or a related course is recommended.

Course Topics

• Fundamentals of Wireless Communication Systems
• Fundamentals of Radar Systems
• ISAC Systems: Challenges, Design Considerations, and Applications

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

• Understand the operating principles of wireless communication systems and radar systems.
• Evaluate the core challenges of ISAC hardware and waveform sharing across candidate architectures.
• Critically evaluate current research in wireless, radar, and ISAC systems, identifying a paper's contributions, assumptions, and limitations.
• Gain knowledge of hardware and software co-design tools (e.g., simulation, prototyping, and testbeds).
• Formulate and carry out an original research project, scoping a problem, proposing an approach, and reporting results in a conference-style paper and presentation.

Recommended Textbooks

• Wireless Communications by Andrea Goldsmith
• Fundamentals of Wireless Communication by David Tse
• Principles of Modern Radar: Basic Principles by Mark A. Richards

Grading

Plus and minus grades will be used for the final class grade.

Course Schedule

Project Proposal

• Title, Name(s)
• Project Objective: The central goal in one or two sentences, what you aim to achieve.
• Rationale: Why the problem matters, the current state of the art, and how your approach differs.
• Technical Approach: The key methods, models, or techniques you'll use to reach the objective.
• Proposed Deliverables: Anticipated outcomes, results, artifacts, or contributions the project will produce.
• Implementation Plan: Hardware and software resources, or data.
• References: Key prior work cited above.

Paper Presentation

• 20-minute presentation + 10-minute Q&A.
• Upload the slides to the TA and instructor via Canvas.
• Deadline: 11:59 pm Mon for talks the next Tues, and 11:59 pm Wed for talks the next Thurs.

Grade Criteria:

• Clarity of presentation (problem formulation, proposed method, key results).
• Review of prior work and the challenges addressed by this work.
• Analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the research.
• The relevance to ISAC.
• Discussion of potential research extensions and applications.
• Response to student questions (in-class and on Canvas).

Course Policies and Resources

Course Canvas Site

The course Canvas site is available at https://utexas.instructure.com/courses/1462406. All course materials, including lecture slides, are available on Canvas, and all assignments (project proposal, research paper, presentation slides) will be submitted there.

Course AI Policy

AI is partially permitted:

• You can use LLMs as a resource for (1) clarifying questions about concepts mentioned in papers; (2) correcting grammar in your writing; (3) brainstorming ideas, searching for prior works, and assisting in coding related to a research project. In any case, disclose all LLM usage, including the model and version used. Include all prompts and responses in an appendix to the main assignment. You are responsible for the factuality and correctness of your work as if you had done it yourself. Failure to disclose LLM usage will be treated as academic dishonesty.

• You are not allowed to use LLMs to (1) generate and write your paper and proposal, or to help with your presentations, and (2) generate any data, graphs, and figures.

Academic Integrity

You are encouraged to discuss research projects and reading assignments with classmates, but all collected data, analysis, images, graphs, and other written work must be your own. For the final project, you have full access to the web, but any ideas, data, or code fragments drawn from other sources must be cited in accordance with standard academic practice. Students caught cheating will automatically fail the course and be reported to the university. When in doubt about the ethics of any action, consult the departmental guidelines and/or ask. Ignoring the rules will not shield you from the consequences.

Students with Disabilities

The University of Texas at Austin offers reasonable academic adjustments to qualified students with disabilities upon request. To arrange accommodations, contact Disability and Access (D&A) through the Division of Diversity and Community Engagement at the Student Services Building (SSB), 471-6259, http://diversity.utexas.edu/disability/.

Religious Holy Days

Religious holidays sometimes conflict with class and examination schedules. If you miss an examination, presentation, or other project due to the observance of a religious holy day, you will be given the opportunity to complete the missed work within a reasonable time after the absence. Per University of Texas at Austin policy, you must notify each of your instructors at least fourteen days before the class dates you will miss to observe a religious holy day.

University Policies and Resources for Students

The University Policies and Resources for Students Canvas page is available: https://utexas.instructure.com/enroll/TP964H. It provides a list of resources that are important for students as they engage with and navigate your course and the university.

Classroom recording statement (HOP 2-9970)

UT prohibits students from recording classes without the instructor's permission or a D&A accommodation.

Updates to the Course

Information in this syllabus may be subject to change with reasonable advance notice as appropriate.