EE 179

Digital and Analog Communication Systems

April 14, 2014

Handout #11

Homework #1 Solutions
1. Killer apps. What applications might significantly increase the demand for wireless data?
Solution (10 points)
Phone call service, smart phone, video-on-demand (watch movie on mobile device), biomedical implant
sensors, sensor network for environment monitor, ad hoc network for emergencies.
2. Satellite communications. Satellite orbits are classified by their distance from the Earths surface: LEO
(low earth orbit, 1602000 km), MEO (medium earth orbit, 200020000 km), and GEO (geostationary
earth orbit, 35786 km). Find the round-trip delay of data sent between a satellite and the earth for
LEO, MEO, and GEO satellites, assuming the speed of light is 3 108 m/s. If the maximum acceptable
delay for a voice system is 30ms, which of these satellite systems would be acceptable for two-way voice
communication?
Solution (15 points)
LEO (low earth orbit): 1602000 km above the Earths surface:
2 2000 103
2 160 103
=
1.07
ms

round
trip
delay

= 13.3 ms
3 108
3 108
MEO (medium earth orbit): 200020000 km:
2 20000 103
2 2000 103
=
13.3
ms

round
trip
delay

= 133 ms
3 108
3 108
GEO (geostationary earth orbit): 35786 km:
round trip delay

2 35786 103
= 239 ms
3 108

Only LEO satellites and MEO satellites below 4500 km have delay less than 30 ms.
3. Capacity of AWGN channel. The capacity in bits per second of an additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN)
channel is


P
C = B log2 1 +
,
N0 B
where P is the received signal power, B is the signal bandwidth, and N0 /2 is the noise power spectral
density (PSD). (The total noise power is N0 B.) Consider a wireless channel where received power falls
off with distance d according to the formula P (d) = Pt (d0 /d)3 . Given d0 = 10m, transmitter power
Pt = 1W, noise PSD N0 = 109 W/Hz, and channel bandwidth B = 30 KHz, find the capacity of this
channel for transmitter-receiver distances of 100m and 1km.
Solution (10 points)
For d = 100 m the received signal-to-noise ratio is
SNR =

(0.1)3
P (d)
= 9
= 33.3 = 15 dB
N0 B
10 30 103

and the corresponding capacity is

C = B log2 (1 + SNR) = 30 103 log2 (34.3) = 153 kbps.

For d = 1 km the received signal-to-noise ratio is

SNR =

(0.01)3
P (d)
= 9
= 0.0333 = 15 dB
N0 B
10 30 103

and the corresponding capacity is

C = B log2 (1 + SNR) = 30 103 log2 (1.0333) = 1.42 kbps.
Note the significant decrease in capacity at greater distance due to the path-loss exponent of 3, which
greatly reduces received power as distance increases.
4. Calculating power. (Lathi & Ding 2.1-1) Find the average power of the signals shown below.

Solution (20 points)

Both signals are periodic. The average power of (t) is
Z
Z
Z
1 t/2 2
1 t
et
1 T
|(t)|2 dt =
(e
) dt =
e dt =
P =
T 0
0
0

The average power of w0 (t) is

Pw0 =

1
T0

T0

|w0 (t)|2 dt =

1
T0

T0

1 dt =


 = 1e
0.3046 .


T0
= 1.
T0

5. Conservation of energy. In physics courses you learned that the power consumed by current I through a
resistor R is P = I 2 R and that the energy stored on a capacitor C charged to voltage V is 21 CV 2 .
R

In the circuit shown above, the capacitor is initially charged (VC = V0 ). Then the switch is closed and
the capacitor discharges through the resistor R.
a. The discharge rate decreases exponentially; the voltage across the resistor at time t is V (t) = V0 et/RC .
Find the total energy dissipated in the resistor when the capacitor has discharged.
b. The answer to part (a) does not depend on the value of the resistor. What happens when R = 0 ?
Resolve the paradox. Feel free to search the WWW.
Solution (20 points)

Page 2 of 3

EE 179, Spring 2014

a. The current through the resistor at time t is

I(t) =

V0 et/RC
V (t)
=
.
R
R

Therefore the power dissipated in the resistor is

I(t)2 R =

(V0 et/RC )2
V 2 e2t/RC
= 0
.
R
R

The total energy consumed is

Z

V 2 e2t/RC 
V 2 e2t/RC 
V 2 e2t/RC 
V2
V0 e2t/RC
dt = 0
+ 0
= 0 = 21 V02 C .
 = 0


R
R / (2/RC) 0
2/C
2/C
2/C
t=
t=0

The energy initially stored on the capacitor is consumed in the resistor another verification of the
conservation of energy! This result does not depend on the value of the resistor.
b. The instructor does not have a good answer for what happens in the limit as R , except that
every physical resistor explodes. The grader will award bonus points based on the creativity of the
solution.

Homework #1 Solutions

Page 3 of 3