Course Number: ENSC 328-1
Course Title: Random Processes in Engineering
Credit Hours: 1 Vector: 1-1-0 (lecture-tutorial-lab)
Course Description:
An introduction to continuous-valued random processes, including first and second order statistics. Topics: definitions of random processes taking complex values in continuous time; autocorrelation and autocovariance functions in the time domain; stationarity, ergodicity; power spectral density in frequency domain; effect of linear filters; crosscorrelation functions and cross-power spectral densities.
Prerequisites: ENSC 380-3 and STAT 270-3.
Recommended: None.
Corequisites: None.
Special Instructions: Students who have taken ENSC 327-4 may not take ENSC 328-1 for further credit.
Course(s) to be dropped if this course is approved: None.
Rationale for Introduction of This Course
Knowledge of random processes is a prerequisite for the signal processing course ENSC 429-4 Discrete Time Systems. At present this material is available only as a portion of ENSC 327-4 Communication Systems. The proposed ENSC 328-1 is a one-credit gap filler that will give students in the Systems option and the Biomedical Engineering option access to ENSC 429 without having to take ENSC 327.
Caveat: ENSC 328-1 will be constrained not to go beyond the preparation given in ENSC 327 - without this constraint, it could expand beyond a one-credit load in the hands of an enthusiastic instructor.
Will this be a required or elective course in the curriculum; probable enrolment when offered?
This course is an alternative path into an elective, but very popular course, ENSC 429 Discrete Time Systems. It will serve both the Systems and the Biomedical options, so probable enrolment 40 per year.
Indicate Semester and Year this course would be first offered and planned frequency of offering thereafter.
First offering Spring 2006, annually in the Spring semester thereafter. More frequent offerings are possible if a largely self-study format is adopted (see below).
Which of your present CFL faculty have the expertise to offer this course? Will the course be taught by sessional or limited term faculty?
Drs. Bird, Cavers, HajShirMohammedi, Hardy, Ho, Kim, Stapleton, Vaughan.
Are there any proposed student fees associated with this course other than tuition fees?
No.
Is this course considered a `duplicate' of any current or prior course under the University's duplicate course policy? Specify, as appropriate.
By design, it covers the same material as roughly one third of ENSC 327-4 Communication Systems.
Note: Senate has approved (S.93-11) that no new course should be approved by Senate until funding has been committed for necessary library materials. Each new course proposal must be accompanied by a library report and, if appropriate, confirmation that funding arrangements have been addressed.
Provide details on how existing instructional resources will be redistributed to accommodate this new course. For instance, will another course be eliminated or will the frequency of offering of other courses be reduced; are there changes in pedagogical style or class sizes that allow for this additional course offering.
Various delivery formats are possible. At present, we plan one hour per week over the semester. This is not a great load upon an instructor. It is also possible that a good text and notes could make this almost a self-study course, using weekly group meetings with the instructor to keep coordination and ensure understanding. In the latter format, we could offer the course more than once per year.
Does the course require specialized space or equipment not readily available in the department or university, and if so, how will these resources be provided?
No specialized space or equipment that is not readily available is required.
Does this course require computing resources (e.g. hardware, software, network wiring, use of computer laboratory space) and if so, describe how they will be provided.
Only the computing resources currently available in Engineering Science.
Topics
The topics will be illustrated by common and useful examples in signal processing.
Review of Signal Analysis
the Fourier transform
signals and linear systems
sampling
Review of Random Variables
random experiments
distribution and density functions
functions of random variables
sums of independent random variables
expectation, mean and variance
the Gaussian random variable
Continuous Random Processes
basic definitions
sample functions
stationarity and ergodicity
correlation functions and power spectra
transmission through linear systems
cross-correlation and cross-power spectra
Grading
Grading will be based on three assignments and a final examination.
Text
This material is almost always introduced in the context of communication systems. Initially, we will rely on such texts as:
R.E. Ziemer and W.H. Tranter. Principles of Communications: Systems, Modulation and Noise. 5th edition. John Wiley, 2002.
Simon Haykin. Communications Systems. 4th edition. Wiley. 2001.
John G. Proakis and Masoud Salehi. Communication Systems Engineering. 2nd edition. Prentice Hall. 2002.
Ferrel Stremler. Introduction to Communication Systems. 3rd edition. Addison Wesely. 1990.
Hwei Hsu. Schaum's Outlines of Analog and Digital Communication. McGraw Hill. 2003.
Later we may develop “course packs” of notes that deal specifically with the needs of this specialized course and that are cheaper than a full text.