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Exercises
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1 1 1 1 1 1 1

2 2 2 2 2 2 2
Surname, First name
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4 4 4 4 4 4 4

5 5 5 5 5 5 5

6 6 6 6 6 6 6
5ETB0 Communication theory
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5ETB0 Resit Q3
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of your exam (e.g. 1234.pdf).

Please read the following information carefully:

Date exam: 21-04-2023

Start time 18.00
End time: 21.00 (+30 minutes for time extension students)

Number of questions: 5
Maximum number of points 50 /distribution of points over questions 1-5: 13, 14, 9, 10 and 4 respectively
Method of determining the final grade: 10 * Points Scored/50

Permitted examination aids

• Scrap paper (fully blank)
• Formula sheet (provided by the invigilator)
• Basic calculator (non-graphic)

Remarks:
• Answers with no explanations receive no points, while incorrect answers with correct (and well-explained)
reasoning give almost maximum points
• Read all the questions before you start answering. Questions are not sorted in order of difficulty

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Important:
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• Examination scripts (fully completed examination paper, stating name, student number, etc.) must
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You can start the exam now, good luck!

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Problem 1 - Irrelevant Data (13p)

In the communication system shown in Fig. 1, one of two messages s1 or s2 , with a priori probabilities p1
and p2 , respectively, where p1 ≠ p2 , is to be sent. The messages are different (s1 ≠ s2 ) and the a priori
probabilities are such that 0 < p1 , p2 < 1. The receiver receives (r1 , r2 ) where r2 is a “noisier” version of
r1 . The two noises are Gaussian, but not necessarily independent. Intuition would suggest that since r2
is “noisier” than r1 , the optimal decision can be based on r1 only; in other words, r2 is irrelevant. In this
question, you are asked to discuss whether this is true or false.
x

Figure 1: Communication system for problem 1

x
In your answers below, you are expected to use some of the following probability density functions:
pR1 (r1 ∣S = s1 ), pR1 (r1 ∣S = s2 ), pR2 (r2 ∣S = s1 ), pR2 (r2 ∣S = s2 ), pR1 ,R2 (r1 , r2 ∣S = s1 ), pR1 ,R2 (r1 , r2 ∣S = s2 )

3p 1a Assuming s1 is transmitted, write explicitly the optimum decision rule (using a single inequality)
when the receiver considers both r1 and r2 :
x

x
3p 1b Assuming s1 is transmitted, write explicitly the optimum decision rule (using a single inequality)
when r2 is irrelevant.
x

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4p 1c Using the answers in 1a and 1b, show (derive mathematically) that

pN2 (r2 − r1 ∣N1 = r1 − s2 ) = pN2 (r2 − r1 ∣N1 = r1 − s1 )

is the necessary condition so that the decision based on the observation of (r1 , r2 ) becomes
equivalent to the decision made based on the observation of r1 alone. In other words, if the
expression above is satisfied, r2 can be ignored. What is the condition that the noises N1 and N2
should have for this to be satisfied?

Hint: You might use the chain rule: pX,Y (x, y∣Z = z) = pX (x∣Z = z)pY (y∣X = x, Z = z).

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3p 1d Assume that N2 = −N1 . Comment on whether the receiver should or should not ignore r2 . What is
the error probability of the optimum detector in this case?

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Problem 2 - Signal Space (14p)

Four equiprobable messages M = {1, 2, 3, 4} are to be transmitted over an AWGN channel with noise
power spectral density SN (f ) = N0 /2. The corresponding signals {s1 (t), s2 (t), s3 (t), s4 (t)} are shown in
Fig. 2.
x

Figure 2: Set of waveforms for problem 2

x
x

Figure 3: First building block ϕ1 (t).

x
2p 2a What is the transmission rate in kilo-bits per second?

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3p 2b Without doing the Gram-Schmidt procedure, determine (draw) the building blocks {ϕi (t)} for the
signal set {s1 (t), s2 (t), s3 (t), s4 (t)}. The first building block ϕ1 (t) is as given in Fig. 3. What is the
dimensionality of the signal space?

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3p 2c Find the vector representations s1 , s2 , s3 , s4 and draw the signal constellation for this problem. You
can (not mandatory) use one of the three pre-drawn axes below.
x

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3p 2d Compute all the distances between the constellation points. Give a union bound on the probability
of symbol error. Is this the exact error probability or an approximation? If it is an approximation,
under what channel conditions is the approximation good?

3p 2e Using the building blocks you found in 2b, assume now that bit-by-bit signaling is used. Draw the
resulting constellation. You can (not mandatory) use one of the three pre-drawn axes below.
How many signals could now be sent every 3 (ms)? What is the new transmission rate in terms of
bits per seconds? What do you expect in terms of error probability with respect to that found in 2d?

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Problem 3 - Channel Capacity (9p)

A receiver is connected to a transmitter by two channels, a bandlimited channel and a wideband channel,
see Fig. 4. The transmitter’s signaling power is 150 W. The transmitter can use all its power to communicate
only via the bandlimited channel, only via the wideband channel, or it may distribute its power over the
bandlimited channel and the wideband channel.
The bandlimited channel has bandwidth W = 100 Hz. The power spectral density of the noise in this
channel is N0′ /2 = 0.15 (W/Hz).The power spectral density of the noise in the wideband channel is
N0′′ /2 = 0.30 (W/Hz).
x

Figure 4: Transmitter, two parallel channels (bandlimited and wideband channel), and receiver.
x
1p 3a Assume that the transmitter uses all of its power to communicate over the bandlimited channel, and
all the signal power is equally distributed within the band −W to W . What is the signal-to-noise ratio
over this channel?

′
2p 3b For the case in 3a, determine the capacity CN of the bandlimited channel in bits per dimension.
′
Then determine the capacity C of this channel in bits per second.
↶

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↷
1p 3c Assume now that the transmitter only communicates via the wideband channel to the receiver and
that all the signal power is equally distributed over the entire available bandwidth of the channel.
What is the signal-to-noise ratio in this case?

2p 3d Determine the capacity C ′′ of the wideband channel in bits per second. What is the capacity per
dimension?

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3p 3e How should the transmitter split up its power over the bandlimited channel and the wideband channel
to achieve the maximum total capacity in bits per second? How large is this maximum total capacity
Ctot ?

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Problem 4 - Conceptual Questions (10p)

Answer the conceptual questions below. Always justify your answer. No justification or incorrect
justification gives no points.
2p 4a What is roughly the maximum number of waveforms of a signaling scheme where the signaling
duration is T and the bandwidth is W ? What is the dimension of this signal space?

2p 4b For a constellation consisting of signals in the set M = {s1 , s2 , . . . , s∣M∣ } and signaling duration is T ,
what is the transmission rate R? If the energy for each signal in the constellation is Es , what is the
transmit power Ps ? What is the energy per transmitted bit Eb ?

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3p 4c The figure below shows approximately the error probability of 2PAM and 8PAM, assuming that the
constellations are normalized to unit energy.

• Identify which of the two curves belongs to 8PAM.

• What is the main advantage of using 8PAM instead of 2PAM?

• What is the main disadvantage of using 8PAM instead of 2PAM for a given target error
probability (for example 10−5 )?

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3p 4d Compare two systems:

• System A: 8PAM with uniform probabilities Pr{S = si } = 0.125 for i = 1, 2, ..., 8.

• System B: 8PAM with the following a priori probabilities: Pr{S = s1 } = Pr{S = s8 } = 0.05,
Pr{S = s2 } = Pr{S = s7 } = 0.10, Pr{S = s3 } = Pr{S = s6 } = 0.15, and Pr{S = s4 } = Pr{S = s5 } =
0.20.

In both cases, the constellation is (s1 , s2 , s3 , s4 , s5 , s6 , s7 , s8 ) = (−7, −5, −3, −1, 1, 3, 5, 7).

Which system do you expect to operate close to the channel capacity? Why?

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Problem 5 - Invited Lecture (4p)

4p 5 Which of the following statement(s) is(are) true about free-space optics (FSO)? If a correct answer
gives x points, an incorrect answer gives −x points

Pointing the laser beam to the receiver is important for FSO links.

FSO links are not affected by weather conditions.

Large bandwidths are available in FSO links.

FSO links offer higher latency than optical fibers.

Line of sight is important in FSO.

Cost per bit is a relevant metric for designing. It takes all costs into consideration.

Extra writing space

6 If you need more space for your answers, use this extra space, and clearly indicate here which
question you continue answering. In the text box of the particular question, clearly state that you
proceed with your answer on a this page.
↶

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