Fundamentals of Communications Systems

Presenter: Dr Mike Ryan

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Duration: 3 Days | Price: $3,300

Course Aim

The Fundamentals of Communications Systems course introduces attendees to the core concepts, principles, technologies, and building blocks that underpin modern electronic communications systems. It develops a practical understanding of how information is represented, processed, transmitted, protected, recovered, and delivered across a wide range of communications environments, without assuming prior technical or communications knowledge.

The course begins with the foundations of signals, frequency, bandwidth, the electromagnetic spectrum, circuit concepts, decibels, binary numbers, digital signals, signalling speed, and information rate. It then shows how these foundations support key communications techniques including analogue and digital modulation, source coding and compression, channel coding and error control, encryption, multiplexing, multiple access, transmitter and receiver design, and the use of different transmission media.

Attendees will explore how communications systems operate across copper lines, waveguides, optical fibre, and radio channels, including the effects of radio propagation and the role of antennas. The course then connects these technical foundations to practical system types and applications, including switching, networking, internetworking, broadband access, satellite communications, and cellular mobile communications from early generations through 5G and 6G.

By the end of the course, attendees will understand the main components and functions of electronic communications systems, the terminology used to describe them, and the way individual technologies combine to form complete communications capabilities. The course is especially suited to attendees who need a broad, technically sound introduction to communications systems, including those from non-technical backgrounds who need to understand the concepts, architectures, and technologies used in contemporary communications networks and services.

Attendees receive a copy of the presenter’s textbook, Fundamentals of Communications and Information Systems, together with a PDF copy of the course presentations.

Course Outline

Channel Coding: Error Control – FEC / ARQ | Block Codes | Convolutional Codes

Encryption: Symmetric (Secret Key) Encryption | Asymmetric (Public Key) Encryption | Post-quantum Cryptography (PQC) Algorithms | Harvest-now-decrypt-later (HNDL) Attacks

Multiplexing & Multiple Access: Frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM) | Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) | Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) | Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) | Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) | Spread Spectrum and Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) | Frequency Hopping (FH) | Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA)

Transmitters and Receivers: Transmitter Design | Receiver Design

Transmission Media: Transmission Line Theory | Copper Transmission Lines | Waveguides | Optical Fibres

Radio Propagation: History | Ground Wave – Space and Surface Wave | Sky Wave | Scattered Wave

Antennas: Antenna Characteristics | Resonant and Travelling Wave Antennas | Example Antennas

Types of Communications Systems: Simplex, Half-duplex and Duplex Systems | Switching - Circuit, Message, Packet and Cell

Internetworking: Repeaters / Bridges / Routers / Gateways / Firewalls / Switches | Internetwork Protocols—TCP/IP (IPv4 / IPv6) | Internet Structure / Growth | Protocols / Addressing and Routing | Broadband Access—ADSL / VDSL

The Presenter

‍Dr Mike Ryan holds BE, MEngSc and PhD degrees in electrical engineering from the University of New South Wales. He is a Fellow of Engineers Australia (FIEAust), a Chartered Professional Engineer (CPEng) in systems engineering, electrical and ITEE colleges, a Senior Member of IEEE (SMIEEE), a Fellow of the International Council on Systems Engineering (FINCOSE), a Fellow of the Institute of Managers and Leaders (FIML), and a Fellow of the Royal Society of NSW (FRSN). Since 1981, he has held a number of positions in communications and systems engineering and in management and project management. He is the author or co-author of fourteen books, four book chapters, and over 450 refereed journal and conference papers.‍

Course Material

The following resources will be provided to attendees of this course:

A copy of the author’s book Fundamentals of Communications and Information Systems.
A PDF copy of the PowerPoint presentations used for the course.

Course Brochure

Download the course brochure.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need a technical background to attend this course? No. The course assumes no prior technical or communications knowledge and is designed to be accessible to attendees from both technical and non-technical backgrounds.

What topics are covered in the course? The course covers the foundations of communications systems, including signals, frequency, bandwidth, modulation, source coding, channel coding, encryption, multiplexing, transmitters and receivers, transmission media, antennas, radio propagation, networking, internetworking, satellite communications, and mobile communications.

Is this course suitable if I work with communications systems but am not an engineer? Yes. The course is well suited to managers, project staff, capability developers, procurement personnel, policy staff, operators, and others who need to understand communications concepts, terminology, and system building blocks without becoming specialist communications engineers.

Will the course cover modern technologies such as Wi-Fi, cellular systems, satellite communications, and 5G/6G? Yes. The course connects the fundamentals to practical communications applications including LANs, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Zigbee, LoRa, TCP/IP networking, broadband access, satellite communications, and mobile communications from early generations through 5G and 6G.

What course materials are provided? Attendees receive a copy of the presenter’s book, Fundamentals of Communications and Information Systems, as well as a PDF copy of the PowerPoint presentations used during the course.

Course Testimonials

“Thank you for a great course!”
“Would absolutely recommend this course to anyone who is grey around the area of communications, and great for a refresher.”
“The course gives an excellent overview and maps out all of the concepts of communications systems.”
“The analogies and real-life examples made the content much more relatable.”
“The theory was linked to real-life applications, especially in the context of military applications.”
“Providing a good level of understanding as to the fundamentals of communication systems to students with limited background knowledge.”
“Fantastic course, easy enough for someone without a technical background to pick up and understand.”
“The amount of coverage in such a small amount of time was a major strength.”
“Wide-ranging coverage of different communications systems.”
“The explanation of the changes through history and how communication systems have evolved into the way it is today.”
“It’s an intense course to be delivered in such a short time, but really well condensed.”
“Good depth of information and explanations of topics.”

Presenter Testimonials

“Mike was great. He was very knowledgeable and had great flow in his presenting.”
“The presenter was very knowledgeable.”
“Excellent presenter, knowledge and experience.”
“Communications is such a mammoth course to present, and credit for presenting it so well.”
“Dr Ryan was a great instructor.”
“Ryan is amazing with his knowledge and experience.”
“Mike was really good at tying in real-world examples into the content, which really helped me understand what was being taught.”