Communications Engineering I

Gorry Fairhurst (contributor: Raffaello Secchi)

The Communications Engineering I course is all about serial communications for control applications. It provides an overview of serial communications techniques, with an analysis of waveforms and systems emphasising the role of point-to-multipoint communication. There is a practical focus to this course - do not miss the demonstrations and lab activities. In these, you also learn how to use an advanced industrial scope to measure the signal waveforms. A course roadmap helps you to navigate through the topics.

A related Communications Engineering II course explores local area networks and the Internet.

Aims

• To present the fundamentals of serial communications and use to control real-world equipment.
• To gain an understanding of serial data techniques using asynchronous and synchronous transmission and related software algorithms.
• To become familiar with the operation of key protocols (e.g. DMX-512, RDM, CAN).
• To introduce a professional oscillosope and use this to measure the signal at the bus interfaces.

Overview

All course content is accessed by the course roadmap:

• A set of course web pages and video modules (details in the course roadmap)
• A set of laboratory practical exercises (for instructions about accesisng the lab, see MyAberdeen)
• A set of tutorial assignments for each module (for timetable of tutorials, see MyAberdeen)
• Continuously assessed lab work (announced in MyAberdeen)
• Examination at end of the course (announced by School Office)

Recommended Reading

• Recommended Practice for DMX512, 2nd Edition incorporating USITT DMX512-A and Remote Device Management - RDM", 2012 (ISBN 9780955703522, available for free PDF download from ETP.)
• Control Freak - A real world guide to DMX-512 and Remote Device Management, Wayne Howell, 2010.
  • This book explains the subject of control protocols in words and language that make the complex topics he deals with clear and understandable. Control Freak is intended to provide a more in depth discussion of the subject than simple protocol standards guidance booklets. It is intended to prove useful to both users and product designers whilst also offering an introduction to those who simply require an overview of the subject.
    
• DMX512-A, Asynchronous Serial Digital Data Transmission Standard for Controlling Lighting Equipment and Accessories, available for free PDF download from ETP.
• Mackay, Wright   &    Park, "Practical Data Communications for Instrumentation and Control", 1st Edition, Newnes (ISBN : 9780750657976, eBook ISBN : 9780080473802)
  • This book provides you with the knowledge to analyse, specify and debug data communications systems in the instrumentation and control environment. Coverage includes EIA-232, EIA-422 and EIA-485 standards, and industrial networks and protocols, including CAN bus.
    

Course Roadmap

There is a course roadmap to help you to navigate through the topics on this web site.

Prof. Gorry Fairhurst, School of Engineering, University of Aberdeen, Scotland. (Mar 2023)