In Module 2, you’ll dive into the essential components and mechanisms that make mobile communications work across dynamic environments. You’ll explore how Radio Access Networks (RAN) deliver coverage and capacity through various basestation configurations, from macro sites to small cells, and how backhaul networks link these sites back to the core infrastructure. The module then examines User Equipment (UE), detailing how smartphones and cellular devices handle uplink and downlink channels alongside shared and dedicated resources. Finally, you’ll trace the step-by-step handover process that maintains continuous connectivity as devices move between basestations. Check the Study Guide in Course Welcome & Orientation to select the learning path (Engineering vs. Non-Engineering) best suited for exploring cellular network architecture and handover processes.

Module 3 introduces the core building blocks of digital communication, focusing on how streams of bits are transformed, transmitted, and recovered over a baseband channel. You’ll explore how bits map to symbol constellations, how pulse shaping controls bandwidth and limits intersymbol interference, and how the matched filter (correlation receiver) enables optimal detection of symbol waveforms. The module concludes with error-control coding, highlighting how redundancy improves reliability and how practical systems approach the fundamental limits of communication performance. Together, these concepts form the foundation of modern digital wireless systems. Refer to the Study Guide in Course Welcome & Orientation for recommendations on how deeply to engage with the equations and mathematical concepts behind multipath mitigation.

Module 4 explores how terrestrial wireless principles power real-world communication systems across different scales and environments. You’ll examine five key application domains: cellular voice and data networks, radio and TV broadcasting, Wi-Fi local-area networks, personal and body-area networks like Bluetooth and UWB, and low-power IoT technologies such as Zigbee and LoRa. For each system type, you'll look at the governing standards bodies, core operational behaviors, key performance parameters, and current spectrum footprint. This module highlights how real-world engineering constraints drive distinct design choices across short-range, local, and wide-area terrestrial networks. Consult the Study Guide in Course Welcome & Orientation to help scaffold your approach across the wide variety of network technologies covered in this module.

To conclude the course, you will complete a final synthesis homework assignment, where you integrate ideas from all four modules and apply them to understand the terrestrial wireless networks you use every day.