Communication Laboratory

Course Description

Communication Laboratory covers experiments with communication circuits and radio frequency instruments, devices, and measurements. UWF notes that a material and supply fee will be assessed.

Within the SCNS taxonomy, EEL is the Electrical Engineering prefix. The University of West Florida publishes this at 1 semester hour through the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, College of Science and Engineering. It is offered at approximately 2 Florida institutions under this number.

Radio frequency work is where the lumped-element model that carried a student through three years of circuits quietly stops being true, and this laboratory is usually where they find that out. At low frequency a wire is a wire; at RF a wire is an inductor, a pair of wires is a transmission line, and a connection that is electrically long enough will reflect a signal back at the source. The instruments change too — the spectrum analyser and the network analyser replace the oscilloscope as the primary tools, because the questions have moved into the frequency domain.

⚠ This is a hands-on laboratory in a specialism that is unusually hard to learn from a book, and it is also the specialism with the most direct line into Florida's defence electronics employers. Students who intend to work in radar, avionics, or communications should treat it as a priority rather than a checkbox credit.

⚠ The contact-hour figure is derived — the University of West Florida publishes none

UWF's catalog publishes a credit value in semester hours, the college and department, prerequisites, and a description. It does not publish contact hours, a lecture and laboratory split, or terms of offering for any course. It does publish a material and supply fee notice on the minority of courses that carry one — and maintains a separate Material & Supply and Equipment Fees section of the catalog — so the absence of a fee notice on this entry is meaningful, while the fee amount is not published here. Every contact-hour value in a UWF guide in this repository is therefore derived. The figure here applies the convention established for engineering and science laboratories at UWF — 45 contact hours for 1 semester hour, matching the live EVR2001L and OCE1001L rather than the 30 used for allied-health laboratories. A 1-credit engineering laboratory meeting three hours a week for a fifteen-week term reaches 45, which is the usual shape. Confirm the meeting schedule with the department.

Learning Outcomes

Required Outcomes

• Operate a spectrum analyser and interpret a displayed spectrum correctly.
• Set resolution bandwidth, span, and reference level appropriately.
• Operate a signal generator including modulation settings.
• Operate a vector network analyser and perform a calibration.
• Measure and interpret S-parameters of a two-port device.
• Measure return loss, insertion loss, and voltage standing wave ratio.
• Apply the Smith chart to impedance measurement and matching.
• Design and verify a simple impedance matching network.
• Measure transmission line characteristics and observe reflection.
• Generate and measure amplitude modulation and determine modulation index.
• Generate and measure frequency modulation and observe its spectrum.
• Demodulate AM and FM signals and evaluate recovered signal quality.
• Measure mixer behaviour and identify sum, difference, and spurious products.
• Measure filter response in the frequency domain.
• Measure amplifier gain, bandwidth, and compression.
• Measure and interpret noise figure or signal-to-noise ratio.
• Apply correct RF connector and cable practice.
• Relate measured results to communication theory from EEL4514.
• Write a technical laboratory report with correct RF units and conventions.

Optional Outcomes

• Measure antenna characteristics and radiation pattern.
• Measure digital modulation and interpret a constellation diagram.
• Measure bit error rate against signal-to-noise ratio.
• Use a software-defined radio for signal capture and analysis.
• Perform a basic electromagnetic compatibility measurement.

Major Topics

Required Topics

• RF laboratory practice and connector care
• Spectrum analyser operation
• Resolution bandwidth and its trade-offs
• Signal generators and modulation sources
• Network analysers and calibration
• S-parameters
• Return loss, insertion loss, VSWR
• The Smith chart
• Impedance matching networks
• Transmission lines and reflection
• Amplitude modulation and demodulation
• Frequency modulation and demodulation
• Mixers and frequency conversion
• RF filters
• RF amplifiers, gain, and compression
• Noise figure and signal-to-noise ratio
• The decibel and RF power units
• Reporting RF measurements

Optional Topics

• Antennas and radiation patterns
• Digital modulation and constellations
• Bit error rate measurement
• Software-defined radio
• Electromagnetic compatibility

Resources & Tools

• The department's RF bench — spectrum analyser, network analyser, and signal generators are expensive instruments, and the fee and scheduled hours are the access to them. Use every session.
• Keysight and Rohde & Schwarz application notes — free, and among the best technical writing in the industry. The spectrum analyser and network analyser primers are the ones to read first.
• Pozar, Microwave Engineering — the standard RF reference; heavier than this course needs but the one worth owning if you continue in RF.
• An interactive Smith chart tool — several are free; the chart is far easier to learn by manipulating than by reading about.
• RTL-SDR — a very inexpensive USB software-defined radio; with free software such as GNU Radio or SDR# it turns a laptop into a spectrum monitor, and it is the single best value purchase for anyone interested in this area.
• GNU Radio — free; a full software-defined radio toolkit.
• QUCS or the free tier of RF simulation tools — useful for matching network design before building it.
• IEEE Microwave Theory and Technology Society and the Communications Society — student membership is inexpensive.
• FCC Part 15 rules — free; relevant to anything that radiates, and see the note below.

Career Pathways

• Electronics engineers, except computer — SOC 17-2072; RF engineering is a persistent shortage specialism and pays accordingly.
• Radar and electronic warfare systems — the strongest Florida connection in the whole EEL prefix. L3Harris in Melbourne and Palm Bay, Northrop Grumman in Melbourne, Lockheed Martin in Orlando, and the Air Force Research Laboratory work at Eglin Air Force Base, which is in UWF's own region.
• Naval systems — NSA Panama City and NAS Pensacola, both local to UWF.
• Space and satellite communications — the Space Coast launch and payload ecosystem.
• Wireless and telecommunications infrastructure — carrier and equipment vendor roles.
• Test and measurement engineering — instrument vendors hire heavily from students who can actually drive the instruments.
• Antenna design — a narrow, well-compensated specialism.
• ⚠ A practical note on defence work: most of these roles require United States citizenship and eligibility for a security clearance. That is worth knowing early, because it shapes which internships are available in the third year.

Special Information

⚠⚠ The asterisk in a UWF prerequisite means the course may be taken at the same time

• UWF's catalog marks a concurrent course with an asterisk, defined on the catalog's Course Information page as: "This course may be taken prior to or during the same term."
• ⚠ This is the single most useful piece of notation in the UWF engineering catalog, and it is easy to miss. A prerequisite written without an asterisk must be completed first; one written with an asterisk may be taken in the same term.
• The practical effect is on time to degree. Reading an asterisked prerequisite as a hard prerequisite adds a term to the sequence for no reason, and in a tightly chained major like electrical engineering that error compounds down the whole plan.
• Confirm with an advisor before relying on it, and note that the registration system, not the catalog text, is what actually enforces the rule.

⚠⚠ A two-part prerequisite, and only one part is concurrent

• UWF publishes: EEE3308L AND EEL4514*. The two halves behave differently and this is easy to misread.
• EEE3308L is not asterisked and must be completed first. The electronics laboratory is a hard prerequisite.
• EEL4514 is asterisked, so the communication systems lecture may be taken prior to or during the same term — the intended pattern being lecture and laboratory together.
• ⚠ Plan EEE3308L early. It is the constraint that determines when this laboratory can be taken, and students who leave it late find the RF laboratory pushed into their final term.

⚠⚠ UWF splits lecture from laboratory where many Florida institutions use one integrated C course

• UWF runs this material as a separate lecture and a separate laboratory, each with its own SCNS number and its own credit. Many other Florida institutions carry the same content in a single integrated C-suffix course.
• ⚠ The two are different SCNS numbers and SCNS equivalency does not cross numbers. A student transferring an integrated C course into UWF, or a UWF lecture-plus-lab pair out to an institution that runs the C variant, should expect the evaluation to be done by hand rather than automatically.
• Take the pair together where the department intends it. The asterisk notation described above usually permits exactly that.
• ⚠ Carry a syllabus when transferring either half. Half of an integrated course is the hardest case for a receiving evaluator to resolve from a transcript line alone.

⚠ A material and supply fee is assessed for this course

• UWF publishes a fee notice on this entry but not the amount. The amount is in the catalog's separate Material & Supply and Equipment Fees section, and it is charged in addition to tuition.
• ⚠ Budget for it. Laboratory fees are billed with tuition and are not always visible when a student estimates the cost of a term from credit hours alone.
• Check whether the fee covers consumables you would otherwise buy — components, boards, and kits are frequently included, which changes the real cost comparison.

⚠⚠ RF measurement punishes habits that were harmless at low frequency

• Calibrate the network analyser before every measurement session, and recalibrate if you change cables. An uncalibrated vector measurement is not a slightly worse measurement; it is a meaningless one.
• ⚠⚠ Impedance matching is not optional at RF. Everything is built around 50 ohms, and a mismatch reflects power back rather than delivering it. Connecting a high-impedance oscilloscope probe to an RF circuit changes the circuit and gives a reading of the disturbed system.
• ⚠ Treat connectors as precision components. SMA connectors are torqued to specification, not hand-tightened as hard as possible; over-tightening destroys them, and a damaged connector quietly corrupts every measurement afterwards. They are also expensive.
• Cables matter. Bend radius, length, and quality all affect results at RF, and swapping a cable mid-experiment without recalibrating invalidates the comparison.
• ⚠⚠ Know the maximum input rating of the spectrum analyser input. Exceeding it destroys the front-end mixer, which is the single most expensive mistake a student can make in an undergraduate laboratory. Use attenuators when in doubt, and set the reference level before connecting.
• Work in decibels fluently. dBm, dBW, dBc and dB are distinct and are routinely confused; a factor-of-ten error in RF power is a 10 dB error and it is easy to miss.

⚠⚠ Transmitting is regulated — keep signals in the cable

• Radio spectrum is federally regulated, and unlicensed transmission on most frequencies is a violation of FCC rules, not a technicality.
• Laboratory work is normally conducted — signals travel through coaxial cable rather than being radiated — precisely so this does not arise. Do not connect an antenna to a transmitter output because you are curious.
• ⚠ Amateur radio licensing is the legitimate route if you want to transmit, it is inexpensive, and it is genuinely useful preparation for an RF career. The Technician class examination requires no Morse code and is achievable in a few weeks.
• ⚠⚠ RF exposure limits exist and matter at higher power. The powers in an undergraduate laboratory are low, and the habit of respecting the limits should be built anyway — never look into an energised waveguide or open connector on a high-power source.

Course format and position in the curriculum

• Scheduled laboratory sessions with pre-laboratory preparation and written reports.
• Taken alongside EEL4514 Communication Systems, normally in the fourth year.
• ⚠ The 45-hour figure assumes a three-hour weekly session across fifteen weeks. UWF publishes no hours; confirm with the department.
• A material and supply fee is assessed, with the amount published separately.
• This is a strong resume line for RF and defence roles, and it is worth being able to talk about specific measurements you made.

FE exam relevance

The Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) exam is the first step toward Professional Engineer licensure, and in Florida it is administered under the Florida Board of Professional Engineers. Most students take the FE Electrical and Computer exam in their final year. Licensure matters less in electrical engineering than in civil — the industrial exemption means most electrical engineers in manufacturing and product work never need a PE — but it is required for consulting practice, for sealing designs, and for power and building-systems work, which is exactly where Florida's utility and infrastructure employment sits.

How Florida course levels affect transfer

The first digit of an SCNS number denotes the year of offering, not transferability. Courses at the 1000 and 2000 levels transfer transparently between Florida public institutions, and 3000 to 4000 is unproblematic since both are upper division. The boundary that actually matters is 2000 to 3000, where lower-division credit generally cannot satisfy an upper-division requirement. ⚠ For engineering specifically, ABET-accredited programmes commonly require that upper-division engineering coursework be taken in residence, so transferability of the credit and applicability to the degree are separate questions.

EEL4514L is 1 semester hour at the University of West Florida. Because UWF splits this material from the lecture while many Florida institutions carry it as the integrated EEL4514C, students transferring in either direction should carry a syllabus.