MSc Communications and Signal Processing with Extended Research

For entry in the academic year beginning September 2026, the tuition fees are as follows:

• MSc (full-time)
  UK students (per annum): £14,700 year 1, £7,350 year 2 (22,050.00 on offer letter)
  International, including EU, students (per annum): £38,400 year 1, £19,200 year 2 (£57,600.00 on offer letter)

Further information for EU students can be found on our dedicated EU page.

The fees quoted above will be fully inclusive for the course tuition, administration and computational costs during your studies.

All fees for entry will be subject to yearly review and incremental rises per annum are also likely over the duration of courses lasting more than a year for UK/EU students (fees are typically fixed for International students, for the course duration at the year of entry). For general fees information please visit: postgraduate fees . Always contact the department if you are unsure which fee applies to your qualification award and method of attendance.

Self-funded international applicants for this course will be required to pay a deposit of £1000 towards their tuition fees before a confirmation of acceptance for studies (CAS) is issued. This deposit will only be refunded if immigration permission is refused. We will notify you about how and when to make this payment.

All students should normally be able to complete their programme of study without incurring additional study costs over and above the tuition fee for that programme. Any unavoidable additional compulsory costs totalling more than 1% of the annual home undergraduate fee per annum, regardless of whether the programme in question is undergraduate or postgraduate taught, will be made clear to you at the point of application. Further information can be found in the University's Policy on additional costs incurred by students on undergraduate and postgraduate taught programmes (PDF document, 91KB).

We offer a number of postgraduate taught scholarships and awards to outstanding UK and international students each year.

The University of Manchester is committed to widening participation in master's study, and allocates £300,000 in funding each year. Our Manchester Master's Bursaries are aimed at widening access to master's courses by removing barriers to postgraduate education for students from underrepresented groups.

We also welcome the best and brightest international students each year and reward excellence with a number of merit-based scholarships. See our range of master’s scholarships for international students .

And, if you have completed an undergraduate degree at The University of Manchester, or are currently in your final year of an undergraduate degree with us, you may be eligible for a discount of 10% on tuition fees if you choose to study on a taught postgraduate course here. Find out if you're eligible and how to apply .

For more information on master's tuition fees and studying costs, visit the University of Manchester funding for master's courses website to help you plan your finances.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE UNIT:

(1) Wireless Communications

Introduction to modern wireless communication systems and mobile networks (1 hour).

Revision on digital communication, stochastic process and information theory (2 hour).

Radio wave propagation: Path loss, shadowing and multipath fading (4 hours).

Wireless channel mitigation techniques: diversity and combining techniques (3 hours).

Multiple antennas (MIMO) wireless communication system (3 hours).

Link and system level simulation and software defined radio for wireless communication systems experimentation (3 hours).

(2) Mobile Networks

Multiple Access & Multiuser communication (4 hours).

Cellular concepts and system design (4 hours).

Radio Resource Management schemes (3 hours).

Recent advances in wireless and mobile network (3 hours).

Current and future mobile network standards (2 hours).
 

The course unit aims to:

• Develop an understanding on the basic and advanced principles of Wireless Communications and Mobile Networks.
• The unit addresses the issues of wireless communications and mobile networks in physical, link and network layers. The wireless channels will be explained with existing mitigation techniques.
• Multi-user communication systems will also be studied with an emphasis on the broadcast nature of wireless communications.
• Mobile networks modelling, design and optimisation will be covered, as well as existing and future mobile networks standards.

On successful completion of the course, a student will be able to:

ILO 1: Classify the different types of wireless channel models; calculate the channel parameters; and apply mitigating techniques.

ILO 2: Identify various diversity types and devise diversity achieving schemes.

ILO 3: Experiment and analyse system performance for wireless systems using computer simulation and other platforms.

ILO 4: Explain and design different types of mobile networks.

ILO 5: Describe various multiple access techniques and identify their strengths and weaknesses.

ILO 6: Discuss specifics of existing mobile networks and future system standard.

ILO 7: Explain the basic and advanced theories on wireless communications systems and mobile networks. 

Coursework: Two lab reports, 6 hours each, feedback provided within 3 weeks of submission.

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[1] A. Goldsmith, Wireless communications, Cambridge; Cambridge University Press, 2005.

[2] S. S. Haykin, Modern wireless communications, International ed. Upper Saddle River, N.J.; Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2004

[3] T. S. Rappaport, Wireless communications: principles and practice, 2nd ed. Upper Saddle River, N.J: Prentice Hall PTR, 2002.

[4] A. F. Molisch, Wireless communications, 2nd ed. Chichester, U.K: IEEE, 2011.

[5] E. Dahlman, 4G, LTE-advanced pro and the road to 5G, Third edition. London: Academic Press, 2016.

[6] H. Holma, A. Toskala, and T. Nakamura, Eds., 5G technology: 3GPP new radio, First edition. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2020.