ECE Ph.D. Qualifying Exam

Communication, Networking, Signal and Image Processing (CS)

Question 1: Probability and Random Processes

August 2000



Question

Part 1.

a) The Laplacian density function is given by $ f\left(x\right)=\frac{A}{2}e^{-A\left|x\right|}\text{ where }A>0. $ Determine its characteristic function.

b) Determine a bound on the probability that a RV is within two standard deviations of its mean.

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Part 2.

$ \mathbf{X}\left(t\right) $ is a WSS process with its psd zero outside the interval $ \left[-\omega_{max},\ \omega_{max}\right] $ . If $ R\left(\tau\right) $ is the autocorrelation function of $ \mathbf{X}\left(t\right) $ , prove the following: $ R\left(0\right)-R\left(\tau\right)\leq\frac{1}{2}\omega_{max}^{2}\tau^{2}R\left(0\right). $ (Hint: $ \left|\sin\theta\right|\leq\left|\theta\right| $ ).

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Part 3.

Inquiries arrive at a recorded message device according to a Poisson process of rate 15 inquiries per minute. Find the probability that in a 1-minute period, 3 inquiries arrive during the first 10 seconds and 2 inquiries arrive during the last 15 seconds.

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Part 4.

A RV is given by $ \mathbf{Z}=\sum_{n=0}^{8}\mathbf{X}_{n} $ where $ \mathbf{X}_{n} $ 's are i.i.d. RVs with characteristic function given by $ \Phi_{\mathbf{X}}\left(\omega\right)=\frac{1}{1-j\omega/2}. $

(a) Determine the characteristic function of $ \mathbf{Z} $ .

(b) Determine the pdf of $ \mathbf{Z} $ . You can leave your answer in integral form.

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