WIRELESS COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS: A NEW COURSE ON THE WIRELESS PHYSICAL LAYER WITH LABORATORY COMPONENT

The wireless transmission of data has emerged as one of the most important technologies currently in use, with its importance expected to increase in the future. The industries developing these technologies are looking for students with competence in the wireless field. Not only is this technology achieving broader application, but efforts to improve performance are ongoing and critical as higher and higher data rates under more adverse operating conditions are desired. The need is increasing for students to be prepared in this field in order to be competitive in the marketplace. Furthermore, currently enrolled ECE students are engaging in projects which often include wireless communication subsystems. To meet this need, the course Wireless Communications Systems was developed and delivered. This course is intended to help ensure our students' competency in the emerging wireless communications field for now and into the future. The course concentrates on wireless physical layer communication and builds off of a traditional course in communications. Laboratories and projects are a fundamental component of the course. In this paper, we present an overview of the course topics and describe the areas covered. We also discuss what was left out due to time and complexity considerations. We further describe the laboratory experiments and how they integrate with the lecture material. We then offer our assessment of the experience and give suggestions for further improvement in the next offering. Lastly, we include the results of a student assessment that offers insight into the applicability and interest in the course.