A new course taught in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin has begun providing students with real-world experiences manipulating digital signals that underlie an expanding array of popular technologies.
While wireless communication courses at some universities simulate communication in software, the course taught in the department’s new Wireless Communications Laboratory allows undergraduate and graduate students to take the next step. They generate, transmit, receive, and process real wireless signals like those found in cell phones, wireless local area networks, and other wireless devices.
“The magic of this lab course is being able to generate and process real digital communication signals in the lab that form the basis of all modern communications,” said Assistant Professor Robert Heath Jr., the course instructor.
The course consists of a three hour lecture and a three hour lab component.The laboratory provides 10 stations where groups of students can use desktop computers donated by Intel Corp. to access hardware and software donated by National Instruments for producing and analyzing radio signals.
Having a complete wireless system in a desktop-accessible format permits students to consider multiple challenges in designing, transmitting, and receiving wireless signals. They can implement different digital-modulation techniques like those expected to underlie future wireless communication systems, study the effects of different impairments to wireless communication, and implement realistic algorithms for compensating for these distortions.
Malik Saleh, a graduate student in electrical and computer engineering, took the wireless lab course when it was first offered this spring.
“We had a chance to feel what a real hardware-based implementation is like, which certainly will come in handy working for a communication company.”
Class participants learned wireless communication concepts during course lectures and tested the digital computer code they developed using simulations in separate lab sessions. At the conclusion of the course they used National Instruments’ LabVIEW graphical development environment and arbitrary waveform generator to transmit a radio signal from one station in the lab to a signal analyzer at another station.
For more information about the course, EE 379K-WC, to be taught again in spring 2006, contact Dr. Heath at rheath@mail.utexas.edu. For a photo of Dr. Heath, go to www.engr.utexas.edu/news/action_shots/pages/Heath.cfm
Email this article to a friend
About the Cockrell School of Engineering:
The Cockrell School ranks among the top ten engineering programs in the United States and aspires to move into the top five. With the nation's fourth highest number of faculty members elected to the National Academy of Engineering, the Cockrell School's more than 7,000 students work with many of the world's finest engineering educators and researchers. This environment prepares graduates to become engineering leaders and innovators working for the betterment of society.