Course Highlights
The area of Digital Communications is extensively taught in the field of Electrical Engineering both at the undergraduate and graduate levels. The mathematical treatment of this subject is considerably sophisticated. This is more so true for Wireless Communications as it has its own set of challenges. The traditional approach to teaching in this area has been that of abstract math, which is gripping in its own respect. However, in today's date, what such an approach lacks is the skill-set a student should acquire to transform the 'abstract' theoretical concepts to 'real-world' working systems to ensure his or her success in both industry and academia. This course will give you the unique opportunity to construct a wireless communication link! In doing so, you will gain practical experience with communication system design that will enable you to understand the link between the theory of communications and its real-world implementation.
The course is lab and project oriented, and utilizes the National Instruments (NI) software-defined radio test bed, consisting of NI USRP radios and workstations equipped with the NI LabVIEW development environment.
The course final project enables students to develop increasingly complex cyber-physical systems using wireless links. This can involve (but is not limited to) usage of the USRP Software-defined Radio, Android or iOS wireless devices, PCs with wireless interfaces (ie. wifi, bluetooth), etc.
FAQ:
- What kind of background is needed for the course?
Students are assumed to have some prior coursework in Basic Probability, Fundamental Programming Concepts and Digital Signal Processing. No prior NI LabVIEW experience is expected. - What is the format of the class?
The course is split each week between Lectures (design and practice) and Lab Work (hands-on design and implementation) based on the knowledge acquired. Weekly lab assignments and a final project (in addition to a mid-term and a final exam) contribute toward the final grade. - What kind of project I am expected to complete by the end of the course?
A selection of previous projects is listed in the projects page. Moreover potential ideas for future projects are described in the same page. - What kind of experience will I acquire at the end of course?
The course is aimed at providing sufficient knowledge in order to understand how to build wireless communication link. This course could be the perfect preparation for a Capstone Project (2nd place in the 2013 edition.)
For additional details about the course check out the course info page.
Instructor
Predrag Spasojevic is an Associate Professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering department and a member of WINLAB in Rutgers University. Predrag received his Diploma of Engineering from the School of Engineering, University of Sarajevo, in 1990, and his Ph. D. in Electrical Engineering from Texas A&M University in 1999. He was a Publications Editor at IEEE Trans. Inf. Theory (2008-2011), the Associate Editor, IEEE Communications Letters (2002-2005) and the IEEE Rutgers Chapter Student Advisor (since 2002). His research interests are in the areas of Communication and Information Theory, Coding and Sequence Theory, Signal Processing and Representation, Cellular and Wireless LAN Systems, and Adhoc and Sensor Networks.
