ECE 495W - The Wireless Revolution

Course Details

Lecture Hours: 1 Credits: 1

Counts as:

Experimental Course Offered:

Spring 2004, Fall 2004

Catalog Description:

This is an interdisciplinary course addressing technological, as well as some regulatory, economic and social issues arising in the rapidly developing field of wireless communications. This course is intended to introduce students to a major technological revolution that will shape society and business in the years to come. This course is directed primarily at students in their junior through senior years, with interest in fields such as engineering, science, technology, economics, public policy, and similar quantitative disciplines.

Required Text(s):

None.

Recommended Text(s):

  1. A Social History of Technology , R. S. Cowan
  2. Anytime, Anywhere: Entrepreneurship & the Creation of the Wire , L. Galambos and E. J. Abrahamson
  3. Personal and Wireless Communications , K. I. Park
  4. Telecommunication Policy for the Information Age , G. W. Brock
  5. The Communications Miracle: The Telecommunications Pioneers , J. Bray
  6. Wireless: The Revolution in Personal Telecommunications , I. Brodsky

Learning Outcomes:

A student who successfully fulfills the course requirements will have demonstrated:
  1. an understanding of wireless communications, systems and applications with an emphasis on evolution and impact on society. [a,c,h,k]

Lecture Outline:

Week(s) Topics
1 Introduction
4 Wireless Technology (digital transmission, access techniques, networking, applications)
1 Past, Present, and Future of Wireless
1 Midterm Exam
1 Economic/business aspects of wireless. Wireless standards.
2 Networking and Security
4 Application of wireless (ultrawideband, global positioning system, telematics, etc.)

Engineering Design Content:

  • Analysis

Engineering Design Consideration(s):

  • Economic
  • Environmental
  • Political
  • Social

Assessment Method:

The assessment process is based on one final exam and one project. A subset of the final exam questions will be employed to assess the attainment of the desired outcome. This course was inspired by the course ELE 391 entitled - The Wireless Revolution: Telecommunications for the 21st Century created by Professor V. Poor at Princeton University. Counts an a Computer Engineering Elective if taken concurrently with ECE 495W