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BYOE: Utilizing the EET Communication Simulator

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Conference

2017 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Columbus, Ohio

Publication Date

June 24, 2017

Start Date

June 24, 2017

End Date

June 28, 2017

Conference Session

Division Experimentation & Lab-Oriented Studies - Bring Your Own Experiment

Tagged Division

Division Experimentation & Lab-Oriented Studies

Page Count

11

DOI

10.18260/1-2--27998

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/27998

Download Count

483

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Paper Authors

biography

Garth V. Crosby Southern Illinois University, Carbondale

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Dr. Garth V. Crosby is an associate professor in the Technology Department at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. He obtained his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Florida International University in Computer Engineering and Electrical Engineering, respectively.
Dr. Crosby’s primary interests of research are wireless networks, wireless sensor networks, network security and active learning strategies for STEM. He has served as a reviewer for several conferences, magazines and journals publications, including IEEE INFOCOM, and IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man and Cybernetics. He is a senior member of the Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers (IEEE), a member of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE), and Eta Kappa Nu.

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Marcelene Allecia Cunningham

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Abstract

It can be challenging to effectively teach a first course in communication systems to electrical engineering technology (EET) undergraduates. One reason for the difficulty is that complex mathematical and signal-processing concepts must be introduced without the mathematical rigor expected in a traditional electrical engineering course. To make life easier for both the instructor and student, the EET Communication Simulator was developed. This is a software simulator that can run via any of the modern web browsers. The primary hypothesis of the research and development project was that students would learn communication principles better if they were presented with visual representations of the complex mathematical functions and corresponding signal representations. There were two objectives of the project: (i) create a software communication systems simulator that an instructor can utilize in a pedagogically effective manner, and ii) create a user-friendly learning tool for communication systems students. Several groups of students worked to improve the simulator over a period of two years. The other students, who were not directly involved in the project, participated in the testing and evaluation of the simulator. Their feedback were obtained through a survey. The results of the survey, shedding light on students’ attitudes and perception with regards to the simulator, are presented in this paper.

A live demonstration of the software simulator will be presented at the conference. Attendees will be given an opportunity to ‘test drive’ the simulator.

Crosby, G. V., & Cunningham, M. A. (2017, June), BYOE: Utilizing the EET Communication Simulator Paper presented at 2017 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Columbus, Ohio. 10.18260/1-2--27998

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