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Session 3532

Implementation and Effectiveness of the Integrated Signals and Systems Laboratory

Michael F. Anderson, Lance C. Pérez, Jerald L. Varner Clarke College/ University of Nebraska, Lincoln

Introduction

Over the past three years, the Department of Electrical Engineering at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln (UNL) has implemented an Integrated Signals and Systems Laboratory (ISSL) in its undergraduate curriculum. The laboratory experience uses a common experimental platform, the Telecommunications Instructional Modeling System (TIMS), in a sequence of four courses at the junior and senior levels. The four courses are in the systems area with an emphasis on communications systems. This paper summarizes our experience with the ISSL in terms of implementation and utilization and its effect on student learning.

Laboratory Motivation and Implementation

The ISSL at UNL is integrated into four separate three credit hour courses that are taught at the junior and senior levels in the undergraduate curriculum. The laboratory experience is part of the three credit hours and does not replace any existing laboratory courses. The four courses are: 1. ELEC 304 Signals and Systems: The primary objective of this junior level course is to teach students time domain and transform analysis of continuous and discrete linear systems with the goal of preparing the students for subsequent senior level courses in communications, control systems and signal processing. 2. ELEC 305 Probability and Random Processes: The primary objective of this junior level course is to teach students the fundamentals of probability and random processes with the goal of preparing the students for subsequent senior level courses in communications, control systems and signal processing. 3. ELEC 462 Communication Systems: The primary objective of this senior level course is to teach students the theoretical foundations of amplitude and frequency modulation communication schemes and the effects of noise on these systems. Sampling, quantization and pulse code modulation are also covered. 4. ELEC 464 Digital Communications: The primary objective of this course is to teach students the fundamentals of digital baseband and bandpass modulation techniques in the presence of additive white Gaussian noise using signal space techniques and to understand equalization techniques for the transmission of signals on bandlimited channels. Several advanced topics, such as spread spectrum communications and channel coding, are introduced to provide students with some breadth of knowledge.

The motivation for the creation of the ISSL came from prior experience in trying to establish an undergraduate laboratory for ELEC 462 Communication Systems1. The laboratory experiments

“Proceedings of the 2003 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2003, American Society for Engineering Education”

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Anderson, M., & Perez, L., & Varner, J. (2005, June), Final Report: Implementation And Effectiveness Of The Integrated Signals And Systems Laboratory Paper presented at 2005 Annual Conference, Portland, Oregon. 10.18260/1-2--14817