Components and Systems for Communications: An UndergraduateDesign Laboratory

该项目通过设计实验室的发展，在本科课程中引入了一个新的概念，旨在为学生提供通信系统和组件设计的基本概念。这种新颖的方法旨在引入一种基于完全暴露于工程设计周期的概念的新的教学和学习体验。这个设计实验室最初有两门相关的高级课程和高级独立设计课程，但可以扩展为开发其他现代工程课程的核心，这些课程侧重于通过新颖的可视化和动手方法（如制造和测量）来增强学习。该项目建立了两个设计实验室，每年允许50名高级学生发展系统和组件级工程的强大背景。在这些课程中，学生使用最先进的设计和测量工具，并通过专门为本实验室开发的行业联盟计划与行业工程师接触。教学工作围绕着一个实际的通信系统展开，比如2.5 ghz下行链路，学习是通过讲座和实验来完成的，这些讲座和实验遵循了这个典型通信系统的信号流图。教学是由分析和设计工具，目前使用的工业和国家的最先进的制造和测量设备。系统和组件概念的整合及其在实际系统中的应用使这一努力在系里独树一帜，并成为其他课程的典范。该实验室为学生在通信领域提供了强大的背景，并为进一步学习提供了动力。此外，在整个课程开发和教学过程中，工业在培养具有综合实践经验和坚实基础科学概念的年轻工程师方面发挥了重要作用。

This project introduces a new concept in the undergraduate curriculum through the development of a Design Laboratory that aims at providing students with the fundamental concepts of communications system and component design. The novel approach intends to introduce a new teaching and learning experience based on the concept of a complete exposure to the engineering design cycle. This Design laboratory initially has two associated senior-level courses and senior independent design courses but may be expanded to provide a nucleus for developing other modern engineering courses that focus on enhanced learning by means of novel visualization and hands-on approaches such as fabrication and measurements. This project establishes two Design Laboratories that allow 50 senior-level students per year to develop a strong background on system- and component-level engineering. During these courses, the students use state-of-the-art design and measurement tools and come in contact with engineers from industry through industry affiliation program developed specifically for this laboratory. The teaching effort evolves around a practical communications system such as a 2.5-GHz down-link and learning is accomplished through lectures and experiments that follow the signal flow graph of this typical communications system. Teaching is augmented by analysis and design tools currently used by industry and state-of-the-art fabrication and measurement equipment. The integration of system and component concepts and their application to a real system makes this effort unique in the department and a model for other courses. This laboratory provides the students with a strong background in the area of communications and with a motivation for further study. Furthermore, throughout the course development and during teaching, industry plays an important role in casting young engineers with combined practical experience and strong foundation in basic science concepts.