Communications, Signal Processing and VLSI: Education Under a Common Framework

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Engineering - Electrical (55) The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Rowan University is configuring a novel method of teaching the junior level Communications (COMM), Digital Signal Processing (DSP) and Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI) courses under a common framework. These three courses are taken concurrently during the spring semester of the junior year. The main developed prototype is a laboratory manual. A long term goal is to use this prototype to develop a laboratory oriented textbook.There has been a historical division and separation of the fields of Communications, DSP and VLSI in electrical engineering education. This separation has crept up to the very high professional circles in both industry and university. Engineers specialized in one area find it hard to collaborate with their colleagues, and separate cliques within the department start to form. This type of segregation is no longer acceptable as we must provide an integrative experience at the undergraduate level. This integrative experience enables the students to better comprehend the conceptual relationships of COMM, DSP and VLSI. This is highly beneficial for undergraduate students that enter industry or go on to graduate school.Twelve interdisciplinary experiments that cut across individual course boundariesand that integrate hands-on experience and software simulation are being developed. The first four experiments deal with the very basic concepts. The next four experiments expose the students to multimedia standards approved by industry. The last four experiments deal with various applications that link COMM, DSP and VLSI. Software is integrated with the experiments through MATLAB and SIMULINK, C/C++ and Mentor Graphics.Our new laboratory is assessed by comparison with conventional experiments that merely demonstrate the theory taught in the classroom. The regional industrial partners help in assessing our project. The dissemination plan includes journal and conference papers, the creation of a new laboratory manual, use of the World Wide Web and the distribution of material in the form of CD-ROMs and videotapes.