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Session # 3432

A Laboratory Course for Telecommunications Systems Engineering

Hazem H. Refai and James J. Sluss, Jr. School of Electrical & Computer Engineering Telecommunications Systems Program University of Oklahoma – Tulsa

Abstract An integral part of the curriculum in the recently developed Master of Science in Telecommunications Systems program at the University of Oklahoma - Tulsa is a laboratory course. The course is designed to enhance student understanding of fundamental computer networking principles and to expose students to research tools that can be used in carrying out their capstone research projects. Through a series of sequential laboratory modules, students learn to setup and configure simple to complex computer networks and to effectively employ commercial software tools for network design and performance analysis. Near the end of the course, working independently, each student is required to complete a final project that assimilates much of the reinforced and/or newly acquired knowledge and skills. This paper provides a detailed description of the laboratory course and its key project modules.

1. Introduction The University of Oklahoma - Tulsa offers a Master of Science in Telecommunications Systems1 under the aegis of the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering. An integral part of the curriculum is the two-credit hour course entitled Telecommunications Laboratory - TCOM 5272. The course is designed to accomplish two objectives: to enhance student understanding of fundamental computer networking principles covered in prerequisite lecture courses and to expose students to research tools that may prove essential for carrying out their capstone research projects. The laboratory course consists of several sequential modules which reinforce and build upon preceding knowledge. These modules train students to setup and configure simple to complex computer networks using Internet Protocol (IP) switches and routers, and to effectively utilize commercial software tools for network design and performance analysis. After completing the laboratory modules, the students are assigned a final project to complete independently. A typical final project encompasses the following steps: build a representative computer network to span multiple cities, configure quality of service to allow for voice traffic, generate data and Voice-Over-IP (VoIP) traffic on the network, capture real-time traffic on the network, analyze the traffic to obtain network performance parameters, and compare the measured parameters with those obtained from prior network simulation. This paper describes the overall outline of the laboratory course, the key project modules, the guidelines for a typical final project, and lessons from the assessment of student learning. Proceedings of the 2005 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2005, American Society for Engineering Education

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Refai, H., & Sluss, J. (2005, June), A Laboratory Course For Telecommunications Systems Engineering Paper presented at 2005 Annual Conference, Portland, Oregon. 10.18260/1-2--14980