DESCRIPTION
  The course provides a comprehensive treatment of the role of energy in society.  After reviewing the benefits and problems associated with today’s dependence on fossil fuels, attention is directed to the opportunities and challenges of transitioning to a sustainable energy future.  Course content is developed along two essential and interrelated tracks, one scientific/technical and the other socio/economic/political.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
 

Upon completion of the course, students will

  • understand and have a good command of important terminology often seen in the popular media and in press releases from the communications industry — terms such as “digital” and “analog” technologies, CDMA and TDMA, Bluetooth WiFi, and wireless LAN’s, bandwidth, and direct broadcast video;
  • understand and be able to apply the basic principles associated with communication system design;
  • understand the roles and the limitations of ubiquitous communication technologies and the associated physical impairments;
  • understand the politics of wireless communications, policy issues that govern privacy, security, licensing, and global standardization;
  • understand the role of wireless communication in global commerce;
  • gain insights into entrepreneurial opportunities presented by the advent of global wireless communications;
  • understand the art of product development — cell phone as a fashion product.
LEARNING ACTIVITIES
 

Class time involves a mix of

  • lectures on scientific/technical matter,
  • group discussions of reading materials,
  • laboratory demonstrations using radio transceivers,
  • student presentations, and
  • invited speakers from the communications industry, academe, regulatory, legal and investment professions.