Laboratory Experiments Unifying Concepts In The Communications, Digital Signal Processing (Dsp), And Very Large Scale Integration (Vlsi) Courses

The hallmark of the Rowan College of Engineering undergraduate program is to provide effective laboratory based instruction that illustrates important scientific concepts. This paper presents the results of an effort by the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Rowan University to configure a novel method of teaching the junior level Communications (COMM), Digital Signal Processing (DSP) and Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI) courses under a common laboratory framework. These three courses are taken concurrently during the spring semester of the junior year. The described interdisciplinary experiments cut across individual course boundaries and integrate hands-on experience and software simulation. Software is integrated with the experiments through MATLAB and SIMULINK, C/C++ and Mentor Graphics.