Work In Progress: Teaching Wireless Sensor Networks Through Laboratory Experiments

Wireless communications is becoming a transparent technology with which incoming college students most certainly have vast firsthand experience as users. Wireless Sensors Network Communications often proves to be a quite challenging subject to teach because many students appear to find the subject too technical. In this paper, we present some undergoing capstone design projects and laboratory experiments to provide the students of wireless communication and networking with a hands-on experience. The motivation of this approach is twofold. First, the projects pertain to the area of wireless sensor networks where rapid technological changes in wireless sensing devices have changed the types of work electrical and computer-engineering students are likely to do in their careers. Second, student groups come up with their own project applications and problem statements for which to design a system.