ECE 678 - Spring 2019
Wireless Protocols

 Time and Place

Tuesday and Thursday 3:30-4:45pm, Room 240, Harvill Building.

 Instructor

Dr. Marwan Krunz
ECE Building, Room 365
Phone: (520) 621-8731
Email: krunz@email.arizona.edu
Office Hours: Tuesday and Thursday, 11am-12pm (and by appointment)

Syllabus [pdf]

Topics [pdf]

 Course Objectives

Wireless systems have evolved rapidly over the last decade, first driven by a boom in smart phones and mobile video, and more recently by an unfolding "4th Industrial Revolution" (4IR), in which smart sensing, ubiquitous wireless communications, and cloud-based information processing are converging at a massive scale. Instances of this revolution are presented in "verticals," such as intelligent transportation, autonomous vehicles, smart cities/spaces, connected health, smart agriculture, and many others. The Internet-of-Things (IoT) offers a vision for 4IR, and is founded on the networking of a large number of IP-capable devices, including home appliances, HVAC sensors, smart power meters, UAVs, etc. The underlying wireless technologies surrounding these exciting applications include a heterogenous mix of systems and devices, some of which operate over unlicensed spectrum while others rely on licensed bands. Unlicensed wireless access is exemplified by the ubiquitous IEEE 802.11-based wireless LANs (a.k.a. Wi-Fi), which can be found everywhere; on campuses, malls, airports, hotels, restaurants, etc. Cellular networks, including 4G/LTE and upcoming 5G systems, operate mostly over licensed bands. 5G systems present a leap progress in cellular communications, promising much higher speeds (multi-Gbps per-user) and sub-millisecond end-to-end latency, not to mention unprecedented support for dense connectivity, wide coverage, high reliability, and long battery life. Such impressive performance is facilitated by advances in hardware (e.g., massive MIMO, steerable antennas), software (e.g., mobile edge computing, network slicing), and efficient network planning (e.g., cell densification, spectrum sharing).

The purpose of this course is to expose students to recent advances in wireless networks, focusing on novel protocol designs, and architectural concepts. Various topics will be covered (see attached list) through representative papers from top-tier conferences (e.g., MobiCom, MobiHoc, Sigcomm, INFOCOM, etc.), IEEE and ACM journals, magazines, and regulatory documents and standards (including FCC specifications). The class will emphasize discussion and debate, with the goal of strengthening students' critical and analytical thinking.

 Prerequisites

 Course Structure

 Grading:

 Presentations Schedule: