ON TEACHING ALWAYS-EVOLVING WIRELESS TECHNOLOGIES O. Sallent, A. Umbert, J. Pérez-Romero, R. Agustí Dept. of Signal Theory and Communications Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) Barcelona, Spain E-mail: [sallent, annau, jorperez, ramon]@tsc.upc.edu Abstract Teaching on wireless telecommunication networks faces a number of challenges, such as the fact that contents are dynamic in nature, the resulting framework is complex and heterogeneous, design principles can largely vary from one system to another, etc. In order to cope with these challenges, novel and advanced methodologies have to be implemented so that the expectations placed by students and industry are met. In this context, this paper will stress the relevance of exploiting the always-evolving wireless technologies to introduce concepts to students in a non-disruptive way, so that novel concepts associated to newly introduced technologies can be presented on top of previous concepts associated to previously existing technologies. In addition, the integration of theoretical contents and practical experience as key enablers of the learning process will also be stressed. Keywords Teaching Wireless Communications, GSM, UMTS, Measurement equipment, Laboratory sessions. 1. INTRODUCTION Wireless telecommunication networks have faced an impressive grow, progress and evolution over the last two decades, becoming wide-spread around the world. By the end of 2008, there were more than three billion people world-wide with mobile subscriptions. The rapid pace of global adoption and diffusion of mobile communications has revolutionized economic and social life. Since early 90’s, more than 700 GSM (Global System for Mobile communications) mobile phone operators have deployed their networks across more than 200 countries. GSM is the most popular standard for 2G (second generation) mobile phones in the world [1][2]. Similarly, since 2003, the so- called 3G (third generation) technologies, which enable network operators to offer users a wider range of more advanced services, have already been deployed. UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) networks based on WCDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access) technology have exceeded 300 million subscribers [3]. At this stage, standardization fora led by industry are already defining the so-called 4G (fourth generation) mobile systems, which promise impressive data transmission capabilities reaching up to 1.000 Mbits per second. Focusing on the technological dimension of this evolution, wireless telecommunication networks have become extremely sophisticated and complex. This is further enforced by the fact that wireless networks are heterogeneous in nature and, usually, different systems have been conceived, designed and implemented following different principles and targeting different objectives. In this context, teaching on wireless telecommunication networks faces a number of challenges, such as the fact that contents are dynamic in nature, the resulting framework is complex and heterogeneous, design principles can largely vary from one system to another, etc. In order to cope with these challenges, novel and advanced methodologies have to be implemented so that the expectations placed by students (who show high interest in these subjects) and industry (who demands skilled engineers in this field) are met. This paper will discuss how the always-evolving technologies can be introduced to the students in a non-disruptive way but building novel concepts associated to newly introduced technologies on top of Proceedings of INTED2009 Conference. 9-11 March 2009, Valencia, Spain. ISBN:978-84-612-7578-6 004565