EE206A: Course for Spring 2002

Mobile and Wireless Networked Computing Systems

An interdisciplinary course on mobile and wireless networked computing

Instructor: Mani Srivastava (mbs@ee.ucla.edu)
Course: EE206A
Time: MoWe 12:00-1:50PM
Room: 5272 Boelter Hall

This course will provide students with a comprehensive, in-depth treatment of background material, fundamental concepts, and research challenges in mobile and wireless networked computing and communication systems. Going beyond traditional wireless cellular systems and networks, the course will focus on emerging wireless networks based on internet technologies and 3G wireless standards. The transport and  processing of data as well as real-time multimedia information in the presence of mobility, wireless access, and low power constraints will be studied. The course will also explore  the unique requirements and opportunities of wirelessly networked embedded systems and smart spaces that comprise a large numbers of very small wireless devices such as sensors with a powerful packet-switched network infrastructure.  Looking beyond the cellular phones and radio-equipped PC laptops, the course will consider networks of post-PC networked devices, focusing on protocols, information dissemination algorithms, and architecture  issues related to such wireless networks and devices. The material would interest both EE and CS students.

Starting with an introduction to the lower layer issues (wireless channels, radio technology, battery technology), the lectures will largely focus on critical concepts and technologies above the physical layer: link and MAC protocols, low-power wireless networking, quality of service issues in wireless links and networks, mobile-IP and wireless-TCP, geographical routing,  novel wireless devices and nodes, minimal operating systems, middleware services (e.g. disconnected file systems, context-aware applications), power management, wireless sensor networks, and security.  While going through the systems layers in a bottom-up fashion, the lectures will emphasize the trade-offs and optimizations across the system layers.
 
The course will have one or two homework, one mid-term examination, and a short independent project (typically simulation oriented) which is to be done individually or in a team of two. Knowledge of computer networking and digital communications would be helpful, although the course is largely self-contained. More information will be available at http://www.ee.ucla.edu/~mbs/courses/ee206a/2002s. There is no textbook; the course will be based on extensive lecture notes and papers from journals and conferences.

Graduate students following the EE Embedded Computing Systems major field may use this course towards their major field requirements.

Note: For extensive on-line information from the 2001 version of this course, including lecture slides, on-line reader, exams, projects etc., see  http://www.ee.ucla.edu/~mbs/courses/ee206a/2001s.

Author: Mani Srivastava ( mbs@ee.ucla.edu)
Last Modified: 03/28/2002 06:29 PM