Hands-on open access broadband wireless technology lab

The unprecedented growth in wireless communication is offering opportunities and challenges for educators. Thanks to technology advances and job opportunities, more and more students are interested in wireless communications courses. However, bridging the gap between classroom and real-world experience remains a challenge. Advanced undergraduate communications courses typically focus more on theory. Some courses are given online, and lack hands-on experiments. Driven by feedback from industry and students, we propose practical laboratory experiments that attempt to bridge the gap between classroom and real world. The laboratory exercises take advantage of the infrastructure of deployed wireless networks and allow students to measure, and analyze data, as well as to interact. The proposed labs can be used even in online courses. This paper describes the experiments proposed, the procedures and typical results. The experiments are tied to course objective.