CS4501: Wireless for the Internet of Things (Spring 2025)

Course Information

• Instructor: Kun Qian
• TA: TBD
• Lecture time: 2:30pm-3:45pm TuTh
• Location: Thornton Hall A120
• Office hours:
  • Tu 4:00-5:00pm
  • Th 4:00-5:00pm
  • By appointment

Course Description

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a computing platform where a large number of devices form a network to monitor, control, and optimize some physical system. To be scalable, these devices communicate wirelessly, both with each other and to the Internet at large. But what wireless protocols are available for IoT devices? How do they work? And why are there so many? This course will provide a hands-on introduction to the world of wireless in the Internet of Things. Over the course of the semester we will explore what wireless options we have available, how they differ and what the tradeoffs are, and how major IoT wireless protocols work. We will also build networks of devices using real-world wireless protocols. Our goal is for you to be able to build your own wireless devices with a wireless protocol that meets your application requirements and device constraints.

We will look at WiFi, Classic Bluetooth, Bluetooth Low Energy, IEEE 802.15.4, 2G/3G/4G/5G cellular, LTE-M, NB-IoT, LoRa, and Z-Wave. We will also explore some emerging wireless options, such as visible light communication (VLC), infrared communication (IR), ultrasonic, wake-up radios, and backscatter.

Prerequisites

• CS 2130 (CSO1) OR CS 2150 (Program and Data Representation)
• CS 3130 (CSO2) OR ECE 3430 (Embedded) OR CS 4414 (OS) OR CS 3330 (Architecture) OR ECE 4750 (DSP) OR Instructor Approval

Course Schedule

The schedule is subject to change.