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February 7, 2005 Vol. 76,
no. 4S
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| WONDERING
ABOUT WIRELESS: The students above are literally
building their understanding of how wireless works. From left, EECS
senior Cheralin Peng, economics senior Kevin Jones, EECS senior
James Kao, EECS assistant professor Ali Niknejad and EECS seniors
Chen Chen and Robert Hennessy. EECS senior Po-Kai Chen is not pictured.
Robert Hennessy (left) offers a closer glimpse at what they’re
making: a self-built circuit board. |
Vodafone@Berkeley
connects EECS students to the wireless world
Wireless is everywhere around
campus. Over 70 AirBears hot zones make it possible for laptops to connect
to networks. PDAs and Blackberries keep us organized. Cell phones permeate
every nook and cranny. We use wireless all the time, but most students
don't think about how it works. Six seniors are.
Last fall, EECS assistant professor Ali Niknejad introduced a new lab
for EE142 that gave undergraduates their first-ever opportunity to learn
wireless hands-on. EECS majors Chen Chen, James Kao, Cheralin Peng,
Po-Kai Chen and Robert Hennessy and economics major Kevin Jones have
been figuring out how wireless works by building their own high-frequency
circuit boards. By the end of this semester, they will join these boards
together to make a complete 900 MHz front-end radio.
So far, the lab is successful. "It's been a great opportunity for students
to apply theory and do more than just computer simulations," says Niknejad.
Student James Kao compares it to taking apart a cell phone to see how
it works, except in this lab, he's building something to see how it
works. "We do it all, from the design to the actual thing. I've learned
to use different software and the testing instruments. It's a great
experience," Kao says.
The group's goal is to send an MP3 from one end of the room to the other.
It sounds simple enough, but it's taken them 15 hours a week working
all fall semester just to create their own individual circuit boards.
EECS senior Robert Hennessy pulls his board out of his backpack. It
fits in the palm of his hand. 
Aside from getting to carry a circuit board around in their backpacks,
these students are standing out in other ways. Peng says she went to
a career fair and, in conversations with recruiters, mentioned she was
building high-frequency circuit boards. "They were amazed that undergraduates
were doing wireless," she says. "They were impressed."
Such an opportunity couldn't have been possible without Vodafone, which
sponsored the upgrading of the lab located on the first floor of Cory
Hall. The renamed, revamped Vodafone@Berkeley opened last fall. National
Instruments, Intel, Ansoft and Philips have also made equipment donations.
"Wireless is the future," says Kevin Jones. "This is just a simple start."
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