Advanced Wireless Networking: ELEC 538

Instructor

Prerequisite
An introductory networking course such as ELEC 437 or COMP 429 or a digital communications course such as ELEC 430.

Course Objectives
Explore advanced research topics in wireless networking.

Develop knowledge and skills to understand and critically evaluate research advances in wireless networking.

Develop skills for technical debate, thesis defense, and interactive technical Q&A including formulating a focused question and replying with a crisp articulate answer.

Course Description

This course is held in a debate format: A research paper will be assigned at least one week in advance. Two teams of students will be chosen to debate and lead the discussion. One team will be designated the offense and the other the defense. In class, the defense team will present first.

Defense Team. For 30 minutes the team will present and strongly advocate the work as if it were their own thesis defense. The defense team should make a compelling case why the contribution is significant and Ph.D. worthy. The team should emphasize the paper’s novelty, new knowledge, and new experimental findings. i.e., new insights, new fundamental understanding of wireless networks, and new techniques, all as compared to what was previously known. The presentation must include the context of the contribution, differentiation from prior work, and potential impact on the research community, industry, and standards. Just like a thesis defense, the defense team need not cover every aspect of the paper in detail. All contributions can be mentioned to “take credit,” but there is only time to dive more deeply into select contributions.

The defense team will be graded on their ability to convey the contribution in an organized, coherent, and compelling way. The presentation should go well beyond a paper “summary.” The defense should not critique the work other than to try to pre-empt attacks from the offense (e.g., by explicitly limiting the scope of the contribution). The goal for the defense team is to learn to assess the contribution of a piece of work, anticipate likely criticisms, and defend it.

Offense Team. After the defense presentation, the offense team will state their case for 20 minutes. This team should critique the work, and make a case for missing links, unaddressed issues, lack of impact, close similarities to prior work, inappropriateness of the problem formulation, etc. The team should challenge the novelty of the work via a close comparison with prior work, potentially including prior work not cited by the paper. Avoid unsubstantiated or conclusory criticism such as “the results are obvious” or “the proposed system is impractical.” Instead, focus on well-reasoned, factual, and justified analysis based on prior work.  The offense team will be graded on the insightfulness, creativity (non-obviousness) and depth of their critique. The goal of the offense team is critical analysis of research.

Open Debate. Next, the defense team can respond to the offense’s critiques and both offense and defense teams will be allowed follow up arguments. Finally, the class will question either side either for clarifications or to add to the discussions and controversy and make their own points on either side.

Non-presenting audience. For each class, only non-presenters (those neither on the offense nor defense team) will hand in two paragraphs, each of 200-250 words. The first will describe the article’s strongest contributions and strengths. In this paragraph, you can also opine on the significance of the contributions, e.g., highlighting what you found to be the strongest contribution(s) vs. describing all of them. In the second paragraph, describe your critique of the paper’s weaknesses. Namely, what would be your best point(s) if you were on the offense team.  Since papers will be discussed in class, the writeup is due before the debate begins and no late work will be accepted.

Each student must ask at least one question per semester in the non-debating audience role.

Grading and Workload

  • 75% In-class debate presentations
  • 20% Paper summaries/reviews
  • 5% In-class participation

Each student will debate no more than 4 times.

Course Outcomes
Students completing the course will understand recent research in topics such as Wi-Fi, 5G/6G, Internet of Things (IoT), and wireless security.

Students will be able to defend and critically analyze research, both in writing and verbally.


Rice Honor Code

In this course, all students will be held to the standards of the Rice Honor Code, a code that you pledged to honor when you matriculated at this institution. If you are unfamiliar with the details of this code and how it is administered, you should consult the Honor System Handbook at http://honor.rice.edu/honor-system-handbook/. This handbook outlines the University’s expectations for the integrity of your academic work, the procedures for resolving alleged violations of those expectations, and the rights and responsibilities of students and faculty members throughout the process.


Disability Support Services

If you have a documented disability or other condition that may affect academic performance you should: 1) make sure this documentation is on file with Disability Support Services (Allen Center, Room 111 / adarice@rice.edu / x5841) to determine the accommodations you need; and 2) talk with me to discuss your accommodation needs.


Syllabus Change Policy

This syllabus is only a guide for the course and is subject to change with advanced notice.