Teaching Wireless Sensor Networks: An Holistic Approach Bridging Theory and Practice at the Master Level

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) are a new technology that has received a substantial attention from several academic research fields in the last years. There are many applications of WSNs, including environmental monitoring, industrial automation, intelligent transportation systems, healthcare and wellbeing, smart energy, to mention a few. Courses have been introduced both at the PhD and at the Master levels. However, these existing courses focus on particular aspects of WSNs (Networking, or Signal Processing, or Embedded Software), whereas WSNs encompass disciplines traditionally separated in Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences. This paper gives two original contributions: the essential knowledge that should be brought in a WSNs course is characterized, and a course structure with an harmonious holistic approach is proposed. A method based on both theory and experiments is illustrated for the design of this course, whereby the students have hands-on to implement, understand, and develop in practice the implications of theoretical concepts. Theory and applications are thus considered all together. Ultimately, the objective of this paper is to design a new course, to use innovative hands-on experiments to illustrate the theoretical concepts in the course, to show that theoretical aspects are essential for the solution of real-life engineering WSNs problems, and finally to create a fun and interesting teaching and learning environments for WSNs. Index Terms