This course builds on the previous course: IoT Devices. After we have built and programmed a small self-driving vehicle, now it's time get into more advanced territory and enhance the device's connectivity further. To do so you will study radio frequency (RF) communication, the MAC layer, Mesh Networking as well as distributed algorithms for use with geographic locations. These techniques will be applied to your device in the lab, which is composed of four steps, one in each week of the course. In Week 1, after going over some orientation for the course, you will focus on radio frequency (RF) communication, how it fits in with the larger scope of electromagnetism, how RF signals propagate in physical environments, how RF signals can be used to encode data, and how all this information is useful in constructing resilient and high-bandwidth IoT communication substrates.
Offered By
About this Course
This course requires having taken the previous course: IoT Devices.
Skills you will gain
- Internet
- Internet Of Things (IOT)
- Wireless
- Front And Back Ends
This course requires having taken the previous course: IoT Devices.
Offered by
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is a world leader in research, teaching and public engagement, distinguished by the breadth of its programs, broad academic excellence, and internationally renowned faculty and alumni. Illinois serves the world by creating knowledge, preparing students for lives of impact, and finding solutions to critical societal needs.
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Syllabus - What you will learn from this course
Week 1: Course Overview and Introduction to Radio Frequency Protocols
Welcome to IoT Communications. This course builds on the previous course: IoT Devices. After we have built and programmed a small self-driving vehicle, now it's time get into more advanced territory and enhance the device's connectivity further. To do so you will study radio frequency (RF) communication, the MAC layer, Mesh Networking as well as distributed algorithms for use with geographic locations. As part of the "Honors" activity, these techniques will be applied to your device in the lab, which is composed of four steps, one in each week of the course. In Week 1, after going over some orientation for the course, you will focus on radio frequency (RF) communication, how it fits in with the larger scope of electromagnetism, how RF signals propagate in physical environments, how RF signals can be used to encode data, and how all this information is useful in constructing resilient and high-bandwidth IoT communication substrates.
Week 2 - Protocols: Media Access Protocol
We will learn about the lowest level of communication protocols in IoT - the MAC layer. This is the layer that deals with all the unpleasant and challenging situations that come about through the use of RF in challenging environments. We will learn about mechanisms to efficiently send and receive data, with low power, discover and pair with other nodes, deal with transmission collisions, and so on.
Week 3 - Protocols: Mesh Routing
We will talk about mesh networking, a set of techniques that allow wireless devices to work together to discover and maintain working paths to destinations. These techniques enable communication across multiple hops, by having nodes help each other out, routing through multiple layers of intermediate proxies to construct paths to any destination that needs to be reached. The techniques we talk about in this lecture form the foundation for many operations needed to be conducted in IoT, such as dissemination, replication, multicast, service discovery, and so on.
Week 4 - Protocols: Service Discovery
We will study the next layer up of distributed algorithms that are used in IoT networks. We will continue our exploration of mesh routing, and describe how such techniques can be used to place data at geographic locations, forward in "intermittently-connected" setting, perform multicast, and more.
About the Hands-on Internet of Things Specialization
This specialization is intended for technologically minded persons who are interested in getting to know the latest in ubiquitous computing, also known as "Internet of Things". The specialization consists of 4 courses that are composed of a basic part with lectures and quizzes, and a practical "honors" part, which includes physically assembling and implementing functionality atop a networked device (please note: while the honors part of the courses is optional, it is required to purchase hardware to complete these practical parts of the courses). The courses are meant to be taken in sequence, as each course builds on the previous one, while adding more functions to the device in the honors section. The construction of the device introduces real-world challenges and technological approaches commonly encountered in the IoT industry and builds students’ confidence that they can do things for real.
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