Teaching wireless sensor networks to master and PhD students based on the cookie node

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) have evolved during the last decade, becoming an accessible technology in the market nowadays. Even cutting edge state of the art works are still being carried out in universities and research centers and departments, the curriculum of communication, computer science and electronic engineers lacks of contents related to specific disciplines inherent to WSNs field. The skills needed to face de development of applications based on WSNs are varied, and traditional engineering courses do not cover the required contents. In this paper, a new approach for teaching Wireless Sensor Networks for students within the Research Master on Industrial Electronics at Universidad Politecnica de Madrid (UPM), Spain, is presented, considering the challenges imposed by the European Higher Education Area. The course is both theoretical and practical, focusing on the real problems of deploying WSNs in real applications, covering aspects related to software development, hardware platforms and communication protocols.