The telecomputing laboratory: a multipurpose laboratory

The authors' telecomputing laboratory is a multiuse state-of-the-art undergraduate teaching facility designed to be both flexible and powerful. The controlled workstation and computer communications facilities allow undergraduate students an opportunity to apply and integrate classroom knowledge in communications, signal processing, computer architecture and algorithm and software development via a set of practical experiments. Students are exposed to state-of-the-art computer communications systems, on which they can implement everything from modern digital communication and signal processing algorithms to parallel algorithms and real-time databases. State-of-the-art computer software provides the undergraduate students modern models of quality software, as well as the tools necessary to design and build sophisticated software/hardware systems. This laboratory significantly impacts many undergraduate students who will take positions with organizations in the telecommunications/computer industry, where the skills gained from laboratory experiences will be greatly valued.