Exploring Digital Information Technologies for Non-Engineers Spring 2023

Name: ECE 101 — Exploring Digital Information Technologies for Non-Engineers
Author: Shreyas Kishore

NOTE: This is an older version of the course website. The current version can be found here.

Logistics

Lectures

Mondays & Wednesdays, 11:00am - 11:50am at 3020 Electrical & Computer Eng Bldg (ECEB)

See Lecture Schedule

Labs

Fridays, 10:00am - 11:50am at 3015 Electrical & Computer Eng Bldg (ECEB)

We will use Wolfram Notebooks in the labs. You can access notebooks directly at www.wolframcloud.com by logging in with your netID and password. Or you can download and install Mathematica from here (again using your netID and password).

Office Hours

Instructor: Abrita Chakravarty

MW 11:50 AM-12:20 PM or by appointment

TA: Bill Dai

TTh 15:00 PM-16:00 PM or by appointment on Zoom/CSL431, Zoom link check Slack channel

Recent Announcements

Guest Lecture: Recommendation Systems

Mar 1 ·

Guest lecture on Recommendation Systems by Prof. Romit Roy Choudhury

Exam 1

Feb 20 ·

Exam 1 on Wednesday Feb 22.

The exam will be 1 hour long. You are allowed 1 letter-size (8.5" x 11") cheat sheet (you may use both sides). The exam is closed book/notes, and calculators are not allowed.
This exam will test concepts covered in the Past & Present module.

Exam 1 study guide

See All Announcements

Calendar

Introduction

Mon, Jan 16

Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Wed, Jan 18

Course Introduction & Landscape
Logistics, topics, grading, prerequisites, etc.
10 thousand foot view (Internet) to 100 feet view (programming): Video / Part 1 Slides; Part 2 Slides; part 2 Notebook

Fri, Jan 20

History, Map of Keywords: Part 1 Video; Part 2 Video / Slides

Past & Present — Connecting the World

Mon, Jan 23

Wi-Fi: Video / Slides

Wed, Jan 25

Cellular: Video /Slides

Fri, Jan 27

Lab 1
Introduction to Wolfram Notebooks; WiFi and Cellular: Video / Notebook

Mon, Jan 30

Internet (1/2)
Connectivity, Forwarding, and Routing: Video / Slides

Wed, Feb 1

Internet (2/2)
HTTP, DNS, TCP, and Layering: Video / Slides

Fri, Feb 3

Internet (3/2)
Lab 2: Video / Slides / Notebook

Mon, Feb 6

Client-Server: Video / Slides

Wed, Feb 8

Distribution and Streaming: Video / Part 1 Slides , Part 2 Slides

Fri, Feb 10

Lab 3: Part 1 Video; Part 2 Video / Notebook / Slides

Mon, Feb 13

Social Networks: Video / Notebook

Wed, Feb 15

~~File Systems~~ Social Networks (contd.): Video / Notebook

Fri, Feb 17

File Systems Lab 4: Video / Slides / Notebook

Intelligence & Implications

Mon, Feb 20

~~Introduction to Machine Intelligence~~ Exam 1 Review: Video / Resources

Wed, Feb 22

Exam 1: Study Guide

Fri, Feb 24

Introduction to Machine Intelligence (No Lab; Exam questions discussed at end of lecture): Video / notebook

Mon, Feb 27

Search Engines and Google: ~~Video~~ / Slides

Wed, Mar 1

Recommendation Systems: Video / Slides

Fri, Mar 3

Lab 5: ~~Video / Notebook~~

Mon, Mar 6

Machine Learning (1/2): Video / Notebook

Wed, Mar 8

Machine Learning (2/2): Slides

Fri, Mar 10

Lab 6: Video / notebook

Sat, Mar 11

Spring Break Begins

Sun, Mar 19

Spring Break Ends

Mon, Mar 20

Ethics & Privacy: Video / Slides

Wed, Mar 22

Authentication: Video / Notebook

Fri, Mar 24

Lab 5 & 6 Review; Lab 7: Video / Notebook-lab5, Notebook-lab6, Notebook-lab7

Mon, Mar 27

Physical Security & Fairness (Guest Lecture by Prof. Lumetta): Video / Slides

Wed, Mar 29

Exam 2 Review: Study Guide

Fri, Mar 31

Exam 2

Future

Mon, Apr 3

Sense-Compute-Communicate-Actuate (1/2): Video / Notebook

Wed, Apr 5

Sense-Compute-Communicate-Actuate (2/2): Video/ Slides

Fri, Apr 7

Lab 8: Video / Notebook

Mon, Apr 10

Speech & Natural Language Processing: Video / Slides

Wed, Apr 12

~~Computer Vision~~Speech & Natural Language Processing contd.: Video / Slides

Fri, Apr 14

No Lab: Lab 9 Homework Notebook

Mon, Apr 17

Augmented Reality / Virtual Reality: Video / Slides

Wed, Apr 19

Self Driving: Video /Slides

Fri, Apr 21

Self Driving contd. and Lab 10 discussion: Video /Slides/ Notebook

Mon, Apr 24

~~Data Science Algorithms~~ Working with Data: Video / Slides

Wed, Apr 26

Exam 3 Review: Study Guide

Fri, Apr 28

Lab 10: Notebook

Fun Week

Mon, May 1

Exam 3

Wed, May 3

TBA

Thu, May 4

Reading Day

Course Staff

Instructors

Abrita Chakravarty

Teaching Assistant

Bill Dai

Syllabus

This course will give students from outside of Engineering an under-the-hood view of 12 important technologies that will impact their daily lives in the next decade. For each technology, students will

understand the core technical challenges in realizing the technology,
gain intuition on how the challenges are being solved,
appreciate how such technologies translate to business and revenue, and
identify implications in areas such as privacy, fairness, policy, ethics, and other paradigm shifts.

Technical subjects to be considered include basics of sensing, computing, communication, and control, the 4 pillars of technology. To help students better relate to the topics discussed in the course, each technology will be highlighted using one or more well-established companies (e.g., Comcast, ATT, Google, Facebook, ADT, Amazon, Microsoft, Tesla, Verisign).

Exam Information

The course has three midterm exams. There will not be any final exam. More information on midterm logistics, format, and grading will be released soon.

Exam 1

Exam 1 will be on Feb 22. The exam will be 1 hour long. You are allowed 1 letter-size (8.5" x 11") cheat sheet (you may use both sides). The exam is closed book/notes, and calculators are not allowed.
This exam will test concepts covered in the Past & Present module.

Study Guide

Here are some resources to help you prepare for Exam 1:

Professor Lumetta's Study Guide
Professor Roy Choudhury's Study Guide
Exam 1 Review Session Video

Exam 2

Exam 2 will be on TBA. The exam will be approximately 1 hour long. You are allowed 1 letter-size (8.5" x 11") cheat sheet (you may use both sides). The exam is closed book/notes, and calculators are not allowed.
This exam will test concepts covered in the Intelligence & Implications module.

Study Guide

Please have a look at the Exam 2 Study Guide to prepare for the exam.

Exam 3

Exam 3 will be on Wednesday, Apr 27 at 11:00am. The exam will be approximately 1 hour long. You are allowed 1 letter-size (8.5" x 11") cheat sheet (you may use both sides). The exam is closed book/notes, and calculators are not allowed.
This exam will test concepts covered in the Future module.

Study Guide

Here are some resources to help you prepare for Exam 3:

Professor Lumetta's Study Guide

Grading Information

Midterm exams: 3 x 20%
Hands-on exercises / Labs: 30%
Participation: 10%

All Announcements

Guest Lecture: Recommendation Systems

Mar 1 ·

Guest lecture on Recommendation Systems by Prof. Romit Roy Choudhury

Exam 1

Feb 20 ·

Exam 1 on Wednesday Feb 22.

Exam 1 study guide

First lab day

Jan 27 ·

First day of labs. We'll work in a Wolfram Notebook. You can also download and install Mathematica from here (using your netID and password) if you'd like to work in a notebook on your own computer.
10:00am - 11:50am at 3015 Electrical & Computer Eng Bldg (ECEB)

Second day of class

Jan 20 ·

Second day of class at 10:00am - 11:50am at 3015 Electrical & Computer Eng Bldg (ECEB)

First day of class

Jan 18 ·

First day of class at 11:00am - 11:50am at 3020 Electrical & Computer Eng Bldg (ECEB)

Welcome to the new edition of ECE 101, Spring 2023!

Jan 16 · ECE 101 Course Staff

We are excited to start the new semester. Profs. Roy Choudhury and Lumetta put this course together a year back with the hope of helping students (from all departments) understand and ponder about modern technologies that have changed and will continue to change people's lives in the coming decade.

As you may already know, we have made some major changes to the course content and structure, so please ignore any old descriptions that you might find online—this page and our introductory lecture will tell you about the plans for this and coming semesters.

If you have friends who you think might also be interested in joining our class, please encourage them to do so this semester (or next). We're also interested in hearing how you learned about our class, as we do want to attract more students.

Sincerely,
The ECE 101 Course Staff