Exploring Digital Information Technologies for Non-Engineers
FALL 2023

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

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Logistics

Lectures

Mondays & Wednesdays, 11:00am - 11:50am at 3081 Electrical & Computer Eng Bldg (ECEB)

See Lecture Schedule

Labs

Fridays, 11:00am - 12:50pm at 3081 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

Mondays & Wednesdays, 11:50am -12:20pm or by appointment

TA: Sattwik Basu

Mondays, 3:00pm - 4:00pm, ECEB 2036

Recent Announcements

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

Aug 17 · 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

See All Announcements

Calendar

Introduction

Mon, Aug 21
Course Introduction & Landscape
Logistics, topics, grading, prerequisites, etc.
10 thousand foot view (Internet) to 100 feet view (programming)
Part 1 Slides/ Part 2 Notebook
Wed, Aug 23
History, Map of Keywords
Slides
Fri, Aug 25
Lab 1
Introduction to Wolfram Notebooks
Notebook

Past & Present — Connecting the World

Mon, Aug 28
Wi-Fi
Slides
Wed, Aug 30
Cellular
Slides
Fri, Sep 1
Lab 2
WiFi and Cellular
Notebook
Mon, Sep 5
Labor day 
Wed, Sep 6
Internet (1/2)
Connectivity, Forwarding, and Routing
Slides
Fri, Sep 8
Internet (2/2)
HTTP, DNS, TCP, and Layering
Slides
Mon, Sep 11
Client-Server
Slides
Wed, Sep 13
Distribution and Streaming
Part 1 Slides/Part 2 Slides
Fri, Sep 15
Lab 3
Notebook
Mon, Sep 18
Social Networks
Notebook
Wed, Sep 20
File Systems
Slides
Fri, Sep 22
Lab 4
Notebook
Mon, Sep 25
Exam 1 Review
Study Guide

Intelligence & Implications

Wed, Sep 27
Introduction to Machine Intelligence
Notebook
Fri, Sep 29
Exam 1
 
Mon, Oct 2
Search Engines and Google
Slides
Wed, Oct 4
Recommendation Systems
Notebook
Fri, Oct 6
Lab 5
Notebook
Mon, Oct 9
Machine Learning (1/2)
Notebook
Wed, Oct 11
Machine Learning (2/2)
Notebook contd. from Mon
Fri, Oct 13
Lab 6
Notebook
Mon, Oct 16
Machine Learning: Neural Networks
Slides
Wed, Oct 18
Physical Security and Authentication
Slides
Fri, Oct 20
Lab 7
Notebook
Mon, Oct 23
Ethics and Privacy
Slides
Wed, Oct 25
Fairness + Exam 2 Review
Slides/Study Guide
Fri, Oct 27
Exam 2
 

Future

Mon, Oct 30
Sense-Compute-Communicate-Actuate (1/2)
Notebook
Wed, Nov 1
CLASS CANCELLED
 
Fri, Nov 3
Lab 8
Notebook
Mon, Nov 6
Sense-Compute-Communicate-Actuate (2/2)
Notebook
Wed, Nov 8
Computer Vision
Slides
Fri, Nov 10
Lab 9
Notebook
Mon, Nov 13
Speech & Natural Language Processing
Slides
Wed, Nov 15
Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality
Slides
Fri, Nov 17
No Class
 
Sat, Nov 18
Fall Break Begins
Sun, Nov 26
Fall Break Ends
Mon, Nov 27
Self-driving
Slides
Wed, Nov 29
Working with Data Self-driving continued
Slides contd. from Mon
Fri, Dec 1
Lab 10 - Working with Data
Notebook

Final Week

Mon, Dec 4
Exam 3 Review
Study Guide
Wed, Dec 6
Exam 3
 

Course Staff

Instructors

Abrita Chakravarty

Teaching Assistant

Sattwik Basu

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

  1. understand the core technical challenges in realizing the technology,
  2. gain intuition on how the challenges are being solved,
  3. appreciate how such technologies translate to business and revenue, and
  4. 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).

Exercises

Exercises are optional, but they will help you with your preparation for exams by testing your understanding of the material

Exercise 1/Solutions

Exercise 2/Solutions

Exercise 3/Solutions

Exercise 4/Solutions

Exercise 5/Solutions

Exercise 7/Solutions

Exercise 8/Solutions

Exercise 9/Solutions

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 Sep 29. The exam will be 50 mins 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 is the study guide to help you prepare for Exam 1.

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

Exam 2

Exam 2 will be on Oct 27. 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 Dec 1. 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:

  1. Professor Lumetta's Study Guide

Grading Information

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

All Announcements

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

Aug 17 · 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

 

 

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