# Challenges for Teaching Wireless Communications Standards at the Graduate Level
## 1 Introduction  
The need for services at a high data rate and the massive number of devices (about nine billion mobile subscriptions are expected in 2022) able to connect different Radio Access Technologies (RATs) present new challenges for the future 5G systems [1, 2]. Different generations of mobile systems (3G, 4G, and 5G), Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and wireless sensor networks work together in a heterogeneous networks scenario. In the context of the Internet of Things (IoT), many interconnected end-user terminals, sensors, actuators, up to communications among vehicles (Machine-to-Machine (M2M)), and direct Device-to-Device (D2D) communications must guarantee the Quality of Services (QoS) requirements to end-users and meet their satisfaction with the services, the so-called Quality of Experience, (QoE) [3]. These standardization processes evolve very quickly in the telecommunication field, and experts are often highly specialized in a single issue of a particular standard. On the other hand, academicians have a broader knowledge, but with a more top level vision of the problem. It is mandatory to integrateeducation on standards into University curricula to bridge the gap between the theoretical knowledge of traditional courses and the new educational needs [4; 5]. The paper presents a methodology based on the Conceive, Design, Implement, and Operate (CDIO) initiative [6] and Project Based Learning (PBL) [7] to improve the learning of wireless standards and understanding the constraints, complexity, and performance of standard specific implementation in real systems. Our methodology is based on three sequential phases: (1) lectures to describe the standard, provided by the teacher; (2) the design and implementation of some building blocks of the subsystem/system selected as a case study according to standard specifications, with the support of tutors; (3) analysis and reporting of the implemented system's performance and the difficulties encountered in implementing the process, provided by the students. The above methodological phases are applied to the course on Wireless Networks at the graduate level, which covers different wireless communications standards such as mobile systems (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) and Long Term Evolution (LTE), up to the Fifth-Generation (5G)), the IEEE 802.11 family for Wireless Local Area Networks (WLAN), Bluetooth, and the IEEE 802.15.4 standards for Wireless Personal Area Networks (WPAN). Therefore, in the Wireless Networks course, the traditional lectures are jointly integrated with practical laboratory experiences and project based works developed at the laboratories of the University and the telecom operators. This structured and sequential methodology is fundamental in wireless standard teaching as lectures consolidate and improve the theoretical background of students and laboratory experience allows acquiring the technical and soft skills needed to implement a standard compliant real system. A collaborative learning approach and a close collaboration with telecom providers can help better address the second phase of our methodology. During the laboratory activities, the students can work in groups in a collaborative learning way and acquire skills to identify and combine different parameters for achieving specific results and testing the system. The students acquire the experience of working in a team, an important requirement in the working world. The same standards are defined by various stakeholders participating in different working groups, which propose methods, algorithms, and typical parameter values to implement and test a real system. A close collaboration with industries and telecom operators via the internship period, laboratory experiences, and project based work provides to the students hands-on skills, which are one of the most relevant aspects in learning the standards. The standards focus on the implementation of a real system (or a product), and the industries and telecom operators have industrial projects to develop it.