Global Company Donates More Than $332,000 to Wireless Center of Excellence

MELBOURNE, FLA. —Florida Institute of Technology’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) received a donation of hardware and software valued at $332,227 for its Wireless Center of Excellence (WiCE). The donation was made by Agilent Technologies Inc., a global company based in Santa Clara, Calif. Agilent designs and manufactures instruments and equipment for measurement and evaluation purposes.

Through its graduate studies in electrical and computer engineering, Florida Tech offers a comprehensive program in wireless technologies with both an educational and a research component. The educational component consists of more than 20 courses covering different aspects of the technology. The research component is implemented through a research center—the WiCE.

Agilent donated a set of wireless receivers and appropriate software for collecting performance measurements of existing wireless cellular technologies. This equipment represents the state of the art in wireless cellular system engineering. At Florida Tech the receivers will be used in two graduate courses and to support the graduate research of many electrical engineering students pursuing their master’s and doctoral degrees in wireless communication. Within WiCE, the research to use the receivers would be geared toward the resolution of many practical engineering problems.

“In the past, Florida Tech’s WiCE invested in an Agilent wireless receiver and the data collected with that receiver have been part of several research papers and master’s degree theses,” said Ivica Kostanic, ECE associate professor and director of WiCE. “This donation will dramatically expand the center’s ability to perform meaningful research in the cellular systems area. Additionally, having ‘hands on’ experience with the state of the art equipment will significantly enhance the ability of Florida Tech students to compete in the very competitive wireless industry job market.”