A. Manuel de Oliveira Duarte

Stimulating Learning in Engineering Students by Collaborative Entrepreneurship Training

This paper describes the results of an educational project aiming to promote improved learning and entrepreneurial spirit among engineering students by resorting to the simulation of real world business cases in a collaborative digital environment. The approach is based on the combination of the following ingredients: - Creation of student awareness about real world engineering activities, involving engineering professionals and enterprises in selected classroom activities; - Simulation of a business environment in capstone project classes; - Market gaming around a set of business cases where students are organized in teams playing different professional roles (role playing); - Linking the outcome of market gaming and associated business cases with syllabus topics and with practical technological and market issues. The results obtained so far are encouraging and have attracted a major international prize: HP Innovations on Education.

Stimulating Learning via Tutoring and Collaborative Simulator Games

The main goal of higher education is to support students learning empowerment and also prepare them to solve problems in the real world. Tutoring and collaborative methods will help to stimulate students’ motivation and learning empowerment in education contexts. Simulator games are other methodologies that can be used to support students’ active learning. This chapter presents two initiatives developed at the University of Aveiro addressed to enhance students’ learning: (1) a tutoring system, wikiLUA, and (2) a simulator game to support engineering students’ learning and entrepreneurship. The tutoring system stimulated the interaction between students and tutors in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. This is a new work-in-progress initiative already with positive outcomes showing that students are motivated to participate and learn through different methodologies. The simulator game was rooted in a capstone-like project with engineering students. It contributed to raising the awareness about real-world engineering activities, involving engineering professionals and enterprises in selected classroom activities. This tool simulated a business environment, with a set of business cases, where students were organized in teams, playing different professional roles. The results showed that it helped to link the outcome of market gaming and associated business cases with syllabus topics and with practical issues resorting to engineering decisions that have to be prepared based on technology choices, network design, market simulation, and economic–financial analysis.

FTTH - GPON access networks: Dimensioning and optimization

GPON is a technology that has been the horse power of many recent FTTH deployments. Being a mature technology it is far from being well supported by appropriate planning and dimensioning tools. This paper presents a modular and hierarchical approach for dimensioning and economically assess Fiber to the home (FTTH) - Gigabit Passive Optical Networks (GPON). It incorporates different deployment options (e.g.: fused or connected fibers, man-hole or street cabinet usage, drop cable architecture, etc.) and calculates the respective economic indicators: net present value (NPV) internal rate of return (IRR), cost per passed / served house, etc.)... In order to validate the presented ideas, the model is applied to a set of different scenarios (Urban dense, urban, suburban and rural).

A comparative study on cost-benefit analysis of Fiber-to-the-Home telecommunications systems in Europe

Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) is an important part of next generation networks. The dimension of these networks is divided into two components, the bandwidth dimensioning and the hardware dimensioning. This paper will present a new method for the dimensioning of required bandwidth (since the bandwidth is shared among all the users in the network, it is important to know the mean user throughput) and it proves that in order to make the hardware dimension of the network in a certain region (not only the equipment itself but also the total km of fiber used) the operator only need to know some basic characteristics of the network itself, such as total area of the region, total population of the region, households and percentage of houses covered by fiber installation. With only these four characteristics and the mean user throughput it is possible to dimension a large-scale FTTH network and obtain conclusions regarding the economical feasibility of the network through analysis of the net present value (NPV).

Techno-economic study for a mobile WiMAX solution in an emerging market: A case study for Luanda

In recent years WiMAX has been presented by its promoters as a complete solution for the broadband access market. Since it is a wireless technology, it can easily serve the most remote and difficult areas. Even more important, the mobile version of WiMAX added the potential of sustainable growth and later adaptation of all its services to compete at the fixed and mobile markets. This paper attempts to analyze the relevance of WIMAX for emerging markets where the demand for broadband services is growing at a very fast pace, and wireline infrastructures either do not exist or are not in an appropriate state of conservation. To support the study, a techno-economic analysis was performed for the region of Luanda, Angola, taking into consideration geographic and demographic conditions, different service packages, tariffs, roll-out strategies, and sensitivity to adoption rates. The results show that WiMAX can be a feasible and profitable solution specially suited for emerging markets.

Integrating Web Information Systems in Engineering Curricula: A Self-tutoring Tool

This paper presents a structured tool envisaged to self-paced learning of web based information systems, targeted to students of all areas of engineering, namely non information and communications technologies students.

Can WiMAX Be a Viable Alternative for Wireless Broadband Operators in Europe

This paper presents a study on cost/benefit analysis regarding WiMAX in Europe. The first step is the engineering process (the cellular planning to be more accurately) in which the number of base stations needed to provide coverage and to ensure the quality of service in a given environment (rural, suburban or urban) is calculated through mathematical models. Following the engineering process, and with the appropriate financial variables (ARPU - Average Revenue Per User, desired return, OPEX, etc.) defined, the NPV (Net Present Value) is computed for a maximum of seven years and for four scenarios, thus providing the cost/benefit result of the study. To conclude, the economic feasibility of the telecommunication systems is compared for all the different spectrum possibilities.

Economic feasibility and engineering of WiMAX networks in Europe

This paper presents a study on cost/benefit analysis regarding WiMAX in Europe. The first step is the engineering process (the cellular planning to be more accurately) in which the number of base stations needed to provide coverage and to ensure the quality of service in a given environment (rural, suburban or urban) is calculated through mathematical models. Following the engineering process, and with the appropriate financial variables (ARPU - Average Revenue Per User, desired return, OPEX, etc.) defined, the NPV (Net Present Value) is computed for a maximum of seven years and for four scenarios, thus providing the cost/benefit result of the study. To conclude, the economic feasibility of the telecommunication systems is compared for all the different spectrum possibilities.