Lab Name Properties of waves, using experiment to show that bandwidth affects the speed and quantity data that is transmitted.
Subject Area Science
Grade 8
Topic Waves
Experiment Title Comparing the time and bandwidth needed to transmit the same amount of data on an electromagnetic wave at different data rates.
Hardware Linux machines (ex laptop, raspberry pi) and 2 Software Defined Radios (ADALM Pluto) or ORBIT/WITEST/COSMOS Testbed
Software GNU Radio, COSMOS toolkit framework
Number of Sessions to teach the topic 1-2 sessions
Educational standards to be addressed
  • MS-PS4-3
    Integrate qualitative scientific and technical information to support the claim that digitized signals are a more reliable way to encode and transmit information than analog signals.
COSMOS concepts to be used for the lab Wireless signals, visualization of and measurement of bandwidth and time taken for transmission of data.
K12 Educational Goals (How the educational goals are achieved through teaching using the experiment, how the topic is connected to the COSMOS concepts used) Teaching the properties of waves, using the testbed to demonstrate how electronic wave transmissions are related to bandwidth, speed, amount of data, and transfer rate.
Short Description and Walk-through of the experiment
  1. Teacher will use a short slide-show to introduce & explain the topic of waves, the different types of waves & the properties of waves.
  2. Materials & equipment are set up on student’s desks.
  3. Students will follow instructions from the teacher and carry out their experiment.
  4. [Testbed]Teacher will log students into a Testbed (COSMOS/ORBIT/WITEST)
    1. Students will follow the directions and create a transmitter terminal and a receiver terminal.
    2. Students will now follow the directions on their handout to send a fixed amount of data at a specific rate and measure the amount of bandwidth the transmission occupies.
    3. Students will then send the same amount of data but at a faster rate than the previous one and measure the bandwidth it occupies.
    4. Students will then identify the relationship between bandwidth, speed, data rate, & amount of data sent.
Testbed mapping of the experiment

Experiment Execution

Select the bandwidth you prefer (i.e., High, Low) and the appropriate function of the node (i.e., Transmitter, Receiver), and press START to begin the experiment. In order to terminate the experiment press STOP.
Transmitter
High Bandwidth Low Bandwidth Receiver

Experiment Material

NGSS Lesson Plan
Worksheet
Testbed Worksheet
Presentation

© 2018 COSMOS Project. Created by Richard Foster, Parkside Preparatory Academy MS2 Brooklyn, New York