As part of my EET 412: Wireless Communication Systems course at Old Dominion University, I had the opportunity to take part in a Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) project with students from the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca in Romania. This experience, which falls under the Elective/Diversity category of the LeADERS program, provided a unique opportunity to work on hands-on wireless communication experiments while engaging with students from another country. We met weekly during the Fall 2024 semester, collaborating virtually in real time across different time zones. Although the experience was online, it felt like a study abroad opportunity, giving me exposure to international teamwork and engineering education from a global perspective.

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One of the major projects I worked on involved building a Mono FM Radio Receiver using an RTL-SDR v4 and MATLAB Simulink. We tuned the receiver to 100.3 MHz with a tuner gain of 40 dB and used FIR Decimation to downsample the signal. We also applied an FM De-emphasis Filter to correct the signal and used Simulink scopes to visualize the frequency spectrum and time-domain waveforms. Finally, we connected audio output blocks to play back the demodulated signal. This project helped me understand software-defined radio fundamentals and signal processing techniques in a real, hands-on way.

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In another project, we used MATLAB’s ray tracing tools to simulate cellular network coverage. We modeled the British Colonial Hotel in The Bahamas using OpenStreetMap data and analyzed how materials, buildings, and environmental conditions affected signal propagation and received power. This project showed me how simulation tools are used in real-world radio frequency planning and wireless network design, which are directly tied to my interests in communication and antenna systems.

 

Collaborating with Romanian students not only strengthened my technical skills in MATLAB, Simulink, and SDR tools, but also improved my ability to work with people from different cultural and educational backgrounds. It gave me a better understanding of global teamwork and prepared me for the type of cross-border collaboration that is common in engineering careers today. Overall, this experience was a valuable part of my LeADERS journey and helped me grow both professionally and personally as I work toward a career in RF and communication systems.