Wireless Revolution: "Forces and Strategies that Shaped a Revolution"

Instructor: Narayan Mandayam, WINLAB, Rutgers University

Course Information (Course No. 14:332:301)

Engineers and Non-Engineers are welcome! Wireless Revolution Course Description
Genesis An Innovation in Multidisciplinary Education
What will we learn? Systems Thinking and Examples
How will we learn? By Flipping Things Around

Pre-lecture Readings

"Old" History L2- Pre-lecture reading 2026- Wires and Waves- The Age of Fast Communications
"Recent" History and those Bell Labbers L3- Pre-lecture reading 2026- Mobile Telephone Systems Before Cellular
Lifeblood of Cellular L4- Pre-lecture reading 2026- Channel Reuse- the Technology of Cellular
Those Expensive Cells L5- Pre-lecture reading 2026- Cellular Economics- The Million-Dollar Cell
P&L for the Novice L6- Pre-lecture reading 2026- Profit and Loss- An Intro to Corporate Finance
Some Politics is not Local L7- Pre-lecture reading 2026- Cellular Politics- Monopoly or Competition
EM Waves cost Money! L8- Pre-lecture reading 2026- Spectrum and its Cost- Hearings, Lotteries and Auctions
From the Car to the Pocket L9- Pre-lecture reading 2026- The evolution of Cellular- Portability, Digital Voice and Smart Phones
Some Theoretical Physics L12- Pre-lecture reading 2026- Frequency, Wavelength and Coverage- Free Space
Some Experimental Physics L13- Pre-lecture reading 2026- Frequency Wavelength and Coverage- Real World
Communication Theory "Light"L14- Pre-lecture reading 2026- Spectrum, Bandwidth, Capacity and Cost
Compression and CodingL15- Pre-lecture reading 2026- Digital radio and its Effect on Cellular
Data Everywhere L16- Pre-lecture reading 2026- The world of digital cellular systems- 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G
Looking under the G Hood L17- Pre-lecture reading 2026- Technology of the Gs
Airports and Weather Prediction Beware! L18- Pre-lecture reading 2026- Push for newer spectrum and Unintended consequences
Where's my WiFi (and Bluetooth)? L19- Pre-lecture reading 2026- Unlicensed Spectrum- New Products and Economics
Growing Pains L21- Pre-lecture reading 2026- We Bulldoze and cellular- lessons in growthand fast depreciation
Novice Stockopedia L22- Pre-lecture reading 2026- The Stock market- How share price is determined and why the CEO cares
More Growing Pains L23- Pre-lecture reading 2026- The CEOs Dilemma- Dealing with Slow Growth
Novice Bondopedia L24- Pre-lecture reading 2026- Bonds- The other way to Finance Companies
What's up Starlink? L25- Pre-lecture reading 2026- Case Study 1-Motorola's IRIDIUM- A Satelite Communication System for Cellular
A Happy Merger Story? L26- Pre-lecture reading 2026- Case Study 2- The creation of Nextel and its merger with Sprint and then T-Mobile

Slides of Lectures

Setting up the Course L1- 2026- Introduction
"Old" History L2- 2026- Wires and Waves- The Age of Fast Communications
"Recent" History and those Bell Labbers L3-2026- Mobile Telephone Systems Before Cellular
Lifeblood of Cellular L4- 2026- Channel Reuse- the Technology of Cellular
Those Expensive Cells L5- 2026- Cellular Economics- The Million-Dollar Cell
P&L for the Novice L6- 2026- Profit and Loss- An Intro to Corporate Finance
Some Politics is not Local L7- 2026- Cellular Politics- Monopoly or Competition
EM Waves cost Money! L8- 2026- Spectrum and its Cost- Hearings, Lotteries and Auctions
From the Car to the Pocket L9- 2026- The evolution of Cellular- Portability, Digital Voice and Smart Phones
Some Theoretical Physics L12- 2026- Frequency, Wavelength and Coverage- Free Space
Some Experimental Physics L13- 2026- Frequency Wavelength and Coverage- Real World
Communication Theory "Light"L14-2026- Spectrum, Bandwidth, Capacity and Cost
Compression and CodingL15- 2026- Digital radio and its Effect on Cellular
Data Everywhere L16- 2026- The world of digital cellular systems- 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G
Looking under the G Hood L17- 2026- The Technology of the Gs
Airports and Weather Prediction Beware! L18- 2026- Push for newer spectrum and Unintended consequences
Where's my WiFi (and Bluetooth)? L19- 2026- Unlicensed Spectrum- New Products and Economics
Growing Pains L21- 2026- We Bulldoze and cellular- lessons in growth and fast depreciation
Novice Stockopedia L22- 2026- The Stock market- How share price is determined and why the CEO cares
More Growing Pains L23- 2026- The CEOs Dilemma- Dealing with Slow Growth
Novice Bondopedia L24- 2026- Bonds- The other way to Finance Companies
What's up Starlink? L25- 2026- Case Study 1-Motorola's IRIDIUM- A Satelite Communication System for Cellular
A Happy Merger Story? L26- 2026- Case Study 2- The creation of Nextel and its merger with Sprint and then T-Mobile

Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association (CTIA) Data and Other Related Files

XLSX CTIA DATA- 1985-2010 (download)
XLSX CTIA DATA-1985-2025 (download)
PDF verizon wireless 10K 2005-5yr
PDF verizon wireless 10K 2020-5yr
PDF SG&A Table
PDF Users per Employee Table
XLSX Historical Stock and Bond Returns 1928-2019 (download)