Background/Program Objectives

The Smart Wireless Engineering Education Program is a first-of-its-kind industry-academe partnership that seeks to improve the level of technology and engineering education in the country, particularly in the field of Electronics and Communications Engineering (ECE).

The program is designed to complement the school’s existing ECE programs by providing training and lectures on the latest developments in wireless technologies.

SWEEP consists of two parts.

The first is a wireless laboratory consisting of the GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) and TACS (Total Access Communications System) from Europe and CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) and AMPS (Advance Mobile Phone System (AMPS) technologies from the US. These give students a comprehensive knowledge of the development of cellular communications technology.

The lab also serves as a teaching ground to assist ECE students in learning the basics of a mobile phone network and updates on existing and new technologies such as SMS (Short Messaging Service), MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service), GPRS (General Packet Radio Services), EDGE (Enhanced Data for Global Evolution) and 3G technologies.

Partner schools provide the space on campus for the lab, Smart undertakes the civil works as well as the installation, commissioning, and maintenance of the GSM equipment.

SWEEP’s second component is a continuing education program under which Smart periodically deploys its engineers to provide lectures and make presentations on various topics. These include such subjects as Introduction to GSM Technology, the Evolution of Wireless Communications, Systems Training (SYSTRA), General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), Short Message Service (SMS), Multi-media Message Services (MMS), VOIP, WiFi, and 3G SYSTRA.

ECE graduates of SWEEP partner schools will thus be better equipped to work in the telecommunications industry. Not only will they have access to cellular equipment for training but also first-hand exposure to the practical experience of Smart engineers in building and operating the country’s most extensive digital mobile phone network.

SWEEP was launched in March 28, 2003, with the inauguration of the first wireless lab at the Bulacan State University. The response from academe has been such that Smart exceeded by 60% its original target of 20 schools for the first year. This makes SWEEP a strong component of Smart’s corporate social responsibility program.

To date, Smart has signed memoranda of agreement and installed wireless laboratories in 8 universities and one training institution in NCR, 10 universities in Northern Luzon, 4 universities in Southern Luzon, 10 schools in the Visayas and 8 schools in Mindanao.

View PARTNER SCHOOLS

2006 Program Highlights/Components

*Trainings Given to SWEEP Schools

1. Fundamentals of Communication Systems
2. Cellular Overview
3. Advanced Mobile Phone Systems
4. TACS/CDMA/AMPS Overview
5. GPRS SYSTRA
6. TCP-IP
7. VoIP Overview
8. 3G SYSTRA
9. WIFI Overview

*Launch of the SWEEP website (http://www.smartsweep.ph/)

Launched in November 2006, the website contains information about SWEEP, news and archives, links to partner schools’ websites and downloadable engineering training materials. It will also have discussion groups and forums and will also host the Virtual Engineering Classroom – a tool for distance education.

*SWEEP Awards (http://www.smartsweep.ph/sweep_awards.html)

All SWEEP partner schools are eligible to participate in the annual SWEEP Innovation Awards and ECE quiz challenge PalaECEpan. Pot prizes at stake for this year are worth P500,00 for the winning faculty-student team and another P500,000 for the school in the form of a grant. The Awards aims to help bolster the culture of innovation in the schools by encouraging them to use mobile communications technology in innovative ways for the benefit of their community

*Inclusion in SmartSchools program (http://www.smartschools.ph/)

SWEEP schools can become valued partners for Smart Schools, a community service initiative of Smart that aims to provide public high schools teachers with Internet ACCESS, access to online CONTENT and teacher TRAINING

*OJT Program

All SWEEP partner schools are given preference for engineering OJT program each summer. This consists of a special curriculum that integrates lecture, equipment orientation, base station OJT and wifi OJT. Participants attend a weeklong lecture that spans basic GSM Systra, TCP-IP, CDMA, AMPS, ETACS, 3G, WiFi, Basic Optimization, and knowledge on Smart value-added services. Base station training will then commence which includes operation and maintenance, transmission, preventive maintenance, drive tests and benchmarking. Wifi OJT, on the other hand, teaches students how to install wifi canopy in cellsites and troubleshoot.

*Faculty Immersion Program

Faculty from SWEEP partner schools are given opportunity to work in Smart as ‘tempo‘ engineers under this newest SWEEP component. Twenty faculty participants are selected and are given a pro-rated allowance during their weeklong immersion program. Immersion includes content/technology discussion and training with Smart engineering groups like Network Operations Center and Network Operations and Maintenance.

*Technology Seminars

To sustain our partnership with the schools, SWEEP offers a series of technology seminars and networking opportunities that meet certain requirements of the partner schools. This allows engineers to share their experiences and knowledge with their counterparts in the academe. This is held twice a year.

*Research development for Phivolcs

Smart is currently working with Phivolcs and Smart Wireless Engineering Education Program (SWEEP) partner schools to develop remote monitoring systems for the agency.

To deal with future disasters, Smart intends to link up this wide network of SWEEP schools with Phivolcs to research on low-cost remote monitoring systems that can be used for volcano monitoring, tsunami detection, seismic data transmission and meteorological monitoring. From this, the company hopes to create a vast network of monitoring stations across the country via SWEEP and help out in the disaster preparedness and response program of the country.

*Donation of workstation, printer, webcam and one year Smart Bro connection for all SWEEP schools

For 2007

*Free Smart Bro internet connection inside the SWEEP lab for one more year

*Awarding of technical scholarships (eg. TCP-IP trainings) to selected faculty

*IT Lab for SWEEP schools

Similar to SWEEP, this IT partnership being championed by Smart IT, includes the provision of a virtual laboratory, workstations and the transfer of knowledge thru the sponsorship of a Smart elective in the university’s IT curriculum.

This IT elective, a lift-off from the introductory course ADIS (Application Developers’ Intro School) given to newly hired IT personnel , will be piloted in three SWEEP schools (Ateneo de Manila, University of San Carlos, and Holy Angel University) and will be offered to third year and fourth year college students who already have basic programming knowledge. Offered as an elective class, this integrative course shall train students for real-life IT projects in a telco environment.

*A more Interactive SWEEP website

*More incentives to SWEEP NSD trainors