The course focuses on the networking aspects of broadband mobile communication systems. Such aspects are of great relevance given the current and future communications and computer networks context, where more than 50% of the traffic is generated and consumed by mobile users. Specifically, the course introduces students to the fundamental concepts and principles of wireless networks, related to the support of multimedia services for mobile users, and to the network architecture, radio channel access, traffic scheduling, as well as physical layer techniques. With regard to multimedia traffic support, the course complements the course on image and video processing held in the same semester and year of the master program, while, with regard to radio channel access, the course complements the knowledge and abilities that students have acquired on physical layer aspects in the first semester of the first year. The course objective is to let students (i) acquire competences on the existing broadband wireless systems and the upcoming ones (e.g., 5G), (ii) develop the ability to design and dimension a wireless network, (iii) define services and configure a wireless network to efficiently support them. The knowledge and abilities that students will gain through this course are relevant to create experts in the design and management of wireless networks and in the definition of innovative services and applications. Students will also develop sufficient competences on state-of-the-art systems and techniques, to be able to carry out scientific research in the field.

Students will acquire knowledge on broadband wireless networks, the challenges that they exhibit and current approaches. By doing this, students will learn methods for network design and possible solutions to the problems that broadband networks pose. In more detail, the competences that students will acquire are as follows: 1. Knowledge of the main aspects of the existing and emerging technologies for broadband wireless networking 2. Knowledge of the design and analysis of cellular (2G/3G/4G) and WiFi networks and their integration 3. Knowledge of the design and analysis of techniques for the transport of user traffic (data plane) 4. Knowledge of the algorithms and the protocols for the management of user mobility 5. Knowledge of the algorithms and the protocols for QoS provisioning 6. Ability to identify capabilities and critical issues of a network system 7. Ability to assign physical resources (e.g., frequency channels) for service support 8. Ability to design a medium control access scheme and traffic scheduling algorithms 9. Ability to design algorithms and protocols for user mobility management 10. Ability to design algorithms and protocols for QoS provisioning 11. Ability to understand and solve technical problems related to the interaction of communication nodes in complex network systems.

Students are assumed to have basic knowledge on the following topics in physical layer of communication systems: - Channel Coding - Modulations - Channel models: AWGN channel, frequency and time selective fading channel, multi antenna and multi user channels. Students are assumed to have basic knowledge on the following topics in networking: - ISO/OSI protocol stack - Circuit and packet switching - Ethernet - Basic knowledge of multiple access techniques - Basic knowledge of TCP/IP

Class lectures illustrate the main wireless network systems conceived and designed for the support of multimedia traffic and innovative applications, mainly hotspot WiFi, cellular wireless networks (2G/3G/4G) and the upcoming 5G communication systems. For each of them, the course will highlight and discuss aspects related to the support of quality of service (QoS) and user mobility. The description of the detailed course content is reported below, along with the weight of each topic expressed in hours. + Wireless cellular networks: - General principles, network planning and heterogeneous networks (6 h) - Evolution of cellular networks from 2G (6 h) to 3G (UMTS) networks (6 h) and LTE/LTE-A (8 h): Main solutions for QoS guarantees and user mobility support - 5G networks (4h): enabling technologies (SDN/NFV) and novel radio access schemes + Hotspot WiFi (18 h): - IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n - Channel access techniques - Quality of service support - Integration with cellular networks and traffic offloading + Numerical exercises on WiFi and cellular networks account for 12 h.

The course includes both lectures and numerical exercises. The latter consist in the presentation and solution of numerical problems, and aim at clarifying and further investigating some of the concepts that are presented in the class lecturers. Lectures are held with the support of slides. Numerical exercises are presented and solved using the blackboard. Technical discussions during class lectures will also help to assess the acquired level of knowledge and ability at the different stages of the course. Typically, the course hosts a couple of seminars by mobile operators, who present the latest advances on standardization and the evolution of actual broadband communication networks.

The teaching material consists of copy of the slides e during the course, text of numerical problems, and suggested reading. All the material is available on the web portal of the course. Useful references are as follows: - WCDMA for UMTS: radio access for third generation mobile communications, H. Holma and A. Toskala (Ed.s), Wiley, 2000. - B.A. Miller, C. Bisdikian, Bluetooth Revealed,Prentice-Hall, 2002 - M. Gast, 802.11 Wireless Networks: The Definitive Guide, O'Reilly (Networking), 2002. - F. Hillebrand, GSM and UMTS, The Creation of Global Mobile Communications, John Wiley & Sons, 2002. - Multimedia over IP and Wireless Networks, Chu and M. van der Schaar (Eds.), Academic Press, 2007. - F. Khan, LTE for 4G Mobile Broadband, Cambridge University Press, 2009.

Modalità di esame: Prova scritta (in aula);

Exam: Written test;

... The exam consists of a written test, which lasts about 1 hour and a half. No oral exam is foreseen. It is a closed-book exam, i.e., students cannot use textbooks, copy of the slides, or copy of the solutions of numerical problems. The test focuses on all course topics, specifically: WiFi networks, 2G/3G networks, LTE/LTE-A and 5G networks, QoS support and mobility management. The test typically includes 4 questions, among which there is at least one numerical problem to solve. The objective of the numerical problem is to verify the ability of the students to understand and solve technical problems on the interaction of communication nodes. The remaining questions require the description and the analysis of a system aspect. This part of the test aims at assessing the knowledge and abilities acquired by the students on the design and performance of network architectures, algorithms and protocols. Specifically, the test will assess the students' knowledge on Wi-Fi based and cellular networks, as well as on connected cars systems. The test will also assess the students' ability to design algorithms for physical resources and traffic scheduling, algorithms and protocols for the efficient support of mobility, and network systems that meet certain quality of service requirements. Finally, the the test will aim to assess students' understanding of complex network systems. Each question is assigned a number of points, which reflects the level of difficulty of the question/problem. The answers to open questions are evaluated considering their correctness, the level of knowledge that the student has acquired on the topic, and the student’s ability to precisely answer the question and to clearly communicate the technical material with accurate terms. The solution of numerical problems is evaluated based on its correctness and technical rigor, on the rational followed by the student and on the student’s ability to apply the acquired know-how. The final mark is computed by summing the marks obtained in each question, with the final mark being 30/30 cum lode; the minimum mark students have to achieve in order to pass the exam is 18/30. Examples of previous tests are made available through the course web portal.

Gli studenti e le studentesse con disabilità o con Disturbi Specifici di Apprendimento (DSA), oltre alla segnalazione tramite procedura informatizzata, sono invitati a comunicare anche direttamente al/la docente titolare dell'insegnamento, con un preavviso non inferiore ad una settimana dall'avvio della sessione d'esame, gli strumenti compensativi concordati con l'Unità Special Needs, al fine di permettere al/la docente la declinazione più idonea in riferimento alla specifica tipologia di esame.