Students will acquire knowledge on mobile communication network systems like 5G and 6G as well as on virtualization techniques and deployment and management of services and applications. Students will also acquire the know-how to effectively apply these technologies to relevant, practical use cases. They will develop competences on data transfer through different radio access networks, on how to create and handle containers for service and application deployment and how to measure their CPU, memory, and energy consumption. In more detail, students will acquire knowledge and ability as reported below: 1. Knowledge of mobile network systems based on cellular and WiFi communications. 2. Knowledge of protocols for radio access and the establishment of data connections for mobile users. 3. Knowledge of the main key performance indicators and their target values for different applications. 4. Ability to analyze different solutions for service and application virtualization. 6. Ability to measure the performance and energy consumption of different methodologies for service/application virtualization and management, and resource allocation strategies. 7. Ability to design effective techniques for the support of machine learning-based network services and user applications, and for the collection of data.

Basic knowledge of telecommunication networks; basic programming skills.

The course includes lectures, numerical exercises, and lab activities, which focus on new-generation mobile networks and edge computing for the support of advanced service and applications. In particular, the course will present the main existing and emerging technologies for mobile connectivity and the support of intelligent mobile services in different application scenarios. The topics covered by the course, and their weight expressed in hours, are as follows: - Mobile networks: generalities and main issues (2 h) - Radio access networks for local connectivity: theory and practice (12 h) - New-generation cellular networks (10 h) - Edge computing (5 h) - Virtualization and Containerization of services and applications: theory and practice (16 h). - Open networks (10 h) - AI/ML for intelligent services and application: theory and practice (5 h). Numerical exercises, experimental performance evaluation, and lab activities account for 20 h.

The course is structured as follows: - Lectures 45 hours - Exercises (6 hours) - Lab activity (9 hours). The exercises and the lab activities aim at clarifying and further investigating the concepts that are presented during the class lecturers. They mainly consist in the presentation and solution of numerical problems, and in the experimentation and demonstration of mobile technologies and software solutions that are currently available for service/application virtualization and edge computing. Lectures are held with the support of slides, while numerical exercises are presented and solved using both slides and the classroom blackboard. Technical discussions during class lectures will also help assess the acquired level of knowledge and ability at the different stages of the course. Typically, the course hosts a couple of seminars by companies working in the filed of mobile networks and services. Such seminaries provide further examples on how mobile networks and edge computing technologies are applied in smart factories and new generation transport systems in smart cities.

The teaching material consists of copy of the slides presented during the course, text of numerical problems, lab activities notes, and suggested reading. The recording of the classes are also made available. All the material is available on the web portal of the course. Useful references are as follows: - “Edge Computing with Artificial Intelligence: A Machine Learning Perspective,” by Haochen Hua, Yutong Li, Tonghe Wang, Nanqing Dong, Wei Li, and Junwei Cao, ACM Comput. Surv. 55, 9, Article 184 (September 2023), https://doi.org/10.1145/3555802 - Jorge Pérez, Jessica Díaz, Javier Berrocal, Ramón López-Viana, Ángel González-Prieto, Edge computing: A grounded theory study, Computing, vol. 104, 2022, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00607-022-01104-2 - "Mobile Edge Computing: A Survey," by N. Abbas, Y. Zhang, A. Taherkordi and T. Skeie, in IEEE Internet of Things Journal, vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 450-465, Feb. 2018, doi: 10.1109/JIOT.2017.2750180. - “An Edge Computing Tutorial”, by Inés Sittón-Candanedo and Juan Manuel Corchado, 2019, Open Access, http://dx.doi.org/10.13005/ojcst12.02.02 - "5G: A Tutorial Overview of Standards, Trials, Challenges, Deployment, and Practice," by M. Shafi et al., in IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications, vol. 35, no. 6, pp. 1201-1221, June 2017, doi: 10.1109/JSAC.2017.2692307. - "Understanding O-RAN: Architecture, Interfaces, Algorithms, Security, and Research Challenges," by M. Polese, L. Bonati, S. D’Oro, S. Basagni and T. Melodia, in IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials, vol. 25, no. 2, pp. 1376-1411, Secondquarter 2023, doi: 10.1109/COMST.2023.3239220. "Wireless Network Virtualization with SDN and C-RAN for 5G Networks: Requirements, Opportunities, and Challenges," by E. J. Kitindi, S. Fu, Y. Jia, A. Kabir and Y. Wang, in IEEE Access, vol. 5, pp. 19099-19115, 2017, doi: 10.1109/ACCESS.2017.2744672. - "Virtualization vs Containerization to Support PaaS," by R. Dua, A. R. Raja and D. Kakadia, in IEEE International Conference on Cloud Engineering, Boston, MA, USA, 2014, pp. 610-614, https://doi.org/10.1109/IC2E.2014.41 - “Docker in Action, Second Edition”, by Jeff Nickoloff and Stephen Kuenzli, Manning, ISBN 9781617294761

Lecture slides; Lecture notes; Exercise with solutions ; Lab exercises; Video lectures (current year);

Exam: Written test; Group essay;

The exam consists of a written test, which lasts about 1 hour and 15 minutes. 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 and includes about 4 questions, among which there is at least one numerical problem to solve. The remaining are open questions and require the description and/or the analysis of system aspects. The open questions aim to assess the students' knowledge on mobile network systems, virtualization techniques, and edge computing technologies and solutions, as well as their understanding of protocols and algorithms to be used and configured in relevant scenarios. Importantly, the test also aims to evaluate the students' ability to select a technological solution depending on the different practical conditions and applications. The numerical problems aim to verify the competences acquired by the students on radio access networks, as well as their ability to correctly configure a network and edge system. 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 students 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 students ability to apply the acquired know-how. The mark obtained through the written test is computed by summing the marks obtained in each question, and the maximum grade a student can get in the written test is 24. Additionally, students have to work in groups and carry out the assignments proposed during the lab activities. They are required to deliver written reports on how they executed the assigned tasks, the difficulties they have faced, and the solutions they found. Participating in the lab activity is mandatory, in order to pass the exam. The overall mark students receive on the written reports on lab activities will range between 0 and 8 points. The final mark will be computed by summing the points obtained for the lab activity reports to the mark received in the written test, with the maximum final grade (namely, 30 cum lode) corresponding to 32 points. The minimum final mark students have to achieve in order to pass the exam is 18/30. Examples of numerical problems, along with their solution, are made available through the course web portal. Examples of questions other than numerical problems, are provided during the class.

In addition to the message sent by the online system, students with disabilities or Specific Learning Disorders (SLD) are invited to directly inform the professor in charge of the course about the special arrangements for the exam that have been agreed with the Special Needs Unit. The professor has to be informed at least one week before the beginning of the examination session in order to provide students with the most suitable arrangements for each specific type of exam.