77808 - WIRELESS SYSTEMS AND NETWORKS

Learning outcomes

Students will learn communication systems and network architectures based on wireless technologies, protocol issues and integration techniques between wireless and wired systems, solutions for efficient implementation of wireless services. Students will be able to identify the technologies useful for the development of services for fixed and mobile users, and they will be able to design and manage wireless technology systems and services by dealing with technical and physical implementation issues.

Course contents

# Introduction to wireless systems. Physical layer: - Fundamentals of wireless mediums, propagation, coding and channel techniques - monitoring and measurement metrics and techniques - mobility at the physical layer. System deployment, analysis and solutions for propagation problems. Data Link Layer. - Multiple Access Techniques and logical channels - logical channels and wireless duplexing, TDMA, FDMA, CDMA, Wideband CDMA - broadcast and point to point access policies, mobility at the MAC layer, time and space domain problems and solutions, multi-hop communication and channel capacity, techniques for efficient and reliable wireless communication. Network Layer: - mobile networks - addressing and device mobility - dynamic Routing and IP-based solutions. Transport Layer: - the wireless impact, reliable communication and TCP-based solutions. #System issues. Wireless Network Architectures and Management issues: - WLAN, Infrastructure and Hot-Spot Networks - Sensor Networks - Mobile Ad Hoc Networks, Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks - Wireless Mesh Networks - cellular systems and networks' architectures and techniques --- 1G, 2G (GSM), 2.5 G (GPRS, EDGE), 3G (UMTS), 4G and beyond - Satellite systems. #Service issues: - Location-based services - Quality of Service vs. Best Effort services - Client/Server vs. other service paradigms (Agents, middleware solutions, etc.). #Main Standards and consumer technologies: - IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi) - IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX) - IEEE 802.20 (Mobile Broadbad Wireless Access) - IEEE 802.15.1 (Bluetooth) - IEEE 802.15.4 (ZigBee). #Advanced topics: - Fundamentals of Wireless Systems' Security - Wireless Internet (Internet, cellular and wireless networks' convergence) - Pervasive Communication systems - Wireless Community Networks - Current and visionary fields of applications and new services

Readings/Bibliography

-- Wireless Communications: Principles and Practice (2nd Edition) -- by Theodore S. Rappaport, ISBN: 0130422320

-- Wireless Communications & Networks (2nd Edition) by William Stallings, ISBN: 0131918354

-- Principles of Wireless Networks: A Unified Approach by Kaveh Pahlavan, Prashant Krishnamurthy, ISBN: 0130930032

-- Wireless Communications by Andrea Goldsmith, ISBN: 0521837162

Teaching methods

The course will provide lectures and seminars with projection of electronic slides, tests and demos of wireless technologies, creation and test of innovative services based on wireless technologies. The laboratory will develop practical examples, experimentation and analysis of tools and networking devices, installation and configuration, development of prototype systems and network and their applications, development of innovative services based on wireless technologies. More information will be provided during the classes. This year the course is introducing to the development of mobile applications on iOS and Android, and Arduino technologies. Tests on protocols and wireless systems will allow to continue the experimentation work in thesis activities, projects, novel services for vehicular networks, augmented reality, medical applications, sensor networks, etc. The course of Wireless Systems and Networks develops the topics related to the world of systems and services for mobile users, based on wireless communication. The course will introduce to coding and wireless transmission, protocol solutions at various levels of the ISO/OSI stack, specific for the wireless environment. Future service and system architectures will be illustrated, as well as the open issues, best practices and guidelines for installation and configuration of state of the art technologies. Security aspects and the evolutionary perspective will be also illustrated.

Assessment methods

The course requires the development of a individual seminar on a subtopic related to the course topics. A oral part will be planned to present the seminar (more or less 60 minutes). By the end of the classes, some subtopics will be proposed, with various degrees of extensions possible. Interested students could proposed personalized topics (in this case the project application must be preliminary defined and agreed with the teacher, by sending an email with subject "Proposta seminario esame corso SRW A.A. X/Y" to the email address <bononi@cs.unibo.it> . Once defined a seminar topic (predefined or personalized) the candidate must find the information and prepare a 40 minutes presentation (with no more than 45 slides) and a summary (pdf, ps, html) with the contents of the oral illustration, material, references, etc. Once the presentation and summary has been prepared, the students must contact the teacher and s/he will be invited to the oral part possibly during the week following the request. The oral part will be kept in the teacher's office or in a room of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, in Mura Anteo Zamboni 7 and will be published on the mailing lists to allow students participation. The oral part also includes questions on all the program of the course. The outcome of the seminar evaluation and oral part will provide two different evaluations in the range [0..30]. Both evaluations must be greater or equal to 18/30 to receive a sufficient evaluation and pass the exam. The final score is provided with different weights: seminar (75%) and oral (35%), total 110%. If the final total score is equal or exceeds 30/30 the student could be awarded with "cum laude" evaluation.
It is facultative for students to propose the experimental setup and implementation of prototype applications and services based on wireless technologies (optional). The evaluation of the project will provide an additional basis to the total score up to 3/30 to be added to the evaluation of the seminar and oral part.

Teaching tools

Portable PC and slides projector. Electronic course slides. Hardware for tests and demos in laboratory.

Links to further information

http://www.cs.unibo.it/bononi/

Office hours

See the website of Luciano Bononi