NETWORKING
There are no pre-conditions to overcome the exam of Networking, in fact, no specific IT/mathematical knowledge is required other than those provided by any high school.
The exam is aimed at assessing the acquisition and correct understanding of the topics presented during the course and provided through the slides, and an assessment of the critical analysis’s ability and judgment autonomy on the main topics of the course itself, as well as a design ability. The exam consists of a two-hour written test, divided into 7 questions: the first question is a design exercise for cellular networks. The second question relates to the second level of the protocol stack. The third question assesses the students' knowledge about the third level of the protocol stack. The fourth question is about the fourth level of the protocol stack. The fifth question assesses the knowledge on the main application protocols. The sixth question verifies the knowledge of the main network security requirements and protocols that guarantee wireless network security. The seventh question concerns the issues of wireless sensor networks, cellular networks and wireless networks in general. The final grade is awarded in thirty and the evaluation criteria will be as follows: number of correct answers, evaluated on the basis of the ability to summarize the acquired knowledge, showing the acquired ability to independently identify the theoretical elements to be used to solve the proposed problems and to develop a solution strategy. The final grade will also evaluate the communication ability, shown in exposing the answers to the submitted questions and the ability to properly motivate statements, analysis and judgments. The exam is succeeded with a minimum grade of 18/30.
The module aims to provide the necessary knowledge and skills to project and verify the functionality of a telecommunication network. In the course, the topics are selected on the basis of two criteria: a topic that represents a fundamental knowledge at the basis of each telecommunication network and/or a topic characterized by many real applications. The goals are to:
1. provide an in-depth knowledge of the telecommunications network, developing the ability to identify a problem and solve it with a professional approach.
2. include the acquisition of transversal skills, such as language skills, written communication skills, and judgment autonomy. In fact, the module will try to motivate the student's critical attitude in evaluating the possible solutions.
3. be able to make, on the basis of the acquired knowledge, a judgment on the eligibility of the obtained results, motivating them by means of a systematic and scientific approach. The student will also acquire the ability to understand, develop and identify the network architecture and the communication protocols that are the most suitable to meet the requirements.
4. know the international technical language, adopted by the industry, make the student part of the open and debated issues within the scientific community as well as possible future developments.
The acquisition of the different knowledge and skills will develop in parallel throughout the course, which will address the following topics:
• General introduction to telecommunication networks. (1h)
• ISO / OSI layered model for network protocols. (6h) (objectives 1, 2)
• TCP/IP stack. (4h) (objectives 1, 2)
• General architecture of LAN networks and IEEE 802 standard. Spanning Tree protocol. Main devices (bridge, router, switch). (6h) (objectives 1, 2)
• Wireless networks and IEEE 802.11 and IEEE 802.15 standards. (5h) (objectives 2, 3)
• Overview on wireless networks’ security: IEEE802.11i. (4h) (objectives 2,4)
• Mobile networks: Clustering; Roaming; Handover; GPRS and UMTS. (10h) (objectives 2, 3)
• Wireless Sensor Networks: features and design requirements. Application scenarios. Routing protocols: Data Centric (Flooding, Gossiping, SPIN, SPIN 2, Direct sequence) Hierarchical-Cluster based (LEACH). Kinds of query. (8h) (objectives 2, 4)
• Network level and virtual circuit services and datagram. IP protocol and addressing. NAT and ARQ. (6h) (objectives 1, 2)
• Routing and routing protocols. RIP, OSPF, BGP. (5h) (objectives 1, 2)
• Transport level and TCP and UDP protocols. Congestion and flow control. (5h) (objectives 1, 2)
• Application level and protocols HTTP, POP3, SMTP, RTP, DHCP, DNS (4h) (objectives 1, 2)
• Exercises. (12h) (objectives 2, 3, 4)
Frontal lectures in presence of the professor, with the help of slides provided in electronic format, available on the e-learning platform, for a total of 64 hours, and 12 hours of exercises. In fact, the topics, addressed during the frontal lesson, are object of exercises and actively involve the students. In particular, during the exercises the students apply, under the professor’s guidance, the analytical relations, acquired during the frontal lessons for the design of both wireless networks and cellular ones.
Students’ reception will take part before and after the lessons, tutoring via e-mail, or at the department, fixing an appointment by e-mail.