Communications networks I

Max amount of FITech students: 30

Persons without a valid study right to a Finnish university have preference to this course.

Course contents

• Communications architecture in mobile, wireless local area and personal area networks.
• Introduction to cloud and edge computing, network function virtualization and software defined networking.
• Basic principles of mobility management, network security, network management and orchestration.
• The goal is to present the basics of the modern communications architectures, and their technical implementation.

Learning outcomes

After completing the course, student

• understands how the modern communications networks have evolved and how the architecture has changed through the recent paradigm shift towards software-centric communications
• is able to describe the basic system architecture elements of mobile networks
• understands the significance of emerging technologies such as Network Function Virtualization (NFV), Software Defined Networking (SDN) and core network functionalities
• can describe the main principles of mobility management, network management and orchestration, network security and can apply and solve related engineering problems
• knows the basic properties of routing algorithms and can use graph theory to solve network routing problems
• is able to simulate different types of networks in simulation environments and solve basic network programming problems.

Upon completing the required coursework, students understand the basic functionalities in TCP/IP protocol stack.

Course material

Lecture notes & additional reading:

• E Koivusalo 2022: Converged Communications: Evolution from Telephony to 5G Mobile Internet (Wiley-IEEE Press)
• M Liyanage, I Ahmad, A Abro, A Gurtov, M Ylianttila 2018: A comprehensive Guide to 5G Security

In addition, selected supportive online reading materials from recent standards and publications are provided in digital learning environment (Optima / Moodle).

Completion methods

• Lectures (recordings from previous course implementation in Moodle)
• Design work
• Final exam

Lectures and exam are (at least mainly) remotely (changes possible).

More information on the University of Oulu course page.

You can get a digital badge after completing this course.