COMMUNICATION NETWORK DESIGN

The course will cover both technological and methodological aspects related to the design/dimensioning of communication networks and protocols. The concepts of quality of experience (QoE) and quality of service (QoS) will be illustrated, analyzing some models proposed in the literature to relate them. The Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to be considered in system design will be introduced. Then we will define traffic source models and related QoE / QoS requirements. Some methodologies will be introduced for the modeling, the study and the dimensioning of simple communication systems, such as advanced queue / server models, as well as optimization techniques based on Markovian models, such as dynamic programming and Q-Learning. The main resource management algorithms in communication networks (including scheduling) will therefore be studied with reference to the emerging softwarization paradigms of network equipment and functionalities. We will also propose some laboratory experiences designed to investigate these aspects.