AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

The course aims at providing the basics of radio communication principles and a functional description of latest generation radio mobile systems for supporting traffic in mobility with particular focus on their application in transport and logistics. Localization technologies are investigated and compared, both terrestrial and satellite based. Students will be trained to evaluate and compare different sensors technologies choosing what is most suited for their application within specific complex system in smart mobility, transport infrastructure monitoring and management. Students will also learn the convenience to mix standard solutions for short-range communication like Bluetooth, and NFC with non-standard technologies like RFID, Lora and Sigfox. Through practical examples students will be trained to evaluate the different performances of technologies in terms of data transfer rate, security, range, energy consumption and cost.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

The course aims at giving the students basic insights of radio communications, either terrestrial and satellite, necessary to evaluate possible technical options for soving specific problems related to transportation and productions needs. The major outcome is to let students achieve necessary autonomy in comparing different solutions, analyse pros and cons of alternative choices, have a view on technological trends of ICT applications to the domains of interest.

TEACHING METHODS

The course will be based on frontal lessons for the theoretical introduction (initial part of the course) followed by slide presentation about international case studies (final part of the course)

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

The main contents of the course will focus on:

Introduction to Information Theory: definition of a digital Information Source, Entropy, Coding

Introduction to digital representation and transmission of Source symbols: duality Time-Frequency, Carrier modulation, symbol interval, noise sensitivity

Introduction to channel protection: Forward Error Correction (FEC), Automatic Repeat Request (ARQ), additive and bursty noise

Introduction to Radio Frequency signals: Path attenuation, Beam width, muti-path attenuation, rain attenuation, Inter Symbolic Interference (ISI), radio coverage

2G/3G/4G standards: radio access, traffic rate, authentication, Hand-over, performances

Bluetooth, RFID, NFC standards

IoT in transportation: sensors for traffic flow analysis, for vehicle detection and classification, for passenger security, for autonomous guide

Case study analysis

The teaching contents will provide students with skills useful for achieving the various objectives of the 2030 Agenda, in particular the telecommunications solutions that will be investigated will provide skills in the design of smart solutions for the optimized management of production plants attributable to Objective 9 "Enterprises Infrastructure Innovation", as well as the implementation of effective policies for Smart Cities attributable to Objective 11 "Sustainable Cities and Communities".

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

Notes and slides will cover entirely the contents and will be made available to students at conclusion of every explained argument on the Teams channel or through dowload from AULAWEB.

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

LESSONS

LESSONS START

Lessons will start on Septeber 23, 2024 and will end on May 30, 2025

Class schedule

The timetable for this course is available here: Portale EasyAcademy

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

The course can be passed through a test at the end of the semester or in regular sessions after the semester conclusion, based on a written test optionally followed by an oral exam. The oral exam, optional to the choice of the student, can increase or decrease the mark of the written test of up to 3 points.

The written test will consist preferably of a list of questions with multiple choice with or without a request of a short motivation of the answer. Each correct answer will provide positive contribution to the final mark, incorrect answers will give negative contribution, not answered answer will not contribute to the mark. 

ASSESSMENT METHODS

Learning will be assessed by verifying the correct understanding of the physical mechanisms at the basis of radio communciation, a clear view of the communication protocols supporting digital wireless networks, management of traffic resources, data compression and protection, user authentication, main performances of different technologies. 

Verification will be based on a questionnaire either consisting of multiple choice questions or yes/no answer followed by text explanation.

Students with learning disorders ("Disturbi Specifici di Apprendimento", DSA) will be allowed to use specific modalities and supports that will be determined on a case-by-case basis in agreement with the delegate of the Engineering courses in the Committee for the Inclusion of Students with Disabilities.