T-110.6120 Special course on Data Communications Software 

Software Defined Mobile Networks

Spring 2015, study period V, 14.04.2015-22.05.2015

1.     Basic information (name of the course, teaching period etc.)

a.     Software Defined Mobile Networks (part of T-110.6120 Special Course in Data Communication Software P)

b.     Two time per week, two hours, total 18  hours contact teaching, 14.4-22.5.2015; total 9 sessions

c.      Teacher: Adj.prof Andrei Gurtov and invited speakers

d.     Description: Software Defined Networking (SDN) and Network Function Virtualization (NFV) are one of the hottest new technologies shaping the future Internet. NFV & SDN Summit 2015 attracts about 1500 attendees from 65 countries. SDN & NFV concepts are expected to play a key role in next-generation wireless networks (5G). During EU SIGMONA project “SDN Concept in Generalized Mobile Network Architectures”, leading telecom vendors such as Nokia Networks and Ericsson are jointly developing SDN-based 5G architecture. Project participants as well as other experts in SDN have contributed chapters to an upcoming Wiley book on Software Defined Mobile Networks (SDMN). The goal of this research seminar is to go through the book and present topic related to SDN history, SDMN architecture, security, mobility and traffic management. The course will include presentations by the teacher and invited speakers. Students are expected to actively participate to the seminar by presenting 1-2 chapters of their choice. The book got strong support from the industry (forewords by Nokia and Ericsson CTOs) and thus the students can find this seminar useful in view of their future employment as well as selection of a research topic for postgraduate studies.

2.     Amounts of ECTS

a.     5 ECTS

3.     Content (for example core content divider)

a.     The course book will be covered chapter-by-chapter

b.     Must-know: SDN architecture, mobile network specifics, where to find info

c.      Should-know: Security, NFV approaches, deployment paths, presentation skill

d.     Nice to know: Details of protocols, SDN experiments, standards

4.     Learning outcomes (including also skills such as group working, presentation skills etc.)

·        Describe motivation and basics of Software Defined Networks

·        Improve knowledge of mobile network architectures

·        Describe SDMN architectures and network implementations

·        Describe traffic transport and network management

·        Describe resource and mobility management aspects of SDMNs

·        Describe security and economic aspects of SDMNs

·        Students improve presentation skills

·        Know where to find further information

5.     Assessment: methods, criteria, scale

a.     Attendance of 80% of sessions

b.     Peer evaluation of presentations

c.      Pass/fail grading

6.     Teaching methods

a.     Teacher gives opening lectures

b.     Invited experts to give lectures on their chapters

c.      Students are assigned 1-2 chapters to present at the course

7.     Course workload (both from students and the teachers side)

a.     Student workload include attending the lectures, preparing own presentation, doing optional home exercises, giving peer feedback

b.     Lecturer workload: preparing overview lectures and covering selecting chapters, inviting experts, distributing topics for students, giving feedback and assessment.

8.     Course connections (on which module course belongs to, connections with other courses, previous knowledge required and what knowledge does this course offer to other courses)

a.     Master or PhD level elective course

b.     Prerequisites: good knowledge of TCP/IP and telecommunication networks

c.      Some material on SDN can be given in Computer networks II (Matti Siekkinen) and in Electrical Engineering department.

9.     Materials used during the course