Syllabus Information

5.1. Methodological overview

The methodology followed in this course is oriented towards achievement of the learning objectives. A wide range of teaching and learning tasks are implemented, such as lectures, practice sessions, guided assignments, tutorials, assessment tests, and autonomous work.

5.2. Learning tasks

The course includes the following learning tasks:

• Lecture (42 hours). Presentation by the teacher of the main contents of the course, combined with the active participation of students. This activity will take place in the classroom. This methodology, supported by the student's autonomous work, is designed to provide students with the theoretical foundations for the course.
• Practice sessions (8 hours). Problem-solving and practical cases proposed by the teacher, with the possibility of presenting them individually or in groups, under the teacher's supervision. This activity will take place in the classroom and it may require preparatory work for students.
• Guided assignment (28 hours). This activity will help acquire all the proposed learning outcomes. It aims at solving practical cases, analysis, design, dimensioning and planning of access networks by applying techniques and procedures seen in the teaching sessions. The progress of the work will be presented periodically to the teacher. Students will submit an explanatory final report including the methodology used and a justification of the solution.
• Tutorials.
• Assessment tests.
• Autonomous work.

5.3. Syllabus

The course will address the following topics:

Section 0. Introduction

• Course presentation.
• Evolution of the mobile communication sector. Evolution of the air interface of cellular communication systems toward 4G. Key features of 4G systems. Standardisation activities.

Section 1. 4G mobile networks and evolution

• LTE Architecture Reference Model: Radio Access Network and Evolved Packet Core Network. Functional elements, interfaces and protocols. QoS and IMS subsystems.
• Radio interface. Overall functional split, radio protocol architecture. Services, functions and main procedures.
• Heterogeneous network deployments. Key Design Features.
• Multi-RAN deployments.

Section 2. Resource management

• Radio Resource management.
• Dimensioning, planning and optimization of mobile communication networks. 

5.4. Course planning and calendar

Further information concerning the timetable, classroom, office hours, assessment dates and other details regarding this course, will be provided on the first day of class or please refer to the EINA website.

5.5. Bibliography and recommended resources

• Agustí, Ramón. LTE: Nuevas Tendencias en Comunicaciones Móviles / Ramón Agusti, Francisco Bernardo, Fernando Casadevall, Ramon Ferrús, Jordi Pérez-Romero, Oriol Sallent Fundación Vodafone España. 2010 
• Cox, Christopher. An introduction to LTE : LTE, LTE-advanced, SAE and 4G mobile communications / Christopher Cox Ed. John Wiley & Sons, 2012
• kreher, Ralf. LTE Signaling, Troubleshooting and Optimization / Ralf Kreher, Karsten Gaenger John Wiley & Sons, 2011
• Holma, Harri. LTE for UMTS Evolution to LTE-Advanced / Harri Holma and Antti Toskala. - 2nd ed. John Wiley & Sons, 2011
• Hämäläinen, Seppo. LTE self-organising networks (SON) : network management automation for operational efficiency / Seppo Hämäläinen, Henning Sanneck, Cinzia Sartori John Wiley & Sons, 2012
• Rumney, Moray. LTE and the Evolution to 4G Wireless Design and Measurement Challenges / Moray Rumney. - 2nd ed. John Wiley & Sons, 2013.
• Dahlman, Erik. 4G: LTE/LTE-Advanced for Mobile Broadband / Erik Dahlman, Stefan Parkvall, Johan Sköld. - Second Edition Elsevier, 2014.
• Ahmadi, Sassan. LTE-Advanced: A Practical Systems Approach to Understanding the 3GPP LTE Releases 10 and 11 Radio Access Technologies / Sassan Ahmadi Elsevier, 2014.

• http://www.3gpp.org/