Basics of Mathematics and Engineering

The course provides a coverage of the essential elements of security and resilience of telecommunication networks, as well as concepts and methodologies related to this topic.

Knowledge and understanding.

Students should be able to:

Describe the basic aspects of security and resilience in engineering design;

Understand the different types of technologies for telecommunication networks.

Applying knowledge and understanding.

After the course the student should be able to:

Describe the peculiar aspects and main challenges of security and resilience of telecommunication networks;

Understand the differences among several techniques addressing the same problem and recognize the main trade-offs.

Making judgements.

Students are guided to learn critically what is taught during classes, comparing different approaches, while having a clear view of the big picture.

Communication.

It is essential that students are able to communicate with a varied and composite audience, not culturally homogeneous, in a clear, logical and effective way, using the methodological tools acquired, their scientific knowledge, and the specialty vocabulary. The course promotes the development of the following skills: ability to highlight and expose in precise terms the characteristics of a variety of concepts and techniques; ability to describe and analyze the different options available for a given application scenario or use case, and illustrate the main trade-offs; ability to communicate in a rigorous way backed by scientific knowledge.

Learning skills.

Students must acquire the critical ability to discuss, with originality and autonomy, the most important aspects of the course. They should be able to develop and apply the knowledge learned in the continuation of their studies and in the broader perspective of cultural and professional self-improvement of lifelong learning. Therefore, students are asked to refer to and compare different sources and textbooks, possibly by also autonomously selecting authoritative materials from the vast amount of information available (libraries, online repositories, and the Web at large).

The course aims at enabling students to understand the topics while keeping an unified view and being able to navigate the complexity of modern scenarios. This will be done using the following teaching method. Every concept or technique will be introduced in terms of motivations, technical peculiarities, and application scope. The presentation of each topic will be linked to the background studied in previous courses, and continuously connected to the preceding and subsequent topics within the present course. The course consists of frontal lessons with slides and blackboard. There will be theoretical lessons, qualitative discussions, and examples about how knowledge is put into practice in real cases. A part of the lessons will be also devoted to illustrate related ongoing research directions in the field.

The final exam consists of questions aimed at verifying to what extent the student 1) has gained knowledge and understanding of the selected topics of the course, 2) is able to discuss complex aspects in a synthetic way, and 3) has gained adequate degree of maturity in linking concepts within a system view.

Office Hours

By appointment; contact the instructor by email or at the end of class meetings

provided during the course, with references and links to different materials for the studying