EC4725 Advanced Telecommunication Systems Engineering

Studies the engineering of communication transport networks, presenting basic concepts in conventional telephony and traffic engineering such as blockage, availability, dimensioning and survivability. The public switched network (PSTN), mobile switched networks (MSN) and public land mobile networks (PLMN) are discussed. The Signaling System No.7 (SS7) architecture for the PSTN is presented along with a variety of transport technologies including the Synchronous Optical Network (SONET)/ Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (SDH). Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) is also examined. Voice over IP (VoIP) and its associated signaling protocol, the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), is examined. Skype is used as a case study. VoIP vulnerabilities are also discussed. Cellular telecommunications standards, including GSM/2G, GPRS, UMTS/3G, LTE/4G and 5G are studied. Security measures for different telecommunications standards are also discussed. Concludes with a discussion of Network Management Systems.

Prerequisite

EC3795 or EC3710 or CS3502 or Consent of instructor.

Lecture Hours

3

Lab Hours

2

Course Learning Outcomes

·       Discuss how various public communications transport architectures function.

·       Be able to dimension the network and predict future performance.

·       Provision the network for increased efficiency.

·       Understand how signaling works and in particular the SS7 system used in the public switched telephone network.

·       Understand how different cellular standards used in telecommunications function: GSM, GPRS, UMTS and 4G.

·       Understand the signaling protocols for cellular standards.

·       Understand the different telecommunications architectures for cellular systems and how they interface with the PSTN.

·       Evaluate VoIP systems, including Skype.

·       Understand how long haul optical telecommunications is used, including the SONET/SDH standards.