Teaching - Giacomo Bacci

M.Sc. in Cybersecurity

Communication technologies @ 938II – Electronics and Communication Technologies (2025-26)

M.Sc. in Communications Engineering

Communication systems @ 1014I – Communication Systems and Cybersecurity (2025-26)

Past courses

Communication technologies @ 938II – Electronics and Communication Technologies

(G. Bacci – September-December 2025, 6 ECTS)

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- Class register
- Outline of the course
- Signals & systems: (8 hours)
  - Analog vs. digital signals
  - Fourier analysis
  - Digital systems
- Digital communication systems (12 hours)
  - Building blocks of transmitter and receiver
  - Sampling, source coding, and channel coding
  - Modulation techniques and Shannon capacity
  - Multiplexing and multiple access
- Wireless communications (6 hours)
  - Basics of wireless propagation
  - Multipath propagation: Frequency and time selectivity
  - Basic concepts: cells, frequency reuse and handover
- Main cellular technologies (6 hours)
  - History of cellular communication standards
  - 4G systems
  - 5G systems
- Fiber-based technologies (12 hours)
- - Basics of optical communications
  - Multi-mode and single-mode fibers
  - Optical devices: lasers and photodiodes
- Wired technologies for access networks (4 hours)
- - FFTx technologies: architectures and passive optical networks (PONs)
  - xDSL technologies: architectures and waterfilling criterion

Communication systems @ 1014I – Communication Systems and Cybersecurity

(G. Bacci – March-May 2026, 6 ECTS)

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- Class register
- Outline of the course
- A primer on digital communication systems (15 hours)
  - Main building blocks: Source coding; Encryption; Channel coding; Modulation; Multiplexing; Multiple access
  - Multiplexing vs. multiple access: Time/code division multiplexing; Frequency/time/code division multiple access; Packet-oriented multiple access; Efficiency comparison across multiplexing and multiple access techniques
  - Channel modeling: Basics of wireless propagation; Large- and small-scale fading; Multipath propagation: Frequency and time selectivity;
- Wireless technologies for access networks (20 hours)
  - Basic concepts: History of cellular communication standards; Basic definitions; Planning of a cellular network
  - 4G systems: Introduction to 4G systems; Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM); OFDM-based multiple-access schemes; The LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) standard; Resource allocation in LTE-A; Network management and inter-operability in LTE-A; Highlights of IEEE 802.16m; Enabling technologies for 4G standards
  - 5G systems: Introduction to 5G systems; Network densification; mm-wave technology; Massive MIMO; Cognitive radio and spectrum sensing; The 5G NR standard
- Wired technologies for access and transport networks (15 hours)
  - Fiber-based technologies: Naive architecture of a fiber-optical link; direct detection on-off keying (DD-OOK); Multi-mode step-index (MM-SI) and multi-mode graded-index (MM-GI) fibers; Basics of optical devices
  - Access-network technologies: Introduction to passive optical networks (PONs); Architectures for access networks: xDSL vs. FTTx; Definition of key elements in a PON; Fault detection and fault restoration in fiber-based terrestrial and underwater networks
- Project development (10 hours)
Past courses

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