Hours:
16 hours (4 credits)

Room:

From remote by using Microsoft Teams. The link will be sent in due time to all students who registered to the seminar.

To register to the course, click here

Short Abstract:

In signal processing, spectrum analysis plays a key role to characterize and understand many phenomena. For instance, in biomedical applications, some features such as the ratio between the powers in low and high frequencies can be the basis of a physiological interpretation. Having a visual representation of how the spectrum of an audio signal varies over time can help the practitioner. Different families of methods have been developed for spectrum analysis. When dealing with stationary signals, several approaches exist. They differ on two main features: they can be parametric or not, with low or high resolution. Among the low-resolution non-parametric methods, the periodogram and the correlogram are based on the short-time Fourier transform (STFT). As an alternative, high-resolution non parametric methods such as the ones proposed by Capon and Borgiotti-Lagunas consist in designing very-selective frequency filters, whose finite impulse response depends on the input signal covariance matrix, and then in looking at the filter output power. Among the other solutions, parametric methods based on an a priori model such as the autoregressive with moving average (ARMA) can be used. The last class includes subspace methods such as MUSIC and ESPRIT and their variants. It should be noted that some links can be drawn between all these methods. When dealing with non-stationary signal, the above methods can be used by designing “sliding” methods, which consist in using a sliding window and then in applying a stationary-signal spectrum analysis on each signal frame. Nevertheless, the whole non-stationary signal can be studied directly by using alternative approaches such as the Cohen class which includes the Wigner-Ville distribution and its variants, the wavelet-based method or the empirical mode decomposition, to cite a few.

The purpose of this PhD course is to present an overview of these different families of approaches, their advantages and drawbacks.

Course Contents in brief:

1. Stationary case
   1. Fourier based methods (periodogram, correlogram, etc.)
   2. Filtering based methods (Capon, Borgiotti-Lagunas algorithm)
   3. ARMA-model based methods
   4. Subspace methods (Music, Esprit, etc.)
2. Non-stationary case
   1. Sliding-window methods
   2. Whole-signal analysis
      1. Cohen classes
   3. Wavelet methods
   4. EMD
3. Some illustrations
   1. Speech analysis
   2. Biomedical applications

Schedule:

1. Day1 - 7 June 2021 - 9:00-13:00 - 2 slots of 2 hours dedicated to some prerequisites (if it is necessary), Fourier-based methods and filtering-based methods.
2. Day2 - 8 June 2021 - 9:00-13:00 - 2 slots of 2 hours dedicated to ARMA-model based methods and subspace methods.
3. Day3 - 9 June 2021 - 9:00-13:00 - 2 slots of 2 hours dedicated to examples and illustrations (if possible Matlab laboratory).
4. Day4 - 10 June 2021 - 9:00-13:00 - 2 slots of 2 hours dedicated to examples and a brief overview of the non-stationary case.

Hours:
20 hours (5 credits)

Room:

From remote by using Microsoft Teams. The link will be sent in due time to all students who registered to the seminar.

To register to the course, click here

Short Abstract:
This course aims to provide an introduction to the design and use of deep learning models and reinforcement learning approaches for sensor data processing, machine vision and robotics.  The first part of the course introduces the basic concepts and fundamentals of machine learning and neural networks. The second part presents advanced deep models and their use in monitoring, understanding, control and planning tasks, with focus on robotics and distributed sensing application scenarios. Presentation of the theoretical models and associated algorithms will be complemented by references to popular software frameworks and code. Given the course focus, much of the concepts and models presented will deal with sequential data (e.g. sensor or control timeseries) and visual data (images and video), with insights on relevant problems, including lifelong learning, reinforcement learning, federated learning and learning under resource constraints.

Course Contents in brief:

1. Fundamentals of machine learning: generalization, model-selection, hyperparameters, regularization techniques, error function, maximum likelihood learning, basic concepts of probabilistic learning
2. (Deep) Neural networks introduction: artificial neuron, backpropagation, optimization techniques, multi-layer perceptron, deep autoencoders, pretraining
3. Convolutional neural networks: fundamental building blocks, advanced techniques, notable convolutional architectures, applications to image classification and semantic segmentation
4. Recurrent neural networks: sequential data processing, early recurrent models, gated recurrent architectures, advanced memory models
5. Reservoir computing: efficient recurrent neural models, memory-constrained recurrent model, sensor data processing, echo state networks, deep reservoir computing
6. Generative deep learning: variational approximation, sampling in machine learning, variational autoencoders, generative adversarial networks
7. Reinforcement learning: fundamentals, Markov decision processes, model-free and model-based algorithms, deep reinforcement learning, imitation learning
8. Advanced topics and applications: lifelong and continual learning, federated learning in cloud/distributed environments, relational learning, deep learning for robotics, embedded learning systems.

Schedule:

1. 02/02/2021: 9:00-13:00
2. 04/02/2021: 9:00-13:00
3. 09/02/2021: 9:00-13:00
4. 11/02/2021: 9:00-13:00
5. 15/02/2021: 9:00-13:00

Hours:
20 hours (5 credits)

Room:

From remote by using Microsoft Teams. The link will be sent in due time to all students who registered to the seminar.

To register to the course, click here

Short Abstract:
The course will cover the main aspects of Edge Computing, from a practical perspective and with the aim to provide useful tool for application development. An initial technology overview will provide the description of MEC and related standards and industry associations working in the field, together with various open source frameworks available. A particular emphasis will be given to the ETSI MEC standard (Multi-access Edge Computing), by mentioning as well other SDOs and the relationship with 3GPP for the definition of 5G systems. A classroom exercitation will complete the course, where students will be asked to build their own application example exploiting MEC and based on the open source software introduced during the course.

Course Contents in brief:

1. Edge Computing, Fog computing, Cloud computing
2. ETSI MEC Framework and Reference Architecture
3. MEC in 4G, MEC in 5G, MEC in WiFi networks
4. MEC Services, MEC Management, MEC Mobility
5. MEC APIs (Radio Network Information API, Location API, BW API, …)
6. Open Source frameworks: OpenNESS, OpenAPI MEC APIs representations, ETSI Forge, MEC Sandbox, tools and MEC Ecosystem
7. Classroom exercise

Schedule:

Day1 (half day – Tue 6 April 2021)
Afternoon: 15.00-18.00

1. Edge Computing, Fog computing, Cloud computing
2. MEC Framework and Reference Architecture [MEC003]
3. General principles for Mobile Edge Service APIs [MEC 009]
4. MEC Platform Application Enablement [MEC011]
5. Classroom exercise – part 1

Day2 (full day – Wed 7 April 2021)
Morning: 9.00-12.00
Afternoon: 14.00-18.00

1. MEC in 4G, MEC in 5G, MEC in WiFi networks
2. MEC in NFV environment (MEC-017)
3. MEC support for Network Slicing (MEC-024)
4. MEC Management [MEC010-1][MEC010-2]
5. MEC Application and E2E Mobility (MEC-018, MEC-021)
6. Software Development for MEC
7. MEC-027 – MEC support for Containers
8. Open Network Edge Services Software (OpenNESS)
9. Classroom exercise – part 2

Day3 (full day – Thu 8 April 2021)
Morning: 9.00-12.00
Afternoon: 14.00-18.00

1. OpenAPI MEC APIs representations, ETSI Forge
2. MEC Sandbox, tools and MEC Ecosystem
3. MEC-012 – RNI API, MEC-013 – Location API, MEC-028 – WLAN Information API
4. MEC-016 – UE Application Interface, MEC-014 – UE identity API
5. MEC Testing Framework (MEC-025), MEC Conformance Test Suite
6. Performance Assessment, Metrics Best Practices and Guidelines (IEG006)
7. MEC-026 – MEC support for regulatory requirements
8. Application Deployment, Application Walkthrough
9. Classroom exercise – part 3

Day4 (half day – Fri 9 April 2021)
Morning: 9.00-12.00

1. Vertical segments: focus on automotive (MEC-022 “MEC support for V2X use cases”, and MEC-030 “MEC V2X API”)
2. MEC-015 – Bandwidth management API
3. MEC Federation, inter-MEC system communication
4. MEC in action: examples and trials
5. OpenNESS and 5G: integration with SimuLTE/5G
6. Classroom exercise – presentation of results

Hours:
16 hours (4 credits)

Room:

From remote by using Microsoft Teams. The link will be sent in due time to all students who registered to the seminar.

To register to the course, click here

Short Abstract:
Inkjet printing concerns the precise positioning of drops of fluid in the picolitre regime to fabricate 2D and 3D objects. Starting as a tool for graphic output from classical computing it has developed into a ubiquitous digital printing tool with applications in printed and large area electronics, additive manufacturing or 3D printing, precision dosing in pharmaceuticals, and tissue engineering or regenerative medicine. This course will begin with a review of the fundamental fluid physics of the inkjet process, the behavior of drops on substrates, drying or solidification of drops and the design of inks. It will cover the types of inkjet printing and their applications across a range of engineering applications and include a number of case studies across a range of disciplines including: marking and coding, graphics, printed electronics, 2D materials, 3D powder bed printing, 3D additive printing, and printing biological macromolecules and living cells.

Course Contents in brief:

1. Review of fluid physics: capillary and advective flow, dimensionless numbers, drop formation, drops in flight and on surfaces, the contact angle.
2. A brief history of inkjet printing, practical methods for drop generation, Continuous Inkjet Printing (CIJ) and Drop on Demand Printing (DOD). Introduction to applications.
3. Introduction to inks. Inks for marking, coding and 2D graphics. Components of inks, required fluid properties. Drop generation, satellite drops, ink design.
4. Drops on surfaces: impact, splashing, spreading and equilibrium. Building objects from drops. The stability of structures on surfaces. advancing and receding contact angles and the stability of a printed line.
5. Drop drying and the coffee ring defect. Fluid flow in drops controlling the shape of a drying drop.
6. Gelling inks, UV cure inks, hot melt inks.
7. Printing on real surfaces, effect of roughness and porosity. Printing on paper and textiles.
8. Inkjet 3D printing. Printing on a powder bed. Drop infiltration: Washburn equation. Binderjet printing, high speed sintering. Direct 3D printing.
9. Inkjet printing for large area electronics, printing conducting tracks, limits to resolution, filling wells and drop drying.
10. Inkjet bioprinting, printing biomacromolecules, printing cells.

Schedule:

1. Day1 - 2 March 2021 - 9:30-13:30
2. Day2 - 3 March 2021 - 9:30-13:30
3. Day3 - 4 March 2021 - 9:30-13:30
4. Day4 - 5 March 2021 - 9:30-13:30

Hours:
16 hours (4 credits)

Room:

From remote by using Microsoft Teams. The link will be sent in due time to all students who registered to the seminar.

To register to the course, click here

Short Abstract:

After an introduction to the main concept about ethics, related to norms, both in deontological and in behavioral meaning. The different point of view in using techniques, interacting with technologies and living in technological environments is then deepen.
Some particular aspects of applied ethics in the field of ICT are discussed, focusing on the most relevant topics and approaches in contemporary debate.

Course Contents in brief:

1. Hints on philosophical and anthropological references
2. Responsibility and technological determinism.
3. Digital divide, multiculturalism and contemporary ethical debates
4. Privacy, security and democracy.

Schedule:

28 June 2021, 9:00 - 12:30

29 June 2021, 9:00 - 12:30

30 June 2021, 9:00 - 12:30

1 July 2021, 9:00 - 12:30, 14:30 - 16:30

Hours:
20 hours (5 credits)

Room:
Aula Riunioni del Dipartimento di Ingegneria dell’Informazione, Via G. Caruso 16, Pisa – Ground Floor for theoretical lessons; ex-B26 for hands-on design

To register to the course, click here

Short Abstract:
Modern CAD programs for the design of microwave and radiofrequency systems are nowadays an important and necessary competence of ICT engineers; in order to exploit the huge potentialities provided by computing tools, users should be technically aware of the limits and possibilities offered by modern CAD software. The course aims to providing the ability of using the modern CAD programs for the design of microwave and radiofrequency systems, with applications in circuit and antenna design, biomedical applications, EMC evaluation for pre-compliance. At first, the theory of numerical methods for applied electromagnetics, widely employed in commercial CAD tools, will be presented such as Method of Moments (MoM), Finite Elements Method (FEM) and Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD). Each method will be critically presented according to advantages and disadvantages. The second part of the course will be devoted to hands-on laboratory design by using popular CAD such as ANSYS HFSS, ALTAIR FEKO, SIMULIA CST, for the ‘design-by-yourself’ exercises. Exercises will be aimed at identifying the main differences among the software tools.

Course Contents in brief:

1. Numerical methods: Method of Moments - MoM, Finite Elements Method - FEM, Finite Difference Time Domain - FDTD
2. ANSYS HFSS
3. SIMULIA CST
4. ALTAIR FEKO

Schedule (second semester of Academic Year 2020-2021):

1. Day1 (5 hours) - Thursday 9 September 10:30-12:30 + 14:00-17:00 - Numerical methods
2. Day2 (5 hours) - Friday 10 September 10:30-12:30 + 14:00-17:00 - MoM example: ALTAIR FEKO
3. Day3 (5 hours) - Monday 13 September 10:30-12:30 + 14:00-17:00 - FEM example: ANSYS HFSS
4. Day4 (5 hours) - Monday 20 September 10:30-12:30 + 14:00-17:00 - FDTD/FIT example: SIMULIA CST

Postponed to 2021

Hours:
20 hours (5 credits)

Room:
Aula Riunioni del Dipartimento di Ingegneria dell’Informazione, Via G. Caruso 16, Pisa – Ground Floor

Short Abstract:
Virtually all digital IC platforms today are based on flexible programmable processor cores, with a trend towards Multi/Manycore architectures comprising 10-100 cores. This trend is imposed by high performance and power/energy efficiency demands. Specifically in competitive embedded application domains like smartphones, wireless infrastructure, and automotive, there are tight efficiency constraints on power, energy, timing, design cost, and production cost of the underlying HW platforms. The need for flexibility and efficiency leads to heterogeneous platform architectures, composed of off-the-shelf (yet partially customizable) IP cores, like RISCs, and custom application-specific processors, such as DSP or security accelerators. Moreover, these cores communicate over complex on-chip interconnect and memory subsystem architectures. These trends impose huge challenges for ICT system and semiconductor industry. Novel design methodologies and tools are required for managing the skyrocketing HW platform design complexity, while simultaneously optimizing systems and components for performance, power, and costs. Furthermore, migrating legacy application software code or firmware as well as developing and debugging new software for highly parallel HW platforms causes a significant design productivity gap. This course presents various advanced system-level design methodologies in a practice-oriented way, intended to enable industrial embedded systems engineers to manage the complexity of current and future HW/SW multicore devices and to achieve predictable and competitive results in shorter time. Topics include: Software compilation techniques, System-on-Chip design methodology, power optimization, Virtual Prototyping and simulation, and Application Specific Processor Design. Furthermore, a brief outlook on hardware security issues will be provided.

Course Contents in brief:

• Multiprocessor Systems-on-Chip
• Electronic System Level Design
• SoC architecture exploration and power estimation
• Virtual Prototyping
• Multicore programming tools
• Application-specific processing elements (ASIPs)

Schedule:

Postponed to 2021

Hours:
4 hours (1 credits)

Room:
From remote by using Microsoft Teams. The link will be sent in due time to all students who registered to the seminar.

To register to the course, click here

Short Abstract:
one of the key skills to be successful in life is the ability to manage your time. To be able to manage time, people needs the right attitude (proactive behaviour) and the right techniques. We’ll cover both aspects in our course and our colleagues (IT Dept) will give some practical examples of the importance of Time management at work.

Course Contents in brief:

• UNIT 1 (2h): «Manage your Time: fundamentals»:
  • reactive/proactive behaviour and tricks to test yourself.
  • 4 quadrant matrix, to have a clear picture of the status
  • digital distractions and multitasking
  • case study- Francesco Del Moro
• UNIT 2 (2h): «Manage your Time: techniques»:
  • Getting Things Done Method (David Allen)
  • Pomodoro Technique
  • Weekly planning
  • Case Study- Daniele Ciullo

Schedule:

• DATA 1: 29/06 (2h) dalle 15:00 alle 17:00
• DATA 2: 2/07 (2h) dalle 15:00 alle 17:00

Hours:
20 hours (5 credits)

Room:
Online

To register to the course, click here

Short Abstract:
The course will advocate the need for computing in communication networks for upcoming 5G systems and the Tactile Internet. The course will start with the evolution of communication networks with special focus on 5G networks. Here some use cases are discussed and technical parameters derived. Later the Tactile Internet is introduced and elements from 5G are mapped to the setup of the Tactile Internet. As computing in the network will allow for new innovations such as machine learning, network coding, or compressed sensing, those technologies are shortly introduced. One huge part of the course will be hand on sessions for the students to implement the learned elements on their own computer using the ComNetsEmu (a tool that will be given to the students).

Course Contents in brief:

• 5G communication system
• Tactile Internet
• Software Defined Networks
• Network Function Virtualization
• Mobile Edge Cloud
• Network Slicing
• Network Coding
• Compressed Sensing
• Machine Learning

Schedule:

• Day1 - 11 May 2020, 9:00 - 13:00 - 5G and Tactile Internet
• Day2 - 12 May 2020, 9:00 - 13:00 - Network Coding
• Day3 - 13 May 2020, 9:00 - 13:00 - Hands On Session: ComNetsEmu
• Day4 - 14 May 2020, 9:00 - 13:00 - Hands On Session: Examples / Exercises: Mininet, Docker, Network Slicing, Mobile Edge Cloud

Hours:
20 hours (5 credits)

Room:
Aula Riunioni del Dipartimento di Ingegneria dell’Informazione, Via G. Caruso 16, Pisa – Ground Floor

Short Abstract:
The course will cover the main aspects of 5G, from the description of the technology to the standards and industry associations working in the field. Among the most prominent vertical segments fueled by 5G are: Industrial IOT, Automotive, and Immersive Media. A particular emphasis will be given to the automotive segment, and the V2X communication, both from 3GPP point of view and relevance from industrial associations in the automotive sector (e.g. 5GAA). Short examples from Industry Groups, associations and involved companies will complete the course.

Course Contents in brief:

• 3GPP Release 15/16 for enhanced mobile broadband (NR eMBB),
  ultra-reliable low latency communication (NR URLLC), NR-V2X
• 5GS, edge computing, MEC, network slicing, predictive QoS
• 5GAA, AECC, Trials

Schedule:

Day1 (half day) - 4 May 2020
Key components and spectrum
KPI of 5G
5G verticals

Day2 - 5 May 2020
Architecture: NSA, SA variants
5GS, edge computing, MEC,
network slicing, predictive QoS

Day3 - 6 May 2020
5G NR - Rel.15/16
LTE-V2X
5G-V2X

Day4 (half day) - 7 May 2020
5GAA
AECC
Trials