Telecommunications Networks: an Introduction

On completion of this course, you should be able to:
Know and understand the engineering principles and methodologies of digital transmission and detection and use this to analyse and design systems which minimise error rates and minimise inter symbol interference (ISI)
Have a comprehensive knowledge of the underlying technologies of digital communication networks and data transport technologies for use in access and core networks
Have a comprehensive knowledge of the underlying technologies of packet-based networks and use this to analyse the different components and layer functionality of such networks
Know and understand the fundamentals of circuit switching and the multi-stage switching arrangements and use such knowledge to design and analyse optimum switches with varying degrees of availability and complexity
Analyse the functional differences between circuit switched and packet switched networks and between connection oriented and connectionless architectures
Know and understand the traffic engineering principles and the basic measures of traffic and use these to estimate traffic statistical parameters and analyse networks capacity
Identify and classify the key metrics required to assess the quality of service (QoS) in IP-based networks and then to optimise network operation on the basis of specific metrics
Use fundamental knowledge to assess communication system performance and identify the necessary compromises between bandwidth, signal quality and coding requirements
Calculate the design requirements for coding in systems for speech and video transmission
Investigate and define various types of networks appropriate for pre specified applications and operation scenarios
Understand the contexts in which communication engineering knowledge can be applied
Identify user demands and appropriate network designs for specific demands

Many of the topics in this course are fundamental to communication engineers, whether you're working in a circuit switched or packet switched environment.
The department's courses/CPD modules in general are aimed at those working in the telecommunications industry such as researchers, engineers, IT professionals and managers.
They're particularly suited to graduates in electronic and electrical engineering, physics, communications engineering and computer science who want to further their knowledge on a particular topic, or work towards a Master's degree.
You don't need to have any pre-requisite qualifications to take this course.

The course runs over four days, with 6 to 7 teaching hours per day.
This is followed by a three-hour tutorial, and an optional exam.
A certificate of attendance will be issued on completion for those who take the module but not the exam.
If you take and pass the exam you'll get a certificate stating this, which includes your pass level.