Architectures des réseaux pour le contrôle de la QoS

La qualité de service dans les réseaux téléphoniques a toujours tenu une place importante, voire prépondérante, dans la conception des architectures de télécommunication. Si elle est implicitement supportée dans le réseau téléphonique commuté (RTC) classique, il n'en est pas de même dans les réseaux en mode paquet que sont l'ATM et l'IP. Ce mémoire d'habilitation à diriger des recherches synthétise le travail de recherche effectué sur un ensemble d'architectures pour contrôler la QoS dans les réseaux en mode paquets. De l'espacement dans le plan de transfert, jusqu'à la négociation des contrats avec l'utilisateur en passant par le plan de contrôle, les contributions forment à la fois une continuité et une complémentarité permettant de dégager des règles d'urbanisme à suivre pour la gestion de la QoS. A partir de ces règles, une solution globale de gestion de la QoS depuis le réseau local jusqu'à l'inter-domaine est proposée. Elle suit également une découpe temporelle séparant ce qui procède de l'approvisionnement du réseau et de l'invocation permettant à la solution d'être extensible et applicable à grande échelle et dont les fondements principaux sont : ° Une gestion des files d'attentes et du multiplexage par espacement comme discipline de service universel garantissant un délai, une gigue et un taux de perte faible tout en respectant la caractéristique temporelle intrinsèque de chaque application, ° Une gestion par classes de services approvisionnées par MPLS-DiffServ-TE à l'intra et à l'inter domaine durant le processus de commande / livraison, ° Une admission d'appel pour protéger les ressources affectées aux classes de services durant le processus d'invocation, ° Et une intégration de la gestion de la QoS multiservices dans une architecture multi technologies

Challenges for engineering students working with authentic complex problems

Engineers are important participants in solving societal, environmental and technical problems. However, due to an increasing complexity in relation to these problems new interdisciplinary competences are needed in engineering. Instead of students working with monodisciplinary problems, a situation where students work with authentic complex problems in interdisciplinary teams together with a company may scaffold development of new competences. The question is: What are the challenges for students structuring the work on authentic interdisciplinary problems? This study explores a three-day event where 7 students from Aalborg University (AAU) from four different faculties and one student from University College North Denmark (UCN), (6th-10th semester), worked in two groups at a large Danish company, solving authentic complex problems. The event was structured as a Hackathon where the students for three days worked with problem identification, problem analysis and finalizing with a pitch competition presenting their findings. During the event the students had workshops to support the work and they had the opportunity to use employees from the company as facilitators. It was an extracurricular activity during the summer holiday season. The methodology used for data collection was qualitative both in terms of observations and participants’ reflection reports. The students were observed during the whole event. Findings from this part of a larger study indicated, that students experience inability to transfer and transform project competences from their previous disciplinary experiences to an interdisciplinary setting

Exploring the practical use of a collaborative robot for academic purposes

This article presents a set of experiences related to the setup and exploration of potential educational uses of a collaborative robot (cobot). The basic principles that have guided the work carried out have been three. First and foremost, study of all the functionalities offered by the robot and exploration of its potential academic uses both in subjects focused on industrial robotics and in subjects of related disciplines (automation, communications, computer vision). Second, achieve the total integration of the cobot at the laboratory, seeking not only independent uses of it but also seeking for applications (laboratory practices) in which the cobot interacts with some of the other devices already existing at the laboratory (other industrial robots and a flexible manufacturing system). Third, reuse of some available components and minimization of the number and associated cost of required new components. The experiences, carried out following a project-based learning methodology under the framework of bachelor and master subjects and thesis, have focused on the integration of mechanical, electronic and programming aspects in new design solutions (end effector, cooperative workspace, artificial vision system integration) and case studies (advanced task programming, cybersecure communication, remote access). These experiences have consolidated the students' acquisition of skills in the transition to professional life by having the close collaboration of the university faculty with the experts of the robotics company.Postprint (published version