Telecommunications Engineering and the Bologna declaration in Spain

The realization of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) is a common aim of 46 countries in Europe. The effort is usually named as the Bologna Process, after the Bologna Declaration of June 1999. Its main objective is providing the European Universities with the tools for promoting citizens and knowledge mobility, breaking the obstacles caused by historical diversity among the European higher education area systems. A central objective is the adoption of easily readable and comparable degrees, in a scheme based on two main cycles, undergraduate and graduate. Uniformity is favored by the establishment of a common system of credits, to encourage mobility among the European countries. European cooperation is also endorsed for quality assurance with a view to developing comparable criteria and methodologies

Contribución a la conmutación óptica de paquetes : arquitecturas, evaluación de prestaciones y análisis comparativo

La aplicación de la Conmutación Óptica de Paquetes (Optical Packet Switching, OPS) en la red troncal WDM, es observada por las empresas operadoras de la red como una alternativa viable y prometedora en el medio plazo, cuando la tecnología de dispositivos fotónicos alcance la madurez necesaria. Esta tesis doctoral se centra en la evaluación de prestaciones de arquitecturas de conmutación (switch fabric) óptica de paquetes, que son los componentes críticos en coste para que esta alternativa sea viable. El trabajo comienza estableciendo una clasificación de las arquitecturas OPS en función del modo de operación (SHWP, Shared Wavelength Path) y SCWP (Scattered Wavelength Path) de la red. La razón reside en que SHWP y SCWP son los candidatos previsibles para el control de una futura red troncal OPS. En algunos casos, ha sido necesario aplicar un proceso de adaptación a distintas arquitecturas, no diseñadas originalmente para trabajar bajo ningún modo SHWP/SCWP. Este proceso de adaptación ha permitido la evaluación comparativa de prestaciones entre arquitecturas y modos de operación de manera sistemática, algo no relacionado hasta la fecha.Universidad Politécnica de Cartagen

Cost-efficient virtual optical network embedding for manageable inter-data-center connectivity

Network virtualization opens the door to novel infrastructure services offering connectivity and node manageability. In this letter, we focus on the cost-efficient embedding of on-demand virtual optical network requests for interconnecting geographically distributed data centers. We present a mixed integer linear programming formulation that introduces flexibility in the virtual-physical node mapping to optimize the usage of the underlying physical resources. Illustrative results show that flexibility in the node mapping can reduce the number of add-drop ports required to serve the offered demands by 40%.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Parallel Desynchronized Block Matching: A Feasible Scheduling Algorithm for the Input-Buffered Wavelength-Routed Switch

The input-buffered wavelength-routed (IBWR) switch is a promising switching architecture for slotted optical packet switching (OPS) networks. The benefits of the IBWR fabric are a better scalability and lower hardware cost, when compared to output buffered OPS proposals. A previous work characterized the scheduling problem of this architecture as a type of matching problem in bipartite graphs. This characterization establishes an interesting relation between the IBWR scheduling and the scheduling of electronic virtual output queuing switches. In this paper, this relation is further explored, for the design of feasible IBWR scheduling algorithms, in terms of hardware implementation and execution time. As a result, the parallel desynchronized block matching (PDBM) algorithm is proposed. The evaluation results presented reveal that IBWR switch performance using the PDBM algorithm is close to the performance bound given by OPS output buffered architectures. The performance gap is especially small for dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) architectures.This research has been funded by the Spanish MCyT grant TEC2004-05622-C04-02/TCM (ARPaq). Authors would like to thank also the COST 291 action and the e-Photon/ONe+ European Network of Excellence

Case Study: Installing RFID Systems in Supermarkets

Radio frequency identification technology (RFID) is considered as the reference technology for wireless identification and item traceability. Supermarkets are one of those scenarios where the RFID potential can be harnessed. In theory, RFID in supermarkets shows several advantages compared with traditional barcode systems, offering real‐time inventory, stock control, cash queues, among others. In practice, its massive and global implementation is still being delayed due to the high quantity of factors that degrade the RFID system performance in these scenarios, causing uncontrolled items and identification losses and, at the end, economical losses. Some works in the scientific literature studied a single or a set of problems related to RFID performance, mostly focused on a specific communication layer: antennas and hardware design, interferences at physical layer, medium access control (MAC) protocols, security issues, or middleware challenges. However, there are no works describing in depth the set of factors affecting RFID performance in a specific scenario and contemplating the entire communication layer stack. The first challenge of this chapter is to provide a complete analysis of those physical and environmental factors, hardware and software limitations, and standard and regulation restrictions that have a direct impact on the RFID system performance in supermarkets. This analysis is addressed by communication layers, paying attention to the point of view of providers, supermarket companies, and final customers. Some of the most feasible and influential research works that address individual problems are also enumerated. Finally, taking the results extracted from this study, this chapter provides a Guide of Good Practices (GGPs), giving a global vision for addressing a successful RFID implementation project, useful for researchers, developers, and installers

Planificación de Redes Troncales de Conmutación Óptica Transparente

El continuo crecimiento de Internet está obligando a buscar nuevos medios para proporcionar mayores capacidades de transmisión en las redes de comunicaciones. Las redes troncales de conmutación óptica transparente representan una respuesta factible a corto y medio plazo para lograr este fin. Por tanto, la planificación de estas redes, buscando un diseño que minimice los costes de la red, tanto OPEX como CAPEX, adquiere una especial relevancia. Este articulo pretende hacer una breve exposición de los conceptos básicos de este tipo de planificación. Para concluir se muestra un caso de estudio, donde se compararan las principales metodologías de planificación de redes ópticas transparentes

Revisiting core traffic growth in the presence of expanding CDNs

Traffic growth forecasts announce a dramatic future for core networks, struggling to keep the pace of traffic augmentation. Internet traffic growth primarily stems from the proliferation of cloud services and the massive amounts of data distributed by the content delivery networks (CDNs) hosting these services. In this paper, we investigate the evolution of core traffic in the presence of growing CDNs. Expanding the capacities of existing data centers (DCs) directly translates the forecasted compound-annual-growth-rate (CAGR) of user traffic to the CAGR of carried core link traffic. On the other hand, expanding CDNs by building new geographically dispersed DCs can significantly reduce the predicted core traffic growth rates by placing content closer to the users. However, reducing DC-to-user traffic by building new DCs comes at a trade-off with increasing inter-DC content synchronization traffic. Thus, the resulting overall core traffic growth will depend on the types of services supported and their associated synchronization requirements. In this paper, we present a long-term evolution study to assess the implications of different CDN expansion strategies on core network traffic growth considering a mix of services in proportions and growth rates corresponding to well-known traffic forecasts. Our simulations indicate that CDNs may have significant incentive to build more DCs, depending on the service types they offer, and that current alarming traffic predictions may be somewhat overestimated in core networks in the presence of expanding CDNs. (C) 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Commission for the H2020-ICT-2016-2 METRO-HAUL project (G.A. 761727) and it has been partially funded by the Spanish national project ONOFRE-2(TEC2017-84423-C3-1-P, MINECO/AEI/FEDER, UE)

El uso de las redes sociales como herramienta de apoyo a la docencia en la UPCT

[SPA]La convergencia hacia el EEES ofrece a las universidades la oportunidad de mejorar el proceso enseñanza-aprendizaje mediante el uso de las Tecnologías de la Información y las Comunicaciones (TIC). Sin embargo, los intentos de introducir las TIC tienen como barreras la dificultad de alumnos y profesores para familiarizarse con nuevas aplicaciones. Por lo general, los estudiantes prefieren sus herramientas TIC de uso cotidiano y habitual, frente a aquellas diseñadas exclusivamente para docencia. Por ello, un factor de éxito en la integración de las TIC en el proceso enseñanza-aprendizaje está en hacer uso de aquellas herramientas TIC que ya son populares entre los estudiantes por su uso lúdico. Este es el caso de las redes sociales, plataformas web que, de ser orientadas a la docencia, permitirían llevar a cabo una transferencia de conocimiento de forma dinámica, intercambiando ideas, experiencias, y favoreciendo la participación activa de alumnos y profesores. En este trabajo se presenta una experiencia piloto de una plataforma creada en la red social Facebook como herramienta de apoyo a la docencia de la asignatura Laboratorio de Redes y Servicios de Comunicaciones, impartida en la Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingeniería de Telecomunicación de la Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena. Este trabajo muestra los resultados observados y las conclusiones extraídas sobre la acogida del alumnado y del profesorado en esta experiencia, y las ventajas y limitaciones de las redes sociales en su uso como apoyo a la docencia. [ENG]The convergence towards the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) offers the Universities the opportunity of, not only redesigning the study plans, but also enhancing the learning process with the Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). However, the difficulties of the students and teachers to get familiar to new ICT applications are barriers to the introduction of these technologies. In particular, students prefer the ICT tools that they dayly use in their leisure time, instead of the ones specifically designed as learning platforms. This is the case of the social networks, web platforms that, when used as an aid in the teachnig-learning process, allow a dynamic knowledge transfer, sharing ideas, experiencies, and favoring a fast and active participation of students and teachers. In this work we present the pilot experiment consisting of a platform created in the Facebook social network and used as a tool to support the teaching skills in the subject Network communications and services laboratory“, taught in the Telecommunications Engieneering School of the Technical University of Cartagena. This paper shows the results observed and the conclusions extracted with respect to the students‘ and teachers‘ involvement, and the advantages and limitatios of the use social networks as tools in the teaching-learning process.Campus Mare Nostrum, Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena, Universidad de Murcia, Región de Murci

HADES: A multi-agent platform to reduce congestion anchoring based on temporal coordination of vessel arrivals—application to the multi-client liquid bulk terminal in the Port of Cartagena (Spain)

Ports are key factors in international trade, and new port terminals are quite costly and time consuming to build. Therefore, it is necessary to optimize existing infrastructure to achieve sustainability in logistics. This problem is more complex in multi-client port terminals, where quay infrastructure is shared among terminal operators who often have conflicting interests. Moreover, the berth allocation problem in liquid bulk terminals implies demanding restrictions due to the reduced flexibility in berth allocation for these types of goods. In this context, this paper presents HADES, a multi-agent platform, and the experience of its pilot use in the Port of Cartagena. HADES is a software platform where agents involved in vessel arrivals share meaningful but limited information. This is done to alleviate potential congestion in multi-client liquid bulk terminals, promoting a consensus where overall congestion anchoring is reduced. A study is presented using a mixed integer linear program (MILP) optimization model to analyze the maximum theoretical reduction in congestion anchoring, depending on the flexibility of vessel arrival time changes. Results show that 6 h of flexibility is enough to reduce congestion anchoring by half, and 24 h reduces it to negligible values. This confirms the utility of HADES, which is also briefly described.The authors would like to thank Port Authority of Cartagena for data supplied, and terminal operators of docks E010 and E011 for their suggestions