enee426 | communication networks

ENEE 426 Communication Networks Spring 2008

Basic Information

ENEE 426, Communication Networks (Testudo Information)
Prereq: ENEE 326, Engineering Probability
Schedule: Tue/Thu, 2:00pm to 3:15pm
Location: EGR 1108 (Martin Hall)

Textbook: Peterson & Davie, Computer Networks: A Systems Approach, 4th Edition (March 2007)
Software: NS-2 Network Simulator, http://www.isi.edu/nsnam/ns/

Instructor: T. Charles Clancy, Adjunct Professor, ECE
Office: 1357 AVW on Tue/Thu afternoons; 2125 LTS all other times
Office Hours: 1pm-2pm Tue/Thu, or by appointment
Contact: tcc@umd.edu

Lectures and Schedule

Week 1: Introduction (Chapter 1)
- Lecture Slides: Introduction, Rate and Latency
- Lecture Slides: Layered Protocol Design
Week 2: Communications Links; LANs (Chapter 2)
- Lecture Slides: Fundamentals of the Internet
- Lecture Slides: PHY Layers
- Problem Set: Problem Set #1, Due February 14
Week 3: Medium Access Control (Chapter 3)
- Lecture Slides: Distributed Medium Access Control
- Lecture Slides: Centralized MAC and Switching
- Lecture Notes: Proof of Slotted Aloha Rate
Week 4: NS-2
- Lecture Slides: from UVA course, Part 1, Part 2 (only covering Part 1 in class)
- Problem Set: Problem Set #2, Due February 28
- Example Scripts: Example Script from Class, Script to Parse Trace Files
Week 5: Wireless Networks (Section 2.8)
- Lecture Slides: WLANs and WMANs
- Lecture Slides: Mobile Phone Networks
Week 6: Queueing Theory; Packet Switching Performance
- Lecture Slides: Delay Models in Data Networks
- Lecture Notes: Queueing Theory Notes
- Problem Set: Problem Set #3, Due March 13
- MATLAB Script: queue.m
- Problem Set Solutions: Problem Set #2 Solutions
Week 7: Midterm Review; Midterm
Spring Break
Week 8: Internetworking; Internet Protocol (Chapter 4)
- Lecture Slides: Internetworking
Week 9: Routing; Mobility (Chapter 4)
- Lecture Slides: Routing
- Problem Set: Problem Set #4, Due April 10
- Lecture Slides: Mobility
Week 10: UDP & TCP (Chapter 5)
- Lecture Slides: TCP and UDP
- Lecture Slides: Detailed TCP
Week 11: Congestion Control & Flow Control (Chapter 6)
- Lecture Slides: Network-Based Congestion Control
- Lecture Slides: Quality of Service
- Problem Set: Problem Set #5, Due April 24
Week 12: Data Communication (XML, ASN.1); Compression & Multimedia (Chapter 7)
- Problem Set: Problem Set #6, Due May 6
- Lecture Notes: End-to-End Data
- Lecture: Information Theory, Huffman Codes, see Wikipedia Entry for basic information
Week 13: Network Security, Access Control (Chapter 8)
- Lecture Notes: Security Fundamentals
- Problem Set: Problem Set #7, Discussed May 6
- Solutions: Rough solutions to Problem Sets #5 and #7
Week 14: Final Review; Final
Week 15: Tuesday Class Canceled

Lectures will be given using Powerpoint slides, supplemented with whiteboard explanations. Lecture slides will be posted on the course website at least 24 hours before class. It is recommended that you print out the slides and bring them to class to fascilitate taking notes.

Grading Policy

The class grade will be based on exams, problem sets (some of which will involve the use of the NS-2 network simulator), and class participation.

30%: Midterm Exam covering first half of course
30%: Final Exam covering second half of course
30%: Problem Sets
10%: Class Participation

NS-2 Installation

For this class we're using NS-2 and NAM. NS-2 is the network simulator that executes simulations. NAM is the Network Animator and will visualize the simulations after they've completed running.

Linux and Mac users can install the "all in one" package that includes all the necessary support libraries from here. For instructions, see NS-2 installation instructions on the NS-2 website.

Most Linux distributions already include NS-2 in their package manager. For Debian/Ubuntu try "apt-get install ns2 nam" and for Redhat try "yum install ns2 nam".

Windows users can download precompiled versions of NS-2 and NAM in this ZIP file. Before running the executables, you need to install ActiveTCL.