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| STUDENTS
> Communications and Networks
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Communications and Networks
Note:
Whilst every effort is made to keep the syllabus and assessment records correct
for this course, the precise details must be checked with the lecturer(s).
| Code: | D15
(Also taught as: 3C36)
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| Year: | MSc |
| Prerequisites: | Students should have some familiarity with the basic components of computers (processor, memory etc.). Normally they should have completed a programming course.
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| Term: | 2 |
| Taught By: | Brad Karp (50%)
Ian Brown (50%)
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| Aims: | To introduce the techniques used to transfer all types of data (including continuous media such as voice) in the local and wide areas. To introduce the basic operation of the Internet |
| Learning Outcomes: | Students should understand the "packet-switching" approach to communication and should appreciate the characteristics of the various transmission and networking technologies and the main factors which affect their performance. They should understand the naming, addressing and routing techniques used in the Internet together with the operations of typical applications. |
Content:
| Channels and channel capacity | Digital and analogue representations and channels. Bandwidth and noise. Introduction to Fourier theory. Channel capacity; Nyquist, Shannon. |
| Introduction to information theory | Information and entropy, Encoding. Optimal encoding. Representing bits. Baseband encoding. Introduction to modulation. Framing and transparency. |
| Sharing network resources | Telecommunications history. Circuit-switching and packet-switching. Multiplexing; FDM, TDM, statistical multiplexing. Virtual circuits and datagrams; advantages and disadvantages. |
| Sharing the medium | Aloha, CSMA (persistent and non-persistent), CSMA-CD, token-passing, CDMA, wireless LANs. Simple performance analysis. |
| Dealing with errors | Errors, coding and redundancy, Hamming theory. Hamming codes. CRCs. ARQ protocols; stop and wait, CR go-back-N, CR selective retransmission. Flow control |
| Internetworking and the Internet | ISPs, datagram forwarding, the DNS. IPv4; addressing and forwarding. Encapsulation and address resolution. TCP and UDP; ports and congestion control. Example applications - WWW and VoIP. |
| Modelling data networks | Services and protocols. Layered architectures. The OSI 7-layer model |
| Introduction to Queuing Theory | Derivation and use of simple M/M/1 results. |
| Physical Media | Characteristics of copper, radio-spectrum and optical fibre media. |
| LANs and Bridging | Frame formats. IEEE LAN model. Repeaters, hubs, bridges and switches. Transparent bridge operation. Spanning-tree algorithm. Source-routing bridge. Remote bridging. |
| WANs and point-to-point links | Framing on point-to-point links. Example WAN technologies: N-ISDN (circuit switched); B-ISDN (ATM, VCCs and VPPs). |
| Routing | Routing principles. Dynamic routing. Backward learning. Distance Vector techniques: Bellman-Ford, problems - "counting to infinity", examples RIP I RIP II. Link State techniques: Dijkstra, examples OSPF. Hierarchical routing: autonomous systems, BGP |
| Addressing and routing in the Internet | Names, addresses and routes. Datagram forwarding. IPv4 addressing. Networks, sub-nets and supernets (CIDR). Private address spaces, NAT. Dial-up operation. Intranets and VPNs. |
| End-to-end communication in the Internet | QoS requirements: elastic and inelastic applications. TCP: basic operation. TCP: congestion control. UDP. RTP and RTCP. Real-time traffic; requirements for audio and video. Traffic policing; token bucket. |
| Application protocols | Abstract and concrete syntaxes. The OSI presentation layer: ASN.1 and BER. Data representation in the Internet. Example applications: FTP, WWW (HTTP, cacheing). Sessions: relation to transport connections, sessions on the WWW. |
Method of Instruction:
Lecture presentations with associated class problems.
Assessment:
The course has the following assessment components:
- Coursework Section (2 pieces, 10%)
- Written Examination (2.5 hours, 90%)
To pass this course, students must:
- Obtain at least 40% on the coursework component
- Obtain an average of at least 50% when the coursework and exam components of a course are weighted together
The examination rubric is:
Answer 3 questions out of 5.Resources:
""Data and Computer Communications - Sixth Edition", William Stallings, Prentice Hall, ISBN 0-13-086388-2. Note that the Seventh edition of this book is to be published in the Autumn 2003. The ISBN number will be: ISBN: 0-13-100681-9.
"Multimedia Communications" - Fred Halsall, Addison-Wesley; ISBN: 0201398184
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