Spring 2023
ENSC 835: COMMUNICATION NETWORKS


TOPICS WEEK IN REVIEW ASSIGNMENTS EXAMS TEXTBOOKS

SCHEDULE STAFF PROJECTS TOOLS WEB SITES INFO


Current count of email messages related to ENSC 835 exchanged this term: 9.
Course description: This course covers the techniques needed to understand and analyze modern data communications networks. It covers the basic architecture of packet networks and their network elements (switches, routers, bridges), and the protocols used to enable transmission of packets through the network. It addresses techniques for collection, characterization, and modeling of traffic in packet networks. It covers aspects of traffic management, such as various call admission control and congestion control algorithms in high-speed packet networks and the influence of traffic on network performance.

This is a project oriented graduate course. Students will be introduced to various algorithms and software tools for simulating packet networks: ns-3 network simulator (Lawrence Berkeley Labs), Ptolemy (UC Berkeley), and AutoClass (NASA). S-PLUS (Insightful) tool for statistical analysis of traffic data will be also available.

Pre-requisites: Successful completion of ENSC 427-3 or permission of the instructor.


TOPICS:
WEEK IN REVIEW:
  • 1. January 5, 2023
  • 2. January 9, 2023
    ASSIGNMENTS:
    Posted weekly by Friday. Due the following week on Sunday (firm deadline).
  • Assignment #1

    GRADING SCHEMES:
  • Assignment #1
    EXAMS:

    MIDTERM EXAMS:
    Thursday, February 16, 2023, 18:30 - 20:20, BLU 11901
    Thursday, March 30, 2023, 18:30 - 20:20, BLU 11901

    FINAL EXAM:
    No final exam.

    FAS policy on mid-terms and finals is described in Section 5.7 of the FAS Handbook
    Academic honesty and plagiarism

    PROJECT REPORTS AND PRESENTATIONS:

  • Project teams are due January 15, 2023 (midnight: 11:59 PM + 1 minute).
  • Project proposal(s) are due February 5, 2023 (midnight: 11:59 PM + 1 minute).
  • Project title, abstract, and a list of five references are due February 12, 2023 (midnight: 11:59 PM + 1 minute).
  • Web page describing your project including the list of five references is due February 19, 2023 (midnight: 11:59 PM + 1 minute).
  • Interim report is due March 13, 2023 (midnight: 11:59 PM + 1 minute).
  • Project class presentations will be held in class on April 11, 2023.
  • The following files are due on Sunday, April 16, 2023 (midnight: 11:59 PM + 1 minute):
    • Presentation slides (Power Point and PDF files) of your final project,
    • URL for the web pages of your final project, and
    • Final written report (LaTEX or MS Word file and PDF file) of your final project.

    The final project grading policy
    The final project grading form
    GRADING:
    Assignments 20%, Midterm exam 1 10%, Midterm exam 2 10%, class presentation 10%, and final project 50%.
    Your assignment scores and midterm exam 1, midterm exam 2, and overall scores distribution charts will be posted here.
    TEXTBOOKS:

    Recommended reading:
  • J. F. Kurose and K. W. Ross, Computer Networking, 8th Edition, Paerson, 2021.
         Interactive end-of-chapter exercises, Supplement to Computer Networking: A Top-Down Approach, 8th edition.
  • J. Walrand and P. Varaiya, High-performance Communication Networks, 2/e, Morgan Kaufmann, 2000.
        Online version (click on "Full text - Books 24x7 limited to 5 simultaneous users" link once you access the page).
  • A. Leon-Garcia and I. Widjaja, Communication Networks: Fundamental Concepts and Key Architectures, 2nd edition, McGraw-Hill, 2004. Errata page.
  • S. Keshav, Engineering Approach to Computer Networking: ATM Networks, the Internet, and the Telephone Network, Addison Wesley, 1997.
  • J. Walrand, Communication Networks, A First Course, 2/e, McGraw-Hill, 1998.
  • D. Bertsekas and R. Gallager, Data Networks, Second edition, Prentice Hall, 1992.
  • L. L. Peterson and B. Davie, Computer Networks, A Systems Approach, 3rd edition, Morgan Kaufmann, 1999.
  • Other related sources:
  • T. G. Robertazzi, Computer Networks and Systems, Queuing Theory and Performance Evaluation, Third edition, Springer Verlag, 2000.
  • M. De Prycker, Asynchronous Transfer Mode: Solutions for Broadband ISDN, Ellis Horwood, 1991.
  • I. Katzela, Modeling and Simulating Communication Networks, A Hands-on Approach Using OPNET, Prentice Hall, 1999.
  • Check the status of the books on reserve for ENSC 835 by typing "ENSC 835" (with the space) in the search window.


    JOURNALS:
  • IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials
  • IEEE Network, The magazine of global information exchange
  • IEEE Communications Magazine
  • ACM Computer Communication Review
  • IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications
  • IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking
    SCHEDULE:
    Lectures:
    Tuesday 14:30 - 15:50, BLU 11901
    Thursday 14:30 - 15:50, BLU 11901
    PROFESSOR:

    TEACHING ASSISTANT:

      Office hours and lab support:
      TBA

    COMPUTING HELP:


    PROJECTS:
    ENSC 835 Spring 23 project teams
    ENSC 835 Spring '23 project proposals
    ENSC 835 Spring '23 projects

    Instructions for in class presentations of your ENSC 835 final projects
    Instructions for writing ENSC 835 final project reports

    IEEE Author Center:
       IEEE Author Tools
       Create your IEEE Article
       IEEE Editorial Style Manual

    Samples of past projects:
    Past course web pages are located at:
    http://www.sfu.ca/~ljilja/teaching.html


    SOFTWARE TOOLS:
  • Get familiar with Linux/CentOS. The following sites have links to useful Unix tutorials and documentation:
        http://www.cyberciti.biz/tips/linux-unix-commands-cheat-sheets.html
        http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Keyboard-and-Console-HOWTO.html
        http://wiki.centos.org/HowTo
    To run ns-3 on a PC running MS operating system, download:
        Option 1 (easier): Ubuntu virtual machine. Login and password may be found on the same page. Downlaod VirtualBox in order to run the virtual machine.
        Option 2: cygwin
  • ns-3 website, ns-3 tutorial, ns-3 documentation, and ns-3 wiki page
        BlueHoc: Bluetooth Performance Evaluation Tool
        Network Designer (NetDes) with ns Java applet
  • Ptolemy
  • Omnet++
  • S-PLUS for Unix and S-PLUS for Windows

    TRAFFIC TRACES:
    Locally available short traces:

  • Star Wars data:
      VBR Frames: trace and its description.
      MPEG Frames: trace and its description.
      Trace for ns StarWars trace for ns (14 MBytes) and its description.
  • News recorded video data: news.IPB, news.I, news.P, news.B, and their description.
  • Short extracts from Bellcore Ethernet traces:
      tpAug89_2000.TL, pOct89_2000.TL, OctExt_2000.TL, and their description.
    FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQ)
    Email messages with hints and answers to some frequently asked questions.
    (Check FAQ pages from prior ENSC 427, ENSC 833, ENSC 835, ENSC 894, and ENSC 895 offerings for useful hints.)
    FAQ in 2023
    FAQ in 2018
    FAQ in 2016
    FAQ in 2013
    WEB SITES OF INTEREST:
  • Communication Networks Laboratory
  • Research with OPNET at SFU
  • Other web sites of interest
    INFO:
    TOPICS WEEK IN REVIEW ASSIGNMENTS EXAMS TEXTBOOKS

    SCHEDULE STAFF PROJECTS TOOLS WEB SITES INFO


    Created by
    Ljiljana Trajkovic
    ljilja at cs.sfu.ca
    Last modified: Wed 4 Jan 2023 16:23:21 PST.