Spring 2015
ENSC 894 G200 SPECIAL TOPICS II: COMMUNICATION NETWORKS

(3-0-0)
TOPICS WEEK IN REVIEW ASSIGNMENTS EXAMS TEXTBOOKS

SCHEDULE STAFF PROJECTS TOOLS WEB SITES INFO

This course is taught together with ENSC 427. Please refer to the ENSC 427 web page for details.
Current count of email messages related to ENSC 894 exchanged this term: 183.
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: OPNET (OPNET Technologies), ns-2 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:
ASSIGNMENTS:
Posted weekly by Friday. Due the following week on Sunday (firm deadline).
EXAMS:

MIDTERM EXAMS:
Wednesday, February 18, 2015, 14:30 - 15:20, RBC 8100
Wednesday, March 16, 2015, 14:30 - 15:20, C 9000

FINAL EXAM:
No final exam.

PROJECT REPORTS AND PRESENTATIONS:

  • Web page describing your project and five references are due March 15, 2015 (midnight: 11:59 PM + 1 minute).
  • Interim report is due March 22, 2015 (midnight: 11:59 PM + 1 minute).
  • Project class presentations will be held on April 8, 2015 and April 13, 2015.
  • 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 are due on Sunday, April 19, 2015 (midnight: 11:59 PM + 1 minute).
    The final project grading policy
    The final project grading form
    GRADING:
    Assignments 10%, Midterms 20% (Midterm #1 = 10% and Midterm #2 = 10%), class presentation 10%, and final project 60%.
    Click here to see your scores, midterm exam 1, midterm exam 2, and overall scores distribution charts.
    TEXTBOOKS:

    Recommended reading:
  • J. Kurose and K. W. Ross, Computer Networking: A Top-Down Approach, 4/E Addison Wesley, 2008.
  • J. Kurose and K. W. Ross, Computer Networking: A Top-Down Approach Featuring the Internet: 3/E, Addison Wesley, 2005.
  • J. Walrand and P. Varaiya, High-performance Communication Networks, 2/e, Morgan Kaufmann, 2000
        (online version).
  • A. Leon-Garcia and I. Widjaja, Communication Networks: Fundamental Concepts and Key Architectures, 2nd edition, McGraw-Hill, 2004.
  • 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 894 by typing "ENSC 894" (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:
    Monday 14:30 - 16:20 in C 9000
    Location: Shrum Science Centre - Chemistry
    Wednesday 14:30 - 15:20 in RBC 8100
    Location: Robert C. Brown Hall

    Tutorial:
    Wednesday 15:30 - 16:20 in RCB 8100 and ESIL Lab ASB 1000B/ASB 10802.
    Location: Robert C. Brown Hall

    Projects:
    Please note that there is no ENSC Graduate Computer room dedicated to this course. Please use the ENSC Undergraduate Computer room: ESIL Lab ASB 10802 (open lab). You may also run tools remotely.

    PROFESSOR:

    TEACHING ASSISTANT:

    COMPUTING HELP:

    PROJECTS:
    ENSC 894 Spring 2015 project teams
    ENSC 894 Spring 2015 projects
    Presentation schedule

    Instructions for in class presentations of your ENSC 894 final projects
    Instructions for writing ENSC 894 final project reports
    IEEE Tools for Authors for writing papers. Subsection "Template for Transactions", "Instructions Only".

    Samples of past projects:
    Past course web pages are located at: http://www2.ensc.sfu.ca/~ljilja/teaching.html

    SOFTWARE TOOLS:
  • Instructions how to run Riverbed Modeler (formerly OPNET) (under revision)
  • 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-2 and/or ns-3 on a PC running MS operating system, download:
        Option 1: cygwin
        Option 2: Ubuntu virtual machine. Login and password may be found on the same page. Downlaod VirtualBox in order to run the virtual machine.
  • Review:
        Running tools remotely
  • Riverbed Modeler version 18.0
        Riverbed Modeler main page
  • ns-3 website, ns-3 tutorial, ns-3 documentation, and ns-3 wiki page
  • ns-2 simulator and documentation
        BlueHoc: Bluetooth Performance Evaluation Tool
        Network Designer (NetDes) with ns Java applet
  • Ptolemy
  • Omnet++
  • S-PLUS for Unix and S-PLUS for Windows
  • Wireshark network protocol analyzer
  • Quagga Routing Suite
  • GNU Zebra (old site)
    TRAFFIC TRACES: locally available short traces
    FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQ)
    Email messages with hints and answers to some frequently asked questions.
    (Check FAQ pages from prior ENSC 427 offerings for useful hints.)
    FAQ in 2015
    WEB SITES OF INTEREST:
  • Communication Networks Laboratory
  • Research with OPNET at SFU
  • Other web sites of interest
    Acronyms:
  • Dictionary of Acronyms in Communications and Informatics (DACI)
  • http://www.its.bldrdoc.gov:80/fs-1037/
  • http://www.csrstds.com/acro-a-d.html
    General references:
  • What is page
    Documents:
    Internet Requests for Comments (RFC) site:
  • IETF
    Daily news of interest:
  • Wired News: DoS: Defense Is the Best Offense
    Fun things:
  • RFC 1121
  • RFC 1149
  • RFC 2100
  • UC Berkeley EECS20: Structure and Interpretation of Signals and Systems
    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: Fri Apr 24 19:26:34 PDT 2015.