Spring 2020
ENSC 894 G300 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:
223.
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:
-
Computer Networks and the Internet
-
history and networking principles
-
network services and organization
-
network protocols (Ethernet, Internet, Token rings, FDDI)
-
circuit-switched networks
-
packet-switched networks (wired, wireless, Internet, ATM)
-
switching, scheduling, naming, and addressing,
routing, error control, flow control.
-
Introduction to simulation tools for evaluating network performance
- OPNET: tutorial and case studies (GPRS, M-TCP)
- ns-2: tutorial and case studies (mapping the Internet)
-
Application Layer
-
Transport Layer
- case study: modeling TCP/RED
-
Network Layer
- case study: analysis of BGP
-
Link Layer and Local Area Networks
-
Analyzing Internet topology
-
Wireless and Mobile Networks
-
Traffic collection, characterization, and modeling
WEEK IN REVIEW:
ASSIGNMENTS:
Posted weekly by Friday. Due the following week on Sunday (firm deadline).
Please refer to the
ENSC 427 web page for list of Assgnments
and the Grading Schemes.
EXAMS:
MIDTERM EXAMS:
Wednesday, February 26, 2020, 14:30 - 16:20, SECB 1012
Monday, March 23, 2020, 14:30 - 16:20, SECB 1012
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 19, 2020 (midnight: 11:59 PM + 1 minute).
Project proposal(s) are due
February 2, 2020 (midnight: 11:59 PM + 1 minute).
Project title, abstract, and a list of five references are due
February 9, 2020 (midnight: 11:59 PM + 1 minute).
Web page describing your project
and including the list of five references is due
February 23, 2020 (midnight: 11:59 PM + 1 minute).
Interim report is due
March 22, 2020 (midnight: 11:59 PM + 1 minute).
Project class presentations will be held in class on
April 6 and April 8, 2020.
The following files are due on Sunday, April 19, 2020 (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%, Midterms 20% (Midterm #1 = 10% and Midterm #2 = 10%), class presentation 10%, and final project 50%.
Click here to see your
scores and
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 427
by typing "ENSC 427" (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 SECB 1012
Wednesday 14:30 - 16:20 in SECB 1012
Tutorial:
Wednesday 15:30 - 16:20 in SECB 1012 and ESIL Lab ASB 1000B/ASB 10803.
Projects:
ENSC Undergraduate Computer room: ESIL Lab ASB 10802 is equipped to provide local access to OPNET.
You may also run tools remoely.
PROFESSOR:
TEACHING ASSISTANTS:
-
Zhida Li
zhidal at sfu.ca
Office hours and lab support:
Tuesdays 17:00 to 18:00 (ESIL Lab ASB 1000B/ASB 10803)
Wednesdays 17:00 to 18:00 (ESIL Lab ASB 1000B/ASB 10803)
COMPUTING HELP:
PROJECTS:
ENSC 894 Spring 2020 project teams
ENSC 894 Spring 2020 project proposals
ENSC 894 Spring 2020 projects
ENSC 894 Spring 2020 presentation schedule
Instructions for in class presentations
of your ENSC 894 final projects (revised)
Instructions for writing
ENSC 894 final project reports (revised)
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://www2.ensc.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-2 and/or ns-3 on a PC running MS operating system, download:
    Option 1 (easier):
Downlaod Ubuntu virtual machine
VirtualBox
in order to run the virtual machine.
    Option 2:
cygwin
Obsolete:
Running tools remotely
ns-3 website,
ns-3 tutorial,
ns-3 documentation, and
ns-3 wiki page
Old: ns-2 simulator and
documentation
BlueHoc: Bluetooth Performance Evaluation Tool
Network Designer (NetDes) with ns Java applet
Riverbed Modeler
Ptolemy
Omnet++
S-PLUS for Unix
Wireshark network protocol analyzer
Quagga Routing Suite
GNU Zebra: Free routing software
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 2020
WEB SITES OF INTEREST:
Communication Networks Laboratory
Research with OPNET at SFU
Previous offerings of ENSC 427, ENSC 833, ENSC 835, ENSC 894, and ENSC 895
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:
-
AUDIO RECORDING of ENSC 894 LECTURES:
Audio recordings
of ENSC 894 lectures would have been available
online.
Access is limited to students enrolled in ENSC 894 this term.
ENSC 894 URL:
http://www.ensc.sfu.ca/people/faculty/ljilja/ENSC894/
ENSC 894 MAILING LIST:
ensc-894@sfu.ca
ENSC 894 Spring 2020 CANVAS sites:
ENSC 894 G300 Spring 2020
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:
Mon Mar 30 18:50:05 PDT 2020.