Spring 2021
ENSC 894 G300 SPECIAL TOPICS II: COMMUNICATION NETWORKS

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: 167.
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).
Please refer to the ENSC 427 web page for the list of Assgnments and the Grading Schemes.
EXAMS:

MIDTERM EXAMS:
Monday, March 1, 2021, 14:30 - 16:20, online
Monday, March 24, 2021, 14:30 - 16:20, online

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 17, 2021 (midnight: 11:59 PM + 1 minute).
  • Project proposal(s) are due January 31, 2021 (midnight: 11:59 PM + 1 minute).
  • Project title, abstract, and a list of five references are due February 21, 2021 (midnight: 11:59 PM + 1 minute).
  • Web page describing your project and including the list of five references is due February 21, 2021 (midnight: 11:59 PM + 1 minute).
  • Interim report is due March 14, 2021 (midnight: 11:59 PM + 1 minute).
  • Project class presentations will be held in class on April 12, 2020 and April 14, 2021.
  • The following files are due on Sunday, April 25, 2021 (midnight: 11:59 PM + 1 minute):
    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. F. Kurose and K. W. Ross, Computer Networking, 8th Edition, Paerson, 2021.
  • J. F. Kurose and K. W. Ross, Computer Networking: A Top-Down Approach, 7/E, Pearson, 2017.
         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).
  • 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 virtual
    Wednesday 14:30 - 16:20 virtual

    Tutorial:
    Wednesday 15:30 - 16:20 virtual

    PROFESSOR:

    TEACHING ASSISTANTS:

    COMPUTING HELP:

    PROJECTS:
    ENSC 894 Spring 2021 project teams
    ENSC 894 Spring 2021 project proposals
    ENSC 894 Spring 2021 projects
    ENSC 894 Spring 2021 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 2021
    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:
    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: Tue 4 May 2021 16:33:31 PDT.