Spring 2025
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: 18.
Course description: This course covers the techniques needed to understand and analyze modern data communications networks using a top-down, layered approach to computer networking. It covers the basic architecture of packet networks and their network elements and the protocols used to enable transmission of packets. This is a project oriented undergraduate course. Students will be introduced to various tools for simulating communication networks such as ns-3. Laboratory work is included in this course.

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

TOPICS:
  • 1. Computer Networks and the Internet
  • 2. Application Layer
  • 3. Transport Layer
  • 4. The Network Layer: Data Plane
  • 5. The Network Layer: Control Plane
  • 6. The Link Layer and LANs
  • 7. Wireless and Mobile Networks
  • 8. Security in Computer Networks
    WEEK IN REVIEW:
    Please refer to the ENSC 427 web page.
    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:

    Thursday, February 13, 2025, 16:30 - 18:20, WMC 2532
    Thursday, April 3, 2025, 16:30 - 18:20, WMC 2532

    FINAL EXAM:
    TBA

    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 12, 2025 (midnight: 11:59 PM + 1 minute).
  • Project proposal(s) are due January 26, 2025 (midnight: 11:59 PM + 1 minute).
  • Project title, abstract, and a list of five references are due February 23, 2025 (midnight: 11:59 PM + 1 minute).
  • Web page describing your project and including the list of five references is due February 23, 2025 (midnight: 11:59 PM + 1 minute).
  • Interim report is due March 9, 2025 (midnight: 11:59 PM + 1 minute).
  • Project class presentations will be held in class on April 8, 2025. li> The following files are due on Sunday, April 13, 2025 (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%, Final exam 25%, class presentation 10%, and final project 25%.
    Your assignment scores and midterm exam 1, midterm exam 2, final exam, and overall scores distribution charts will be posted here.

    Standard SFU grade system

    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).
  • 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:
    Tuesday 16:30 - 18:20, WMC 2532
    Thursday 16:30 - 18:20, WMC 2532
    PROFESSOR:
    TEACHING ASSISTANTS:
    COMPUTING HELP:
    PROJECTS:
    ENSC 894 Spring 2025 project teams
    ENSC 894 Spring 2025 project proposals
    ENSC 894 Spring 2025 projects
    ENSC 894 Spring 2025 presentations schedule

    Instructions for in class presentations of your ENSC 894 final projects
    Instructions for writing ENSC 894 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-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
  • ns-3 website, ns-3 tutorial, ns-3 documentation, and ns-3 wiki page
  • 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 2025
    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: Sat 8 Mar 2025 18:57:03 PST.