Fall 2024
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: 193.
Course description: Techniques needed to understand and analyze modern data communications networks. Basic architecture of packet networks and their network elements (switches, routers, bridges), and the protocols used to enable transmission of packets through the network. Techniques for collection, characterization, and modeling of traffic in packet networks. Aspects of traffic management, such as call admission control and congestion control algorithms in packet networks and the influence of traffic on network performance.

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:
  • 1. September 5, 2024
  • 2. September 10, 2024
  • 3. September 17, 2024
  • 4. September 24, 2024
  • 5. October 1, 2024
  • 6. October 8, 2024
  • 7. October 15, 2024
  • 8. October 22, 2024
  • 9. October 29, 2024
  • 10. November 5, 2024
  • 11. November 12, 2024
  • 12. November 19, 2024
  • 13. November 26, 2024
  • 14. December 3, 2024
    ASSIGNMENTS:
    Posted weekly by Friday. Due the following week on Sunday (firm deadline).
  • Assignment #1 (revised)
  • Assignment #2
  • Assignment #3
  • Assignment #4
  • Assignment #5
  • Assignment #6
  • Assignment #7
  • Assignment #8
  • Assignment #9
  • Assignment #10
  • Assignment #11

    GRADING SCHEMES:
  • Assignment #1
  • Assignment #2
  • Assignment #3
  • Assignment #4
  • Assignment #5
  • Assignment #6
  • Assignment #7
  • Assignment #8
  • Assignment #9
  • Assignment #10
    EXAMS:

    MIDTERM EXAMS:
    Thursday, October 17, 2024, 18:30 - 19:10, WMC 3513
    Thursday, November 28, 2024, 18:30 - 19:50, WMC 3513

    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 September 15, 2024 (midnight: 11:59 PM + 1 minute).
  • Project proposal(s) are due October 6, 2024 (midnight: 11:59 PM + 1 minute).
  • Project title, abstract, and a list of five references are due October 13, 2024 (midnight: 11:59 PM + 1 minute).
  • Web page describing your project including the list of five references is due October 20, 2024 (midnight: 11:59 PM + 1 minute).
  • Interim report is due November 10, 2024 (midnight: 11:59 PM + 1 minute).
  • Project class presentations will be held in class on December 3, 2024.
  • The following files are due on Sunday, December 8, 2024 (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 (revised)
    The final project grading form (revised)
    GRADING:
    Assignments 20%, Midterm exam 1 10%, Midterm exam 2 10%, class presentation 10%, and final project 50%.
    Click here to see your scores and midterm no. 1 exam, midterm no. 2 exam, and overall scores distribution charts.
    TEXTBOOKS:

    Recommended reading:
  • J. F. Kurose and K. W. Ross, Computer Networking, 8th Edition, Paerson, 2021.
         Authors' Website, Resources (for Everyone)
  • 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 18:30 - 19:50, WMC 3513
    Thursday 18:30 - 19:50, WMC 3513
    PROFESSOR:

    TEACHING ASSISTANT:

      Not assigned.

    COMPUTING HELP:

    PROJECTS:
    ENSC 835 Fall 2024 project teams
    ENSC 835 Fall 2024 project proposals
    ENSC 835 Fall 2024 projects
    Presentation schedule

    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 2024
    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.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 13 Dec 2024 00:04:54 PST.