15-844 Networking
12 units, 1 CS PhD core unit
Spring, 1997

Allan Fisher and Peter Steenkiste
Carnegie Mellon University
School of Computer Science

Administration

Class hours

TuTh 9:00-10:20 Wean 8220

Instructors

Allan Fisher
4117 Wean Hall
x8-7688

Peter Steenkiste
3202 Wean Hall
x8-3261

Support

Terri Stankus
4117 Wean Hall
x8-3731

Prerequisites

Software Systems and Computer Systems core courses recommended. Programming ability and understanding of basic OS and architecture issues required.

Textbook

Tanenbaum, Computer Networks 3rd edition. Prentice Hall, 1996

Overview

The purpose of this course is to provide students with an in-depth understanding of key issues of principle and practice in computer networks. Topics include multimedia, quality of service, and new network technologies including ATM, wireless and Gigabit Ethernet. The course involves both a reading/lecture/discussion component and a project component. Evaluation is based on a midterm, project and final exam.

Projects will consist of hands-on experiments. During the first few weeks, we will suggest a number of possible projects. Formal project proposals of a page or two are due February 6, and will be returned with comments by February 13. The projects will require a mid-semester status report and a demo and final report at the end of the semester.

Schedule

weeks of 1/13 and 1/20

applications and services

multimedia
multicast
information retrieval
resource discovery
network-awareness

weeks of 1/27 and 2/3

(project proposals due 2/6)

network protocols

naming and routing
transport protocols
cross-layer protocols
performance aspects

weeks of 2/10 and 2/17

congestion and traffic management

principles
open-loop schemes
flow control
rate control

weeks of 2/24 and 3/3

(midterm exam 2/25)

quality of service

principles
service and traffic descriptions
protocols

weeks of 3/10 and 3/17

physical and link layers

interfaces
telephony standards
Ethernet variants
switching architectures
other networks

week of 3/24

(spring break)

weeks of 3/31 and 4/7

ATM

data formats
switching
resource management
quality of service

weeks of 4/14 and 4/21

wireless networking

technology
system design issues
protocols

week of 4/28

project reviews