This course introduces fundamental concepts of wireless networks. The course will combine lectures with a set of assignments in which students will run experiment on wireless networks. The lectures will provide an introduction to the wireless physical layer (accessible for students with mostly a computer systems background), discuss commonly used wireless MAC mechanisms, give an wireless data communication standards, and review a number of more advanced topics. Specifically, we will cover the following topics:
All information regarding this course will be posted on this web page so please check the page regularly. We will also make announcements in class.
Prerequisites: 18-345 and 15-213, or 18-441, or equivalent courses taken at another institutions; C/C++ and/or Java programming skills. We have created a reading list who need to build up their networking background.
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Prof. Peter Steenkiste
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Dr. Dina Papagiannaki
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Aditya Krishnan
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Kaushal Patel
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Angela Miller
E-mail: amiller AT cs.cmu.edu
Office: Wean Hall 8215
The textbook for the course is "Wireless Communications and Networks", William Stallings, Prentice Hall, second edition, 2005. It does not cover all the course material, but it is the "best fit".
Another good book is "Wireless Communications & Networking", Vijay Garg, Morgan Kaufmann, June 2007. It is has good coverage of cellular technologies and it is more up to date than Stallings' book since it appeared more recently. However, its coverage of WiFi and PAN technologies is more limited.
Lectures will be held Monday and Wednesday in 3:30-5:20PM, in WEH 5403. Recitations will be held on Friday 3:30-5:00 in WEH 5403.
The lecture schedule listed below is very tentative.
| Week from | Monday | Wednesday | Friday |
| Jan 12 | 1. Introduction, wireless history | 2. Wireless challenges versus OSI | - |
| Jan 19 | No class - MLK day | 3. Physical layer | - |
| Jan 26 | 4. Physical layer | 5. Physical layer | - |
| Feb 2 | 6. Physical layer | 7. Cellular | - |
| Feb 9 | 8. Cellular | 9. Cellular and WiMax | - |
| Feb 16 | 10. Random access in wireless | 11. WLAN | - |
| Feb 23 | 12. WLAN | 13. WLAN Ad Hoc Survey, paper |
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| Mar 2 | 14. Wireless Andrew (guest lecture) | Midterm | - |
| Mar 9 | Spring break | Spring break | - |
| Mar 16 | 15. Self-Organizing Wireless | 16. Wireless in the Internet | - |
| Mar 23 | 17. Sensor networks | 18. PAN | Recitation |
| Mar 30 | 19. Advanced topics - student talks Wireless Simulation and Emulation, paper Measurements of wireless networks, paper |
20. Advanced topics - student talks Opportunistic Communication, paper Network Coding, paper |
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| Apr 6 | 21. Advanced topics - student talks WiFi on the move, paper Rate adaptation in 802.11, paper |
22. Security in Sensor Networks (Prof. Adrian Perrig, CMU) | - |
| Apr 13 | 23. Advanced topics - student talks Dynamic Spectrum Access, paper Efficient Spectrum Utilization, paper |
24. Advanced topics - student talks TCP over wireless, paper Vehicular Networks, paper |
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| Apr 20 | 25. No class - project meetings in WeH 8202 | 26. Advanced topics - student talks Disruption Tolerant Networking, paper Mesh networks, paper |
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| Apr 27 | 27. No class | 28. Review | Poster session in classroom |
Four or five homeworks will be assigned throughout the course.
| Homeworks | Description | Out | Due | Solution |
| HW 1 | Physical layer | Wednesday, Feb 4 | Wednesday, Feb 11, class time | HW1 Solutions |
| HW 2 | Cellular | Monday, Feb 23 | Monday, Mar 1, 5pm (hard deadline) | HW2 Solutions |
| HW 3 | Ad-Hoc, WiFi, Sensor Networks, Bluetooth | Monday, Apr 6 | Monday, Apr 13, 5pm (hard deadline) | HW3 Solutions |
| HW 4 | Advanced Topics- Student Talks | Monday, Apr 20 | Monday, Apr 27 | HW4 Solutions |
The course will also include a midterm (solutions, distribution) and a final.
The course includes a hands-on project in the second half of the semester. Projects will be executed by small teams of students. More details can be found here.
About one third of the course will be dedicated to to more advanced topics. This part of the course will consist of presentations by both the instructors and by the students. The instructors will present background material and small teams of students will then present in depth surveys of the ongoing work in that area. Each student will be involved in preparing and presenting one survey. Topics will include ad hoc and mesh networks, opportunistic reception and network coding, network planning and management, verhicular networks, and disruption tolerant networks. More details on the survey assignment, including list of topics, can be found in the Survey Handout. That page also includes a list of papers for each topic. The schedule for the student talks can be found on the Survey Team Assignments page.
The survey lectures are part of the course, and the material presented in the presentations will be covered in the homeworks and final. Specifically, the slides used in the survey presentation and one of the papers on the reading list, should be studied to prepare for the final. Both the slides and the selected paper can be found in the table with the course schedule.
The survey assignment also includes writing a short survey document (see Survey Handout for details). Surveys should be limited to two pages (citations can spill onto the third page), two column format, 10 pt font, 1 inch margins everywhere. Templates for the survey (both MS Word and Latex) can be found in this directory. It is due on Wednesday April 29.
Grades will be determined based on homeworks (10%), project (25%), survey talk (10%) and document (5%), and 2 exams (20% midterm and 30% final).