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ECS 152C DESIGN PROJECTS IN COMMUNICATION NETWORKS (4) III

Lecture: 3 hours

Discussion: 1 hour

Prerequisite: Course 152A or EEC 173A

Grading: Letter; quiz/homework (20%), class presentation (20%), lab projects (60%).
Completion of lab projects substitutes for the final exam.

Catalog Description:
Advanced topics and design projects in communication networks. Example topics include wireless networks, multimedia networking, network design and management, traffic analysis and modeling, network simulations and performance analysis. Same course as EEC 173B.

Expanded Course Description:

  1. Potential Project Topics
    1. Wireless networks/Mobile computing
      1. Mobile IP
      2. Ad-hoc routing
      3. Reliable transport over wireless

      2. OR

    2. Network measurements, design, and management
      1. Control vs. data forwarding plane (routing, traffic engineering)
      2. Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP)
      3. Capacity planning; over-provisioning; load balancing

      3. OR

    3. Multimedia networking
      1. Protocols: SIP, RTP/RTCP
      2. Adaptive streaming
      3. Receiver design: playout buffer, error concealment
  2. Methodologies
    1. Hands-on experiments and prototyping

      2. AND/OR

    2. Simulations
      1. Discrete-time simulator like ns-2

      3. AND/OR

    3. Performance modeling and analysis
      1. Network and traffic models (Poisson, self-similarity, heavy-tailed distributions)
      2. Queuing delay model: Little's theorem

    Textbook:
    Depends on project topic.
    For wireless/mobile networking, recommended: J. Schiller, Mobile Communication, 2nd edition, Pearson Education Limited, 2003

    Instructor’s own notes and lab manuals

    References:
    Douglas E. Comer, Computer Networks and Internets with Internet Applications, Prentice Hall, 2001
    J. Richard Burke, Network Management: Concepts and Practice: A Hands-on Approach, Prentice Hall, 2004

    Computer Usage:
    The class requires extensive use of UNIX workstations.

    Laboratory Projects:
    The course contains a series of design projects with 2-3 students per team. The projects are designed to reinforce certain concepts and to familiarize the students with network measurement/management tools and simulators. Example projects include:

    • Design active and passive network measurement tools.
    • Traffic analysis, e.g., analyze packets captured from the network.
    • Configuration of PC-based or commercial routers.
    • Designing protocols for and programming wireless sensor nodes
    • Design new wireless protocols and evaluate their performance via network simulators (e.g., NS-2)

    Engineering Design Statement:
    The course emphasizes techniques for designing and analyzing network elements, from the application to the link layers. Students are presented with open-ended design problems that require them to explore various approaches to network design, to choose between alternatives, and to justify solutions based on performance and cost/complexity considerations. The laboratory projects are design-oriented and experimental in nature.

    ABET Category Content:
    Engineering Science: 2 units
    Engineering Design: 2 units

    Goals:
    This undergraduate course intends to illustrate the design, management, and operational principles of telecommunication networks. Students have weekly lab assignments to reinforce the concepts and provide hands-on experience. By the end of the quarter, the students will be able to use concepts learned in class to develop systematic approach to address design problems, including scalability, complexity, and robustness issues of large-scale networking systems, properties and configurations of underlying hardware components, heterogeneous channel characteristics, and emerging applications.

    Student Outcomes:

    • An ability to design and conduct experiments, as well as to analyze and interpret data
    • An ability to design a system, component, or process to meet desired needs within realistic constraints such as economic, environmental, social, political, ethical, health and safety, manufacturability, and sustain
    • An ability to function on multi-disciplinary teams
    • An ability to communicate effectively
    • The broad education necessary to understand the impact of engineering solutions in a global, economic, environmental, and societal context
    • An ability to use the techniques, skills, and modern engineering tools necessary for engineering practice

    Instructors: C-N Chuah, X. Liu, M. van der Schaar, B. Mukherjee

    Prepared by: C-N Chuah (May 2004)

    Overlap Statement:

    This is a follow-up course with emphasis on advanced topics not covered in ECS152A/EEC173A or ECS152B such as wireless sensor networks, network simulation, performance analysis, and traffic modeling. In addition, it has an extensive lab component, which involves Internet measurement, simulations or prototyping.

    Cross-listing justification:

    This course expands the choice of project electives for undergraduates in both departments, especially the CSE and CE majors. The departments will use shared resources to offer these courses throughout the academic year.

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