S-38.188 Computer Networks (Spring 2004)

General

This course corresponds to the course T-110.350 Computer Networks. You may include in your degree requirements only one of the courses, not both.

Status

The course is a prerequisite for the Networking Technology major and optional in the Telecommunications Management minor and in the Teletraffic theory major and minor.

The course may also be optional in other majors and minors not listed above.

Objective

The objective of the course is to ensure that students have a good basic knowledge of computer networks and understand how to simulate simple networks using the ns2 simulator tool.

Prerequisites

The course prerequisite is S-72.423 Telecommunication Systems or the equivalent course T-110.300 Telecommunications architectures. Also the course S-38.108 Tietoliikenneverkkojen arkkitehtuurit, which is not lectured anymore is accepted as prerequisite.

Course requirements

To pass the course you must do three project works and an exam. The results of the project works are valid only for a year, this means that you cannot for example do the project work in spring 2004 and then take the exam of the spring 2005 course.

The course is lectured in Finnish, but lecture slides are in English.

Grading

To pass the course:

• You need to pass all the project works, before you can take the exam.
• You must pass the exam in order to pass the course.
• The final grade is given by the weighted average of the exam results and project grade, which is roughly 25% project 75% exam.
• NOTE! Because you need to pass both the exam and the project works to pass the course, you cannot take the exam if you do not pass the project works. Furthermore, you cannot do the next part of the project work if you have not passed the previous part.

Enrolling to the course
and getting information

You must enroll to the course by using WWW-TOPI.

Most information concerning the course is given in the newsgroup opinnot.sahko.s-38.tietoverkkotekniikka.

To get information related to the course, please subscribe to the course mailing list.

Only course personnel can send messages to the mailing list. The newsgroup is for general discussion. (However, note that this course is lectured in Finnish, only the course slides are in English).

Material

The course book is: Larry L. Peterson & Bruce S. Davie: Computer Networks - A Systems Approach, 2nd or 3rd edition; publisher Morgan Kaufman Publishers, Inc; ISBN 1-55860-577-0.

The book costs about 50-60 Euros as an "international student edition".

Lecture notes complement the course text and include lecture slides. Lecture slides can be obtained electronically from the course www-site.

You are not allowed to print the lecture slides by using HUT printers.

Timetable

Week	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17
Lectures	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12		13
Exercises				ex. class			ex. class	ex. class	ex. class	ex. class	ex. class			ex. class

Lectures

Lectures will be held in Finnish on Mondays 14-16 in S1. Lecture slides are in English. The first lecture is Monday 19.1.2004. For more information visit the lecture pages.

Project works

There are three compulsory project works during the course. Project works deal mainly with TCP. Part 1 is a colllection of short exercises on TCP and related topics. Part 2 is a simulation project, where students are made familiar with TCP congestion control and the simulation tool ns2. Part 3 is a more independent simulation project, where students study TCP congestion control under different scenarios. All project works must be done with a passing grade in order for a student to pass the course.

All project works will be done in groups of 2 (you cannot change your pair during the course).

Exercise classes will be held on Wednesdays at 12-14 in S5, but notice that exercise classes are not held every week.

More information on the exercise pages.

Exam

Required material: course book (according to lectures), course notes, pre problems and project work.

The first exam will be on Wednesday 12.5.2004 at 16-19 in S2 and S4.

Old exams are in the laboratory's exam archive

Personnel

Teachers

The lectures are given by Pasi Lassila (pasi.lassila@hut.fi) and Jouni Karvo (jouni.karvo@hut.fi). Exercise classes and the project works will be handled by Eeva Nyberg (eeva.nyberg@hut.fi).

Reception

The course personnel will not arrange a weekly reception hour. You can contact us in the following ways:

• During the lecture or exercise class. Especially the exercise classes are designed to be of type reception i.e. the questions posed by the students determine the contents of the class.
• Ask general questions in the course newsgroup.
• Ask more specific questions e.g. questions that require answers that can only be of interest to you, by sending e-mail to the course personnel.