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35.468 COMPUTER COMMUNICATION NETWORKS

Spring, 1994

Ji Zhang


Class Hours: TTh: 9:30am-10:50am Room: RI 212 Instructor: Ji Zhang Office: JEC6042 (phone:X-6483) Office Hours: TTh:1-2pm (otherwise by appointments) Teaching Assistant: Seung Jong Choi (Email: choi@ipl.rpi.edu) TA Hours: Wednesday, 1-3pm ( TA Office: JEC7009) Course Objectives: Introduction to the basic concepts of computer and communication networks. An in depth view of the seven layers of the OSI Referene Models, with focus on the bottom four layers. Overview of some of the widely used network protocals. The course will also start to include the use of Xmosaic, which is an interactive multimedia documentation/information browing system including hypermedia, hypertext documentation. Students should each have an computer account with RPI RCS computer system and need to learn the use of ftp, telnet, rlogin, text editors and postscript, dvi viewers and other network related applications in UNIX environments. We also include computer simulation software (BONeS) on an experimental basis if facilities allow.

Prerequisites: Basic probability theorem(you should be able to calculate the probabilities of some simple problems). Communication systems(it's helpful to know but not essential).

Textbook: Andrew S. Tanenbaum Computer Networks, Second Edition, Prentice Hall, 1989

Other References on Reserve:

  1. D. Bertsekas &R. Gallager, Date Networks, 2nd Edition, Prentice Hall, 1992 Excellent graduate level book on advanced topics, but requires good knowledge of probability.
  2. J.D. Spragins, J.L. Hammond, K. Pawlikowski, Telecommunications Protocols and Design, Addison Wesley, 1991 Good.
  3. J. Walrand, Communication Networks, A First Course, Aksen Associates, 1991 Good, and easy to read, requires some probability theory background.
  4. M. Schwartz, Telecommunication Networks Protocols, Modeling, and Analysis, Addison Wesley, 1987 Good, explains TDM very well, can be hard to follow because of all the jargons.
  5. D. E. Comer, Internetworking With TCP/IP, Principles, Protocols, and Architecture, Vol.I, Second Edition, Prentice Hall, 1991 Excellent book for a thorough understanding of TCP/IP and the actual Internet.
  6. D. E. Comer, Internetworking With TCP/IP, Design, Implementation, and Internals, Vol. II, Prentice Hall, 1991 Read this only if you are a proficient C programmer and will do actual network programming.
  7. W. Richard Stevens, TCP/IP Illustrated, Vol. I, Addision Wesley, 1994 An excellent book on TCP/IP, extremely easy to read. One of the best books on TCP/IP.
  8. W. Richard Stevens, UNIX Network Programming, Prentice Hall, 1990 Another excellent book from Stevens, but contains actual source code for many of the TCP/IP application programs. A must have for any one interested in the network programming aspect.
  9. P.E. Green, Fiber Optic Networks, Prentice Hall, 1993 Excellent introduction to the bleeding edge all optical networks
  10. C. Partridge, Gigabit Networks, Addison Wesley, 1993 Good. Easy to read, no math, explains the bleeding edge of gigabit networkings.
  11. L. Kleinrock, Queueing Systems, Vol.1&2, John Wiley &Sons, A set of classics on computer network performance analysis, requires sophisticated probability and stochastic processes as background. 1975
  12. W. Stallings, ISDN-An Introduction, MacMillan, 1989 Excellent. Relatively easy to read, requires no math. A practical book on understanding ISDN
  13. J. Hui, Switching and Traffic Theory for Integerated Broadband Networks, Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1990 Good. This is a research level book on high speed networking and performance analysis. Requires sophisticated probability and stochastic process as background.
  14. R.O. Onvural, Asynchronous Transfer Mode Networks: Performance Issues, Artech House, 1993 Good. Another more recent research level book on high speed networking and performance analysis. Again, probability and stochastic process is a must.
  15. G.E. Keiser, Local Area Networks, McGraw Hill, 1989 May be helpful if you want to know more about LANs.
  16. A. B. Carlson, Communication Systems -An Introduciton to Signals and Noise in Electrical COmmunication, 3rd Edition McGraw Hill, 1986 An excellent book on introduction to communication systems, dealing with what we call Physical Layer issues.
  17. M. Schwartz, Information Transmission, Modulation, and Noise, 4th Edition McGraw Hill, 1990 Another good book on communication systems.

Course Outline:

  1. Introduction to Communication Networks
  2. Physical Layer
  3. Data Link Layer
  4. Local Area Network Protocols
  5. Network Layer
  6. Transport Layer
  7. Session Layer, Presentation Layer, Application Layer with Examples
  8. Related Topics: (if time permits)
    1. Packet video networks;
    2. Image and Video Compression standards and formats (JPEG, MPEG, etc);
    3. Multimedia applications;
    4. Topics I don't even know, but will do when we reach this point...

Grade Composition:

Homework (approx. biweekly): 15%1 Midterm Exam(around late Feb., early March): 40%Final Exam: 45%Homework No. 1(Due Feb. 1, Tuesday, 1994)

Read Chapters 1-3.

Specific problem assignments will be announced on the network.


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zhangj@
Mon May 23 15:29:10 EDT 1994