Computer Networks

CS 6250 Section Fall 2001

General Information

CS6250: Computer Networks

3-0-3. Prerequisites: Graduate Standing or Consent of the Instructor

Course Objective:
Principles and practice of computer networks, including signaling and framing, error control, medium access, routing, congestion control, end-to-end transport, and network APIs.
 

Instructor: Prof. Jun (Jim) Xu

• Office: CCB 119 (shared office)
• Phone: (404)3852168 or simply 52168 from a campus phone
• Email: jx@cc.gatech.edu
• Office Hours: 1100a to 1200a on Tu and Th or by appointment

• Yong Zhu (yongzhu@cc.gatech.edu)  Office Hours: TTH 1:30 to 2:30 at Student Commons Area in CoC
• Wenrui Zhao (wrzhao@cc.gatech.edu) Office Hours: MW 1:30-3:00pm, CoC common areas

Textbooks

Other References (many of which are on reserve in the Georgia Tech Library)

[Comer2] Computer Networks and Internets, 2nd ed. by Comer, Prentice-Hall 1999
[Stallings2] Data and Computer Communications, 5th ed., by Stallings, Prentice Hall, 1997
[Ammar] Fundamentals of Telecommunication Networks, by Saadavi and Ammar with El Hakeem, John Wiley, 1994
[Bertsekas] Data Networks, 2nd ed. by Bertsekas & Gallager, Prentice Hall, 1992
[Spragins] Telecommunications: Protocols and Design by Spragins, Hammond, and Pawlikowski, Addison-Wesley, 1991
[Tanenbaum] Computer Networks, 2nd ed. by Tanenbaum, Prentice Hall, 1989
[Schwartz] Telecommunication Netwokrs: Protocols, Modeling, and Analysis by Schwartz, Addison-Wesley, 1987
[Hammond] Performance Analysis of Local Computer Networks by Hammond and O'Reilly, Addison-Wesley, 1986
 

More information may be added as the course progresses.

Grade Division

Class attendance is encouraged but not mandatory.  Should you miss a miss, you are responsible for the material covered in the class and homework assigned.

I am strict on homework and lab deadlines.  The exam dates are firm.  Only emergency situations may be excused.  Formal proof of the situation in the paper may be required.

Assignments will be announced in the class and/or posted on the class homepage.  The assignments are open book, but are to be solved without any personal assistance from other individuals.  An honor code is implicit with each assignment.  Academic dishonesty will be dealt with harshly by the instructor and escalated to the department, college, and/or university, if necessary.

Finally, grades are non-negotiable (i.e., "binding") at 5pm one week after they are returned.

Outline of the class

Network architecture: A abstract model of a very complex communication network system.
Chapter 2

Physical layer and data link layer
Chapter 3 and Chapter 5

Local area networks and media access control
Chapter 6

Packet switching networks in the context of TCP/IP
Chapter 7 and Chapter 8

Circuit switching in the context of telephony as a case study of network architecture
Chapter 4

Circuit switching in the context of Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM)
Chapter 9 and Chapter 10

Selected topics such as security and multimedia
Chapter 11 and Chapter 12
 

Due: 9/11

Reading: 1.1-1.2,  2.1-2.3,  3.1-3.7

Problems:

pp41,     16

pp90,     6, 19, 21

pp180,   10, 11, 19, 20, 21, 25

Homework #2

Due: 9/18

Reading: 5.3.1, 5.4, 7.4.1, 7.5, 

Problems:

pp331, 15, 33, 46

pp183, 28, 29, 32, 34, 38, 44, 51