S-38.115 Signaling Protocols (3 cr)
Kie-98.010 Subject studies in a Foreign Language (2cr) - Option
Spring 2005

News | General | Content| Prerequisities | Language | Enrolling | QA sessions | Exercises | Course Schedule | Grading Principles | Material | Personel

The List of possible exam questions is here!

Exam results 4.5.2005

Exam results 30.8.2005

Exam results 15.12.2005

General

The course is one of the core courses in the Networking Technology major and is also part of the Master's program in Telecommunications.
The objective of the course is to give students a strong background in signaling systems used in different networks. After successful completion of the course students will understand:
  • how networks inter-work,
  • how calls or sessions can be set up, managed and released in different networks using different alternative methods that are typically found in networks,
  • what are the auxiliary functions related to signaling and how do they work,
  • the technology trend in signaling and call/session control,
  • how switching system functionality is inherited into a packet network environment.
    • Content
    Signaling in telecommunications and data networks, e.g. Internet, PSTN, GSM, UMTS.  The course focuses on signaling and related mechanisms on a functional level, as well as describes the systems and the contexts where the signaling systems are used.
    Prerequisites
    S-72.423 Telecommunication Systems or corresponding knowledge (e.g. T-110.300 for CS students), S38.188 Computer networks or T-110.350 (mainly for CS students).
    Language
    Lectures and exercises are given in English. 

    All non-native English speakers who are studying English as their compulsory foreign language can use this course to get  two credits on the course Kie-98.010 Subject studies in a Foreign Language. For this they need to meet the following requirements: (1) attend 80% of lectures, (2) give a talk of about 20 min in a seminar on some subject material related to the course contents (selection of the material will be presented later) and (3) take the exam in English. The seminar presentation is required to demonstrate the so called B2 level of command of the English language.  This essentially means that the presentation is fluent, it explains the ideas in a clear manner and that while a student is giving the presentation, none of the listeners are squirming or otherwhise feel uncomfortable or keep wanting to help the presenter to complete the sentences. The  exam answers should be completed in proper English sentences while bullet -style  presentation is not  sufficient.  Copies of the exam papers of those students that want to take this option will be sent to the language center for Kie-98.010 grading.  Note also that only those exam papers can be considered for Kie-98.010 that pass the exam on the subject matter.

    If you wish to take this option, please be present on the first lecture, so we can record your attendance and can discuss the exact method how we can meet the Kie-98.010 requirements.
    Enrolling
    You must enroll to the course by using WWW-TOPI. If you do not have access to WWWTopi, please contact the HUT computing centre.
    QA sessions
    Specific information about Questions and Answers (QA) sessions can be found on the QA sessions pages.
    Exercises
    Exercises will be held in the lecture hall (S4/S1) according to the schedule.
    Specific information about exercises can be found on the exercise pages.
    Course Schedule
    Lectures will be held on Wed. 14-16 in the hall S4 and Fri. 12-14 in the hall S1. The first lecture is on January 19th.  The Lectures are given in English and the Lecture slides are in English. The detailed schedule and lecture slides can be found on the schedule web page.
    Grading Principles
    The successful passing of the course requires the application of theoretical and practical skills presented in the lectures. Student has to complete all the MANDATORY QA sessions and to get at least +1 additional point from the practical exercises in order to be allowed to take the exam. Student can get the maximum of +3.5 additional points to the examination by completing successfully the practical excercises and the survey.

    Task Points Reguirements
    QA sessions 0 Obligatory (90% of the answers right)
    Exercises Max 2.5 Obligatory (Min 1 point)
    Survey 1 Not obligatory

    Material
    When learing the course material, you are warned about relying solely onto the slides that are used during lectures (I have seen this happen too often in the past). The slides are meant to accompany the speach during the lecture. Later you can recall the lecture by looking at the slides if you happenend to be present and not too much time has passed. Otherwise, you can just count on being able to deduce the scope of the course based on the slides. Ok, I admit that people who have product development and system design experience in the area of Networking Technology may find that the slides have enough clues for them to guess the rest. For a regular student, the real content have to be found in any other sources that you can lay your hands on. Some of the them are referenced in the slides. Some other sources may be needed also, if something stays unclear. Even if you listenend to the lecture, you may find that you did not understand some cruisal point and were too shy to ask, so you will again need to look for the real sources!

    Usually, the most precise sources on signaling are the original sources, i.e. the specifications. You should not be afraid to pull them from the Internet (3G or IETF) or from elsewhere. As a rule, you do not need to read the fine print in the specifications, reading just the general sections and scanning the rest will be enough to gain the level of understanding expected on this course. Some may find that the books are easier to read. Fine, you can use them also. Nevertheless, a networking specialist (I hope you intend to be one at some point) is able to work with specifications, so you might as well start getting used to reading them on this course.

    In addition to the course lecture material, other material required is covered in: Other recommended readings: Specifications and Recommendations:
    Personel

    Teachers

    The lectures are given by Raimo Kantola (raimo.kantola@hut.fi).
    Exercises work will be handled by Marcin Matuszewski (marcin@netlab.hut.fi)
    Course assistants
    Reception
    Raimo Kantola: SE323 Wednesday at 10-12.
    Course assistants will not arrange a weekly reception hour. You can contact them in the following ways:
  • During the exercise class.
  • By sending e-mail.

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