S-38.188 Computer Networks (Spring 2005)

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, specifically IP networks. Additionally, students will learn 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 complete two project works and an exam. Note that the results of the project works are valid only for one year. This means that you cannot for example do the project work this spring and then take the exam of the next spring's course.

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

Grading

To pass the course:

• You need to pass the project works, before you can take the exam. There are two project works. Both of them will give you points and based on the total amount of points a grade will be given according to FAIL, -1, 0, +1. FAIL implies that the project works were not acceptable, otherwise the project works will influence your exam grade by -1, 0 or +1.
• You must pass the exam in order to pass the course, i.e., your exam grade must be > 0.
• The final grade is given by the sum of your your exam grade and the project work grade with the following exceptions. If your exam grade is 1 and your project work grade is -1, you will get a final grade of 1. Naturally, if your exam grade is 5 and the project grade +1, the final grade is 5.
• 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.

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's lectures page.

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

Timetable

Week	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16
Lectures	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	-	-	11	12
Exercises	-	-	-	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 17.1.2004. For more information visit the lecture pages.

Project works

There are two compulsory project works during the course. Part 1 is a collection of short exercises on routing, RTT measurements, TCP and related topics. Part 2 is a simulation project, where students are made familiar with TCP congestion control and the simulation tool ns2. Both parts will give you points and the total sum from both parts will be converted into a project work grade, as discussed earlier in the grading section.

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), lecture slides, project works.

The first exam will be on Monday 16.5.2005 at 16-19 in S2 and S4. For other exams, see the exam list of the department

Old exams are in the laboratory's exam archive.

Personnel

Teachers

The lectures are given by Pasi Lassila (pasi.lassila@tkk.fi), Jouni Karvo (jouni.karvo@tkk.fi) and Jörg Ott. Exercise classes and the project works will be handled by Ilmari Juva (ilmari.juva@tkk.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.