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263-3501-00 Advanced Computer Networks

Overview

This course covers advanced topics in computer networks. The focus is on principles, architectures, and protocols used in modern networked systems.
The goal is to provide an understanding of the trade-offs and existing technology in building large, complex systems primarily by analyzing the design and deployment of real systems and emerging applications.
The focus of the course is on principles, architectures, and protocols used in modern networked systems. Topics include: wireless networks and mobility issues at the network and transport layer (Mobile IP and micromobility protocols, TCP in wireless environments). Mobile phone networks. Overlay networks, flat routing protocols (DHTs), and peer-to-peer architectures. The Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) in practice

Schedule

Lecture: Thursdays 9:00 – 11:00 in IFW C42 (except Feb 18th, April 1st and May 20th)
Exercise: Wednesdays 9:00 – 11:00 in IFW C42 (except Feb 19th)

Staff

Exercises

The exercise sessions will focus on implementing simple networking protocols and applications and test their behaviour on the Seattle platform. The programming language is Python.

There will be a total of 5 assignments through which students can collect a maximum of 50 points. Assignment deadlines missed by no more than a week will cause a loss of 25% of the mark, if missed for more than one week the loss is 50%. No submissions will be accepted later than 2 weeks after the deadline.

Assignments last from 1-2 weeks. Students can ask clarifications about the assignments during the Consultation sessions or by appointment with the teaching assistants. During the Marking sessions the students' assignments are graded. Students are required to give a demonstration of their solution, explain their code and be ready to justify their implementation choices. Responses to this questioning will have a strong impact on the mark! Zero marks will be given if students cannot demonstrate a basic understanding of their solution.

Besides demonstrating the operation of the code during the Marking sessions, students are required to submit all their code one day before the Marking session (i.e., on Tuesdays at 9am, local time). The code submitted MUST be the final one and MUST be the same as the one that will be demonstrated the day after during the Marking session. If the instructor notices significant changes between the submitted code and the demonstrated code, she can decide to decrease the final mark up to 50%.

Please create a tar file of your source code per each assignment: e.g.

tar cvzf acn_aX_Student1FirstName_Student2FirstName.tar.gz acn_assignmentX

Please use the above format in naming your files. Replace X with the number of the assignment and include first names of both students (e.g., acn_a1_ioana_qin.tar.gz).

Submit your tar file by email to BOTH teaching assistants: qyin at inf.ethz.ch and igiurgiu at inf.ethz.ch. The topic of the email with attached the assignment solution must be ACN09: acn_aX.

In any other communication with the course instructors please use the following topic in your emails: ACN09

In the first 3 assignments students must work individually. In assignments 4 and 5 students can work in groups of maximum 2 people. All students in the same group will be awarded the same grade unless there is a clear difference between the level of understanding of the problem of the two students. Only one student per group needs to submit the source code electronically, however both students in a group must be present during the demonstration of the code.

Language

English

Text and reference books

  • Mobile Communications, 2nd edition, by Jochen Schiller, Addison Wesley (Main Reference Book)
  • Wireless and Mobile Network Architectures by Yi-Bing Lin and Imrich Chlamtac, Wiley
  • BGP4 Inter-Domain Routing in the Internet by John W. Stewart III, The Addison-Wesley Networking Basics Series
  • Computer Networks by Larry L. Peterson and Bruce S. Davie, Morgan Kaufmann (Basic networking concepts)
  • Several research papers referenced during the lectures

Grading

There will be a written exam (in English) that will take place in the last week of the course. Completion of the exercises assigned during the course is a requirement for taking the exam.

The exam will account for 50% of the final grade and the lab assignments for the other 50%.
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