Course syllabus

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Course-PM

EEN115 EEN115 Introduction to communication networks lp3 VT26 (7.5 hp)

Course is offered by the department of Electrical Engineering

Contact details

Examiner and Lecturer

Marija Furdek, furdek@chalmers.se 

Teaching Assistant

Zicong Jiang, zicongj@chalmers.se 

E2 Student Administration Office

Emma Tykeson, Phone 072 242 3689, emma.tykeson@chalmers.se 

Student representatives

Namya Gumakar Shivayogi  namyadileep2507@gmail.com       
Nithin Kalangodummal   nithinkuttu29@gmail.com 
Leon Ruan   leon.ruan1002@gmail.com 
Mina Tahmasebi Berjouei   minatahmasebi.b@gmail.com       
Mengjie Yan   maggie30go@gmail.com    

Guest lecturers

Ognjen Dobrijevic, ABB, Sweden

Jonas Hansryd, Ericsson AB, Sweden

Anders Lindgren and Stefan Melin, Telia AB, Sweden

Paolo Monti, Chalmers, E2, mpaolo@chalmers.se

Course purpose

The course aims at introducing the fundamental networking and security, concepts, problems, and applications which are typical of modern communication infrastructures. The course will provide a broad horizontal overview of the area, highlighting the main concepts, technologies, and challenges when looking at the design, operation, and trustworthiness of communication networks.

The content of the course is listed below. A detailed week plan will be available on the course web.

  • Network architectures, modeling and performance evaluation
    • Core, access and datacenter networks
    • Network throughput, latency, availability
  • Network switching and routing
    • Flow and congestion control
    • Routing and resource assignment
  • Network control and management
    • GMPLS, SDN
  • Network service virtualization
  • Network security and privacy
    • Attacks at the physical and upper network layers
    • Access control and cryptography

Schedule

TimeEdit

Course literature

Each lecture has been prepared based on a combination of chapters from the course literature listed below. In the weekly plan, the chapters relevant for each lecture are noted with the surname of the first author of the book and chapter number (e.g., Cowley Ch 2).

Main text book:

J. Cowley, Communications and Networking, Second edition, Springer, 2013, ISBN 978-1-4471-4356-7. Available through Chalmers Library and online at https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-1-4471-4357-4

Parts of the following books will also be used:

S. Kasera, N. Narang, S. Narang, Communication networks: Principles and practice, McGraw Hill, 2007, ISBN: 9780070583542. Available online (when logged in through Chalmers) at https://www.accessengineeringlibrary.com/content/book/9780070583542

D. Bertsekas, R. Gallagher, Data networks, 2nd edition, Prentice Hall, 1992, ISBN 0132009161. Freely available online: https://web.mit.edu/dimitrib/www/datanets.html

F. Halsall, Computer networking and the Internet, 5th edition, Pearson Education Limited, 2005, ISBN 0321263588. Available online: https://myethiolectures.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/computer-networking-and-the-internet-halsall-fred.pdf

J. M. Simmons, Optical network design and planning, 2014, Springer, ISBN 978-3-319-33097-6. Available online (when logged in through Chalmers) at https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-319-05227-4

S. R. Ali, Next generation and advanced network reliability analysis, 2019, Springer, ISBN: 978-3-030-01646-3.  Available online at https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-01647-0

Mukherjee et al, Handbook of optical networks, 2020, Springer, ISBN: 978-3-030-16249-8. Available online  (when logged in through Chalmers) at https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-16250-4

S.F. Hasan, Emerging Trends in Communication Networks, 2014, Springer, ISBN: 978-3-319-07388-0. Available online  (when logged in through Chalmers) at https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-319-07389-7

M. Vaezi, J. Zhang, Cloud mobile networks, 2017, Springer. ISBN 978-3-319-54496-0. Available online at https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-319-54496-0

W. Stallings, Network security essentials: Applications and standards, 4th edition, Prentice Hall. Available onlineLinks 

Learning objectives and syllabus

Learning objectives:

  • Model different network topologies and assess the performance of a given network setting
  • Solve routing, resource assignment and flow control problems on a network example
  • Explain the main network control mechanisms
  • Summarize the principles of network service virtualization
  • Distinguish between security threats at different network layers and recommend countermeasures

Link to the syllabus on Studieportalen.

https://www.chalmers.se/en/education/your-studies/find-course-and-programme-syllabi/course-syllabus/EEN115/?acYear=2026/2027

Examination form

  • Written exam. Maximum score: 50. Compulsory. Passing requirement: 25 points.
  • Project. Maximum score: 30. Compulsory. No minimum score requirement.
  • Computer exercises. Maximum score: 15. Compulsory. No minimum score requirement.
  • Quizzes. Maximum score: 5. Not compulsory.

Course summary:

Course Summary
Date Details Due