Course syllabus

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EDA 344 / DIT 423  Study period 3,  Academic year 2019-2020 (7,5hp)

(Revised Jan 12, 2020)

Department of Computer Science and Engineering

Chalmers university of Technology and Gothenburg University

 

This document contains general (Syllabus/PM) info. Please follow the "Pages" link to the left for more detail.

Course purpose

Introductory course on data communication and computer networks/Internet, including aspects that practicing engineers encounter in their work, as well as context for following upon the evolution of this rapidly changing field of computer science and engineering, e.g. Internet of Things. After completion, the student should be able to distinguish the different network layers, services and related protocols. In particular, students will be able to:

  • Explain the major problems in each of these
  • Explain possible solutions adopted in today's networks (Internet) and solutions in general contexts
  • Understand constraints introduced by the currently existing solutions that place obstacles to other options 
  • Build and configure a working network and set up routing and flows for it

Moreover, via the labs and assignments, students will be trained in solving network problems, as well as in implementing simple network protocols, building up a network from scratch and configuring (dynamically)  network traffic; they will also have gained experience by doing practical work in applying the knowledge offered by the course in realistic situations.

In the study of protocols, we start with application-layer protocols, in the context of applications that we use regularly. Moving to lower layers later on, we have the possibility to gradually uncover network services, their functionality and the ease/difficulty for achieving them. Topics covered include: networking applications, content distribution, HTTP, SMTP, TCP, UDP, performance and congestion analysis, IP, switching, routing, Software-Defined networks (SDN), mobile IP, local area networks, multiple access protocols (IEEE 802.X and others), wireless networks; in less detail we discuss physical media, error-detection and correction, and network security, connecting to other courses that specialize on these subjects.

Schedule

Link to timeedit:

https://cloud.timeedit.net/chalmers/web/public/ri167XQQ600Z50Qv87003gZ6y6Y7504Q5Y61Y9.html

Note: Make sure you check the schedule regularly, as there might be updates, especially in locations/classrooms. More detail on the schedule can be found at the web pages of the course, in particular the one "Detailed Schedule". 

 

Contact details

Examiner and course responsible:  Marina Papatriantafilou,  Romaric Duvignau 
Ismail Butun and Dimitris Palyvos and Guest Lecturers from Industry (to be confirmed); in synch with Romaric Duvignau, teacher EDA343

Contact the examiner for queries related to the lectures.

Tutors:Contact these people for queries related to the labs and assignments. To save time, please make sure that you have read carefully the instructions for the assignments, both the technical and the administration part.

 

Course literature

Text book: Computer Networking: A Top-Down Approach, 7 ed., James F. Kurose and Keith W. Ross (available through Cremona and Chalmers' library, also as e-book). At the web pages of the course you can find a detailed Reading List.

Other books and resources that the students may find useful can be found  in the corresponding web pages of the course.

 

Course design

The course includes:

  • 16 lectures, including guest lectures from industry
  • 5 exercise sessions
  • 3  tutorials for the labs and the project assignments.
  • Weekly survey-quizzes, for the purpose of identifying topics that may need further discussion in class
  • 2 labs with hands-on work
    • Lab1: Study Network Traffic, using wireshark (prepare at home, carry out at the Lindholmen Lab, submit pre-assignment & final report)
    • Lab2: Network configuration, IP addresses, routers, etc (prepare at home, carry out at Lindholmen Lab, submit preassignment & present  at the lab)
  • 1 Project with hands-on work: Software Defined Networking and OpenFlow: Understand the concepts, define dynamic flows (carry out at own_time, submit report)
  • 1 Take-home-questions assignment: overview and in-depth stud:  take-home assignment with further study questions (carry out at own_time, submit report)

The web page with the detailed schedule of the course illustrates how these are mapped on the scheduled time.

 

Changes made since the last occasion

We are supporting the course LEU061 with several lectures, due to logistics constraints with teaching personnel.

Examination form

Students must pass labs, project, take-home-assignment, as well as the written exam at the end of the course.

 

Learning objectives and syllabus

Besides the content and target knowledge described above, more information can be found at: https://www.student.chalmers.se/sp/course?course_id=28813 and https://kursplaner.gu.se/pdf/kurs/en/DIT423

( http://kursplaner.gu.se/svenska/dit423.pdf )

 

Course summary:

Date Details Due