Carleton University

Department of Systems and Computer Engineering

94.581Y Advanced Topics in Computer Communications: Performace of ATM and Broadband Networks

Winter 2000

Important Notices:

Assignment #4 is out and due Monday April 17, 2000.
Check out the Proceedings of CANARIE's 5th Annual Advanced Networks Workshop.
Check out the August 1998 issue of the IEEE Communications Magazine on "Tools and Techniques for the Performance Evaluation of Communication Networks" that includes articles on traffic modeling, performance evaluation, and simulation (see below for one of the articles on rare event simulation).

Instructor: Mike Devetsikiotis, Room 4486ME, Tel: 520-5730, email: mike.devetsikiotis@sce.carleton.ca

Course Objectives: To provide a second, advanced level exposure to telecommunication networks and computer communications in an interactive environment including discussions and student presentations. Emphasis is placed on the design and performance evaluation of broadband networks such as ATM and the Internet.

Prerequisites: Computer Communications (94.462 or 94.521 or equivalent); Probability and Stochastic Processes (94.553, 94.503, 92.520 or similar); or permission of the instructor.

Lectures: Monday and Wednesday, 19:30 - 21:00, 3174 ME.

Office Hours: Monday 13:30 - 15:00, Wednesday 15:00 - 16:30.

Web Site: All course-related material and announcements will be appearing on this course web site, www.sce.carleton.ca/devetsikiotis/94581page.html. Students are expected to visit that site regularly for updates on the course, deadlines etc.

Textbook:

Broadband Integrated Networks, M. Schwartz, Prentice-Hall, 1996.
Stochastic Modeling in Broadband Communications Systems, I. Kaj, Lecture Note Series of the Laboratory for Research in Statistics and Probability, Carleton University 1999.

Library Reserves:

Performance Modelling of Communication Networks and Computer Architectures, P. G. Harrison and N. M. Patel, Addison-Wesley, 1993, TK5105.5.H38.
Fundamentals of Telecommunication Networks, T.N. Saadawi, M.H. Ammar with A. El Hakeem, John Wiley. 1994, TK5101.S23.
An Engineering Approach to Computer Networking: ATM Networks, the Internet, and the Telephone Network, S. Keshav, Addison-Wesley, 1997, TK5105.5.K48.
High-Speed Networks: TCP/IP and ATM Design Principles, W. Stallings, Prentice-Hall, 1998, TK5105.585.S73.

Additional References:

ATM Network Performance, G. Kesidis, Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1996.
Performance Evaluation of Communication Networks, G. N. Higginbottom, Artech House, 1998.
High-Performance Communication Networks, J. Walrand and P. Varaiya, 2^nd edition, Morgan-Kaufmann, 2000.
Data and Computer Communications, W. Stallings, 5^th edition, Prentice-Hall, 1997, TK5105.S73 1996.
Computer Networks, A. S. Tanenbaum, 3^rd edition, Prentice-Hall, 1996, TK5105.5.T36 1996.
Communication Networks: A First Course, J. Walrand, Irwin, 1991, TK5105.5.W35.
Data Networks, D. Bertsekas and R. Gallager, 2^nd edition, Prentice-Hall, 1992, TK5105.B478 1992.
Computer Networks and Internets, D. E. Comer, Prentice-Hall, 1997, TK5105.5.C5897.
Networking Standards, W. Stallings, Addison Wesley, 1993, TK5105.5.S788.
Probability and Random Processes for Electrical Engineering, A. Leon-Garcia, Addison Wesley, 1989, TK153.L425 1989 (or any text on random processes and queuing theory).
Queueing Systems, L. Kleinrock, vol. 1, John Wiley, 1975, T57.9.K6.

In-class Exam: Wednesday, February 16, 2000.

Assignments and Project: Will include papers, essays and student presentations on hot topics such as simulation techniques, IP vs. ATM, 10G Ethernet., QoS provision etc.

Project Due: Monday April 17, 2000.

Last Day to Withdraw: Friday March 10, 2000.

Marking:
In-class exam                        40%
2-3 sets of asignments         30%
Project                                     30%

Course Outline:

Mathematical review: Useful tools from probability and stochastic processes; Ideas and methods from classical queuing theory.
Broadband networks and ATM.
Traffic characterization in high-speed networks.
Traffic management: admission control. Switching in ATM and IP.
Scheduling, congestion control and end-to-end Quality of Service.
Selected topics on stochastic modeling of communication networks relevant to the design and performance evaluation of broadband multiservice systems (e.g., simulation techniques, multiaccess, fluid approximations, large deviations and rare event analysis, long range dependence and self-similar models).

Students with a disability who require academic accommodations, please feel free to come and discuss this with me. Students must also contact the Paul Menton Centre to complete the required forms at least two weeks prior to the first in-class or itv test, and no later than November 5 for December exams and March 10 for April exams.

Assignment 4 (due Monday April 17, 2000, at the beginning of class)

Assignment 3

Assignment 2

Assignment 1

"Traffic Models in Broadband Networks", A. Adas, IEEE Communications Magazine, July 1997.

"Traffic Modeling for Telecommunications Networks", V. Frost and B. Melamed, IEEE Communications Magazine, March 1994.

"Simulation of Rare Events in Communications Networks", J. K. Townsend, Z. Haraszti, J. A. Freebersyser and M. Devetsikiotis, IEEE Communications Magazine, August 1998.