20582 Introduction to Computer Networks 1
Credits: 6 advanced credits in Computer Science
Prerequisites: Students must fulfill all English requirements and take bibliographic instruction in the Library.
Required: One of the following: Probability for Computer Science Students, Introduction to Statistics and Probability for Science Students, Introduction to Statistics for Students of Social Sciences I or Probability Theory; and Data Structures and Introduction to Algorithms (or Data Structures)
Recommended: Algorithms
The course is based on the first seven chapters of Computer Networks (5th ed.), by A. S. Tanenbaum and D. J. Watherall (Prentice Hall, 2011).
The course presents the principles of computer networks and provides tools for mathematical analysis of communication protocols. The course is based on a layer model, similar in spirit to the TCP/IP model which divides the abstraction levels into five layers – the physical layer, the data link layer, the network layer, the transport layer and the application layer.
Topics: Introduction – introduction to computer networks in general and the five layer model in particular, survey of other layer models, survey of international standards organizations and details of some of the important standards, examples of different network types; The physical layer – theoretical analysis of data communication, survey of transmission media, multiplexing methods, switching methods, discussion of ADSL technology, cellular networks, communication satellites; The data link layer – error detection and correction, flow control, protocol specification and verification, example data link protocols, the data link layer in the Internet; The medium access control sublayer – multiple access protocols, the 802.3 standard for LANs (Ethernet), standards for wireless networks (Bluetooth, 802.16, 802.11); The network layer – various static and dynamic routing algorithms, internetworking, the network layer in the Internet (the IP protocol, OSPF, BGP); The transport layer – transport service: communication connection process, flow control, buffer management, error control crash recovery and more; Internet transport protocols: TCP and UDP; The application layer – the Domain Name System (DNS); basic e-mail protocols; common WWW applications.
1There is some overlap in the content of this and other courses. For details, see Overlapping Courses.