CS 420/520: Data Communication

Welcome to CS420/520 Data Communication. This course is offered in the Spring Semester 2008 at the University of Idaho in Moscow. The course is taught by Dr. Axel Krings.

This web-page contains information about the course, e.g. syllabus, class notes, pointers to interesting places etc. Material can be down-loaded in pdf (or postscript) format, and will be made available in the updated form as the class goes on. To get an idea of what this class is about, take a look at 2006 semesters page. However, materials and topics constantly change, and this class will be no exception. If you have comments, please let me know.

Course description: this course covers the concepts and terminology of data communications, electrical interfaces, data transmission, protocols, local area networks, wide area networks, internetworking, network management, architectures, transmission alternatives, as well as some regulatory issues. Please refer to the Complete CS420/520 Class Handouts of the Spring 2006 semester page for the sequence of topics. Note: This class has Operating Systems and Computer Organization and Architecture as prereq. In a 400/500 level computer science class I expect working knowledge of unix and MS operating systems as well as programming ability.

• Contact information:
  • Axel Krings (PhD), JEB 320,
  • Phone: 208-885-4078, fax: 208-885-9052.
  • Office Hours: (see here)
  • 9:30-10:20, TLC122.

• News Group
  • We will be using webCT, a service of the University of Idaho. If you have confidential or personal issues, please send me an email or call me. Any other issues, i.e. all course related questions, should be handled using this distribution mechanism. I will inform you when the site has been established for the course.

• Spring 2008 Term Class Handouts:
  • The handout numbers refer to the lecture in which the handout was made available. This does not necessarily mean that this material was covered in this particular lecture. (Most likely there is some overlap). If the course is offered Tuesday/Thursday, the "lecture numbers" do not correspond to the lecture date at all, but should be seen as a "sequence number".
  • If there are any problems with accessing the handouts, please let me know (email, phone, smoke signs, drums, ...)!
  • Corrections: some slides may contain formatting errors, typos etc. which have been addressed in class, but have not been reflected in the notes posted here.
  • WARNING LOCAL STUDENTS: Do not send pdf files (i.e. files in pdf format) to the printer! Pdf files are binary files and printing them "directly" will result in a big printer mess!!! If you do not know how to print out pdf files, then you are probably in the wrong class.
  • Syllabus.

  • [sequence/last slide] (e.g., [1/7]) indicates the material covered from the notes during class period. However, this only shows the slides and not the material discussed that are not reflected, e.g. examples, general discussion on the topic etc.
  • Lecture 1 (01/09/08): [1/07] ( Sequence 1 pdf ) Introduction
  • Lecture 2 (01/11/08): [2/02] ( Sequence 2 pdf ) Basic principles: LAN, Circuit switching, packet switching, ATM, network configurations
  • Lecture 3 (01/14/08): [2/26] Protocol architectures, protocol stacks
  • Lecture 4 (01/16/08): [2/45] OSI model, TCP/IP, UDP, protocols in TCP/IP suite
  • Lecture 5 (01/18/08): [3/10] ( Sequence 3 pdf ) : Physical layer terminology
  • Lecture 6 (01/23/08): [3/21] Fourier analysis, Signal representation, attenuation
  • Lecture 7 (01/25/08): [3/40] Analog and digital signals and transmission
  • Lecture 8 (01/28/08): [3/49] Attenuation, distorion, noise, NEXT canceling, Nyquist and Shannon formulas Thermal noise, signal delay
  • Lecture 9 (01/30/08): [4/15] ( Sequence 4 pdf ) : Transmission media basics, twisted pair
  • Lecture 10 (02/04/08): [5/05] ( Sequence 5 pdf ) : Coaxial cable, optical fiber, Wireless transmission (antennas, radiation pattern, parabolic refliction, microwave, satellite microwave, broadcast radio, infrared, wave propagation), Signal encoding background
  • Lecture 11 (02/06/08): [5/21] Signal encoding techniques, Digital Data -Digital Signals (NRZ, Bipolar AMI, Pseudoternary, Mancester, Diff. Manchester)
  • Lecture 12 (02/08/08): [5/32] Signal encoding cont., (B8ZS, HDB3), Digital Data - Analog Signal, ASK
  • Lecture 13 (02/11/08): [5/40] FSK, PSK, Pread Spectrum,...
  • Lecture 14 (02/13/08): [5/41-5/59] Digital Data - Analog Signal cont. (Binary FSK, Mutliple FSK, QPSK, OQPSK, QAM), Sampling Theorem,
  • Lecture 15 (02/15/08): [5/60-5/71] Pulse Amplitude Modulation (PAM), Pulse Code Modulation (PCM), Nonlinear Encoding Delta Modulation, Analog Data - Analog Signals, Async and Sync. Transmission,
  • Lecture 16 (02/20/08): [5/71-6/6] ( Sequence 6 pdf ) :, discussion of homework, analog signal modulation, async. and synchronous transmission
  • Lecture 17 (02/22/08): [6/7-6/18] Error Detection (codes, hamming distance, parity, checksum, cyclic redundancy check)
  • Lecture 18 (02/25/08): [6/19-6/26] CRC
  • Lecture 19 (02/27/08): [6/19-6/26] Homework discussion, questions, examples
  • Lecture 20 (02/29/08): [7/01-8/5] ( Sequence 7 pdf ) :, Lince Configurations (tolology, full/half duplex), Characteristics of Interface (Mechanical, Electrical, Functional, Procedural) Interfacing (V.24/EIA-232-F, ISDN interface) ( Sequence 8 pdf ) :, Compression, Data Link Control Protocols, Data Link Basics
  • EXAM I (03/03/08)
  • Lecture 21 (03/05/08): [8/6-8/18] (video), Data Link Control Protocols (Stop-and-Wait Protocol, Sliding Window),
  • (03/07/08) no class: CS retreat
  • (03/10/08-03/14/08) Spring Break
  • Lecture 22 (03/17/08): [8/19-8/36] (video), Error Control (Stop-and-Wait ARQ, Go-Back-N ARQ, Selective-Reject ARQ)
  • Lecture 23 (03/19/08): [8/37-8-55] (video), High Level Data Link Control (HDLC),
  • Lecture 24 (03/21/08): [9/1-9/17] (video), ( Sequence 9 pdf ) : Multiplexing (TDM, FDM, WDM, DWDM),
  • Lecture 25 (03/24/08): discussion of exam, questions about (video) materal.
  • Lecture 26 (03/26/08): [10/1-10/17], ( Sequence 10 pdf ) : Digital Carrier Systems, DS-1 transmission format, TDM Carrier Standards, SONET/SDH, Statistical TDM
  • Lecture 27 (03/28/08): [10/18-10/28], Cabel Modem, ASDL, Discrete Multitone (DMT),
  • Lecture 28 (03/31/08): [11/01-11/26], ( Sequence 11 pdf ) : Spread Spectrum, Frequency Hopping (FHSS Using MFSK), Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS Using BPSK), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA for direct sequence spread spectrum)
  • Lecture 29 (04/02/08): [12/01-12/29], ( Sequence 12 pdf ) : Switched Communication Networks, Circuit Switching (space division, time division), Blockin/non-blocking switches, Mulit-stage switches, Butterfly, Delta switch
  • Lecture 30 (04/04/08): [12/30-12/46], Control Signaling, Signaling functions, Signaling System Number 7 (SS7), Packet-Switching Principle, Datagram, Virtual Circuits, Frame Relay
  • Lecture 31 (04/07/08): [12/47-12/49], Discussion: Ad Noc Networks and Sensor Networks (focus on faults), Circuit switching, virtual circuit packet switching, datagram packet switching, X25 protocol
  • Lecture 32 (04/09/08): [12/50-13/06], ( Sequence 13 pdf ) : ATM, Virtual Channel, Virtual Path, Transmissino of ATM Cells, ATM service categories, ATM Adaption Layers, AAL Services/Protocols
  • Lecture 33 (04/11/08): [13/06-14/08], ( Sequence 14 pdf ) : Routing in Circuit-Swithing Networks, Routing in Packet-Switching Networks, Least-Cost Algorithms (Dijkstra's Algo., Bellman-Ford Algo.)
  • Lecture 34 (04/14/08): [14/09--15/47], ( Sequence 15 pdf ) : Congestion Control
  • Lecture 35 (04/16/08): [16/01-16/12], ( Sequence 16 pdf ) : Cellular Wireless Networks
  • Lecture 36 (04/18/08): [16/13-16/62], Cellular Wireless Networks cont.
  • Lecture 37 (04/21/08): [17/01-17/62], ( Sequence 17 pdf ) : LAN overview, Topologies, Media, LAN Protocol Architecture, Bridges, Layer 2 and 3 Switches
  • Lecture 38 (04/23/08): [/xx], EXAM2 covering material up to (and including) sequence 16. Bring a calculator!
  • Lecture 39 (04/25/08): [18/01-18/59], ( Sequence 18 pdf ) : High-Speed LANs, Ethernet (IEEE 802.3, 10Mbps, 100Mbps, 1Gbps, 10Gbps Ethernet), Token Ring Fibre Channel
  • Lecture 40 (04/28/08): [19/01-19/65], ( Sequence 19 pdf ) : Internet Protocols, basic protocol functions, principles of internetworking, Internet Protocol, IPv6
  • Lecture 41 (04/30/08): [22/01-22/41], ( Sequence 22 pdf ) : ARP protocol, Internet/Intranet Fragmentation, some IP issues, Gateway/Router example. ( Sequence 21 pdf ) : Transport Protocol, TCP, UDP
  • Lecture 42 (05/02/08): [rest of 20 and 21], ( Sequence 20 pdf ) : Internetwork Operation: Multicast, Routing protocols

  • Final Exam: Monday, May 5, 10:00-12:00

  • CS420/520 Homeworks/Exams:
    • HW1 due: 02/15/08: ( HW1.pdf )
    • HW2 due: 02/27/08: ( HW2.pdf )
    • HW3 due: 04/21/08: ( HW3.pdf )
    • 500-level project: ( project.pdf )

  • CS420/520 old exam questions:
    • Note that some of the material covered in an old exam might not overlap with the material covered this term.
    • Midterm 1 (06), (02), (00), (99),
    • Midterm 2 (06), (02), (00), (99),
    • Final (06). (02), (00), (99),

  • Interesting Links: Pointers to Research Areas.

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