CS 420/520: Data Communication

Welcome to CS420/520 Data Communication. This course is offered in the Spring Semester 2010 at the University of Idaho in Moscow. and is also available though Engineering Outreach for off-campus students. 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 2008 semesters page. However, materials and topics constantly change, and this class will be no exception. If you have comments, please let me know.

Engineering Outreach students, there are several things you should know. First of all, if you are trying to contact me, you can call 800-824-2889 ext. 4078 (toll free). Please download the class material from the web page. This speeds up the distribution process and avoids shipping delays. If for some reason you are not able to download the material, please contact Engineering Outreach. Engineering Outreach students need to have web access with ssh capability to local workstations.

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 2008 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.
  • Engineering outreach students: dial toll free 800-824-2889 ext 4078
  • Mailing address: Engineering Outreach, PO Box 441014, Moscow, Idaho 83844-1014.
  • Office Hours: (see here)
  • 11:30-12:20, EP203.

• News Group
  • Any questions that are related to the course can be posted to the CS420 news group. Please read the welcome message for the posting policy.
  • To get started go to www2.cs.uidaho.edu and select the "forums" tab. Now you need to log in with your CS login name/passwd. If you are a first-time user, you need to "register" (next to the "login" option). Now you can read, but if you want to post, you need to "login", using the name/passwd you created during registration.

• Spring 2010 Term Class Handouts:
  • The handouts are ordered by sequence numbers and the material covered in the lectures are indicated next to the date, e.g., [1/7] indicates the material covered in the lecture was up to sequence 1 slide 7. However, note that there may be discussions/information during the lecture that are not reflected in the slides.
  • 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.
  • Syllabus.

  • [sequence/last slide] (e.g., [1/7]) indicates the material covered was up to sequence 1 slide 7. However, note that there may be discussions/information during the lecture that are not reflected in the slides.
  • Lecture 1 (01/13/10): [1/07] Sequence 1, (pdf), : Introduction
  • Lecture 2 (01/15/10): [2/09] Sequence 2, (pdf), : Basic principles: LAN, Circuit switching, packet switching, ATM, network configurations
  • Lecture 3 (01/20/10): [2/30] Protocol architectures, protocol stacks
  • Lecture 4 (01/22/10): [2/45] TCP/IP protocol stack, [Reading assignment: RFC1180 - TCP/IP tutorial]
  • Lecture 5 (01/25/10): [3/13] Sequence 3, (pdf), : Physical layer terminology
  • Lecture 6 (01/27/10): [3/34] Fourier analysis, Signal representation, attenuation, analog and digital signals and transmission
  • Lecture 7 (01/29/10): [3/45] Attenuation, distortion, noise, NEXT canceling, Nyquist and Shannon formulas Thermal noise, signal delay
  • Lecture 8 (02/01/10): [3/53] Sequence 4, (pdf), : Noise and its impacts
  • Lecture 9 (02/03/10): [4/28] Sequence 5, (pdf), : Transmission media basics, twisted pair, Coaxial cable,
  • Lecture 10 (02/05/10): [5/05] optical fiber, Wireless transmission (antennas, radiation pattern, parabolic refliction, microwave, satellite microwave, broadcast radio, infrared, wave propagation), Signal encoding background
  • Lecture 11 (02/08/10): [5/22] Signal encoding techniques, Digital Data -Digital Signals (NRZ, Bipolar AMI, Pseudoternary, Mancester, Diff. Manchester)
  • Lecture 12 (02/10/10): [5/32] B8ZS and HDB3, Amplitude Shift Keying (ASK)
  • Lecture 13 (02/12/10): [5/57] FSK, PSK, Spread Spectrum,... Digital Data - Analog Signal cont. (Binary FSK, Multiple FSK, QPSK, OQPSK, QAM)
  • Lecture 14 (02/17/10): [5/66] Sequence 6, (pdf), : Sampling Theorem, Pulse Amplitude Modulation (PAM), Pulse Code Modulation (PCM), Nonlinear Encoding
  • Lecture 15 (02/19/10): [6/05] Nonlinear Encoding, Delta Modulation, Analog Data - Analog Signals, Async and Sync. Transmission, Multiplexing (TDM, FDM, WDM, DWDM), 520-project discussion
  • Lecture 16 (02/22/10): [6/05-7/05] Sequence 7, (pdf), : Interfacing specifications (mechanical, electrical, functional, procedural)
  • Lecture 17 (02/24/10): [6b/01-6/22] Sequence 6b, (pdf), : asynchronous communication: Error detection, CRC
  • Lecture 18 (02/26/10): [6b/01-6b/26] CRC, examples of CRC computations, hardware implementation
  • EXAM 1 (03/01/10)
  • Lecture 19 (03/03/10): [07/07-08/08] Sequence 8, (pdf), : interfacing, from RS232 to ISDN, Compression
  • Lecture 20 (03/05/10): [08/08-08/20] Data link basics, Stop and Wait (Idle RQ), Automatic Repeat Request (ARQ)
  • Lecture 21 (03/08/10): [08/21-09/11] Sequence 9, (pdf), : Performance Analysis: (Stop and Wait, Go Back N, Selective Reject), HDLC (High Level Data Link Control)
  • Lecture 22 (03/10/10): [09/12-09/17] CS420 project discussion
  • Lecture 23 (03/12/10): [project day] Investigation on SCADA related communication issues
  • Lecture 24 (03/22/10): [09/18-10/18] Sequence 10, (pdf), : Digital Carrier Systems, SONET, Multiplexing (TDM, FDM, WDM, DWDM), statistical multiplexing,
  • Lecture 25 (03/24/10): [10/19-11/14] Sequence 11, (pdf), : Cable modem, ASDL, Discrete Multitone (DMT) Spread Spectrum, Frequency Hopping (FHSS Using MFSK)
  • Lecture 26 (03/26/10): [11/15-11/26] Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS Using BPSK), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA for direct sequence spread spectrum)
  • Lecture (03/29/10) canceled due to illness
  • Lecture 27 (03/31/10): [12/01-12/20] Sequence 12, (pdf), : Switched Communication Networks, Circuit Switching (space division, time division), Blocking/non-blocking switches, Mulit-stage switches, Butterfly, Delta, Omega switch
  • Lecture 28 (04/02/10): [12/21-12/30] Control Signaling, Signaling functions,
  • Lecture 29 (04/05/10): [12/30-12/50] Signaling System Number 7 (SS7), Packet-Switching Principle, Datagram, Virtual Circuits, Frame Relay
  • Lecture 30 (04/07/10): [12/51-13/03] Sequence 13, (pdf), : X.25 protocol, ATM, Virtual Channel, Virtual Path
  • Lecture 31 (04/09/10): [13/04-13/27] Transmission of ATM Cells, ATM service categories, Header Error Control (HEC)
  • Lecture 32 (04/12/10): [13/28-14/06] Sequence 14, (pdf), : ATM Adaption Layers, AAL Services/Protocols
  • Lecture 33 (04/14/10): [14/07-14/29] Routing in Circuit-Switching Networks, Routing in Packet-Switching Networks, Least-Cost Algorithms (Dijkstra's Algo., Bellman-Ford Algo.)
  • Lecture 34 (04/16/10): [14/30-15/47] Sequence 15, (pdf), : Congestion Control
  • Lecture 35 (04/19/10): [16/01-16/09] Sequence 16a, (pdf), : Cellular Wireless Networks
  • Exam 2 (04/21/10): up do and including sequence 14 (bring calculator, just in case)
  • No Lecture on (04/23/10)
  • Lecture 36 (04/26/10): [16a/10-16b/05] Sequence 16b, (pdf), : Cellular Wireless Networks cont.
  • Lecture 37 (04/28/10): [16b/06-17/11] Sequence 17, (pdf), : LAN overview, Topologies, LAN Protocol Architecture, Bridges, Layer 2 and 3 Switches,
  • Lecture 38 (04/30/10): [17/12-17/62] Sequence 18, (pdf), : High-Speed LANs, Ethernet (IEEE 802.3, 10Mbps, 100Mbps, 1Gbps, 10Gbps Ethernet), Token Ring, Fibre Channel,
  • Lecture 39 (05/03/10): [22/01-22/41] Sequence 22, (pdf), : TCP/IP Sequence 19, (pdf), : Internet Protocols, basic protocol functions, principles of internetworking, Internet Protocol, IPv6
  • Lecture 40 (05/05/10): [18/01-19/40] Sequence 20, (pdf), : Internetwork Operation: Multicast, Routing protocols
  • Lecture 41 (05/07/10): [19/41-the rest] Sequence 21, (pdf), : Transport Protocol, TCP, UDP
  • Final Exam: Wednesday, May 12, 10:00-12:00

  • CS420/520 Homeworks/Exams:
    • HW1.pdf (for password go to the newsgroup -- see above how to access)
    • HW2.pdf (note the short fuse on this homework since we have the exam this following Monday)
    • HW3.pdf
    • HW4.pdf
    • 520-project.pdf
    • 420-project.pdf

  • CS420/520 old exam questions:
    • Exam 1 (08), (06)
    • Exam 2 (08), (06)
    • Exam 3 (08), (06)

  • Interesting Links: Pointers to Research Areas.