The course gives a deep understanding of principles, functions and techniques that form the foundation of communication networks with an emphasis on wireless communication systems. In particular, the course covers these functions' behaviour and performance based on the stochastic nature of the data streams in modern communication networks.
The course covers both public systems (3G, LTE) and technologies for wireless local networks (WLAN, Ad-Hoc, and mesh networks). The course gives an understanding of how these systems integrate more and more, advantages and disadvantages as well as problems and their solutions in connection with this integration. The courses also discusses current and future trends in network systems such as Internet of Things and Tactile Internet, and the enabling technologies being developed for them.
The course structure contains lectures and exercises, as well as a lab on network simulation and data analysis. Further, students will complete a group-based system design project.
The course is divided into the following modules:
Review of probability, stochastic processes and basic computer networking
Medium access control using reservation schemes and random access schemes
Network architectures for licensed and ulicensed spectrum
Modelling for performance analysis
Traffic management: queueing systems and congestion and flow control
The following systems and technologies are covered:
WLANs
Ad-hoc, mesh and sensor networks, and routing protocols designed for such networks, including geographic routing
Internet of Things
Cellular systems (GSM, UMTS, LTE and a discussion of 5G)
MAC protocols: ALOHA, CSMA, 802.11 (WiFi), including the Bianchi model of 802.11
Congestion and flow control techniques such as Random Early Detection, token bucket schemes
Queueing disciplines such as priority queueing, weighted fair queueing, class based queueing
TCP flow and congestion control and retransmission strategies