Computer Networks MN2, 1DT634 / Advanced Computer Networks, 1IT131

News:

  • June 14, Lab results are now available. Labs can be picked up in the cupboard at floor 3, house 1.
  • IMPORTANT information about reviews and home assignments (labs), see below.
  • The deadline for the home assignment is midnight on the 29th May. Assignments which are handed in late will not be graded.
  • All students are to hand in their quizzes and reviews for the Ad-hoc seminar to Richard Gold's postbox. We need to double-check the results.
  • As of the Mobility seminar, word count limits for the reviews will be strictly enforced and the re-takes for the quiz will be an extended review (as detailed below)
  • Please use a spell-checker and follow the course's writing advice for all written material for the course!
  • There is now an alternative paper 1 for Real-time Networking
  • Updated the reviews section of this page to clarify the reviewing task.
  • The second home assignment, simulation and analysis of MANET routing protocols, is now available here.
  • The TFTP home assignment has been released. It is available here.
  • IT students (1IT131) are actually taking a four point course rather than a three point course, the workload has been adjusted accordingly.
  • Groups are now assigned on the Groups page. If you cannot access this page or are not assigned to a group please contact Richard Gold.
  • Lecture slides are now up
  • Group assignment is clarified on this page
  • There have been some slight modifications to the group pages due to student scheduling constraints. Please double-check your group!

Procedures for Reviews and Labs

  • Re-takes on reviews handed in after June 2 should be put in Erik's post box (number 130).
  • Late reviews will be graded when time allows (probably August).
  • If you get a "K" on a lab, you should hand in the old lab with old frontpage and a new frontpage stapled on top of it. This is necessary so that it is possible to see whether the issues commented on have been addressed.
  • Marked labs will be handed back using the same procedure as for the reviews (cupboard, floor 3, house 1). The labs will be available during week 24 and an announcement will be made on this webpage.

Course Theme

Challenges in Inter-networking

Course Description

Computer Networks MN2 / Advanced Computer Network (Datakommunikation II) is a follow-on course to the basic course in Computer Communications (Datakommunikation I). It is directed at the students from the IT Program who wish to specialize in this area. The course is also open for DV-, NV-students and Masters students. Due to the high number of students it is the case that students who did not follow the usual application procedures will typically not get a place.

This course will be taught in English

Pre-requisites

Datakommunikation I / Computer Networking or equivalent

Goals

The goal of this course is to introduce students to a wide-range of material in advanced topics in computer networking. The students will learn how to read scientific articles in the area and to present the main concepts of these articles to their peers. The course emphasizes independent learning and active participation to help students understand important topics in computer networking.

Details

The course starts with an introductory lecture on Thursday 23/3 at 1315 in room 1311. There will be an introduction and overview of the course.

The course will be structured in the following way:

  • Lectures will be given either by Richard Gold, Erik Nordström or by an external guest lecturer.
  • Seminars will be led by the students based on the papers listed on the Seminars page. Students will be organized into groups and there will be one group per paper with one recommended paper each and then one additional paper (which must be approved by the instructor at least two days before the seminar) of the students own chosing.
  • Students will be required to write reviews for 8 papers for the 5pt course or 6 papers for the 4pt course.
  • A six question multiple-choice quiz will take place at the beginning of each seminar. These questions will be written by the students presenting.
  • There will be two practical home assignments of which the students should choose one. The assignment choice is:

Groups

There will be two types of groups:

  1. Randomized groups for the seminars (for motivation for this please see The Law of Group Polarization). This includes:
    1. Seminar preparation
    2. Seminar presentation
    3. Report writing
    4. Literature search
    5. Opposition
  2. Self-chosen groups between two or three students for the home assignments

Please note that it is imperative for all members of a group to do their fair share of the work. The course instructors will be monitoring the groups to ensure that it is not the case that some students do not contribute to the group work.

Assessment

The course will be assessed in the following way:

IT Students (4 points)

In order for a student to fulfill the minimum grade for the course, the following requirements have to be fulfilled:

  • 1 x presentation plus creation of quiz questions (six questions)
  • 1 x opposition to a presentation
  • 6 x quizzes (six questions)
  • 6 x reviews (400-800 words)
  • 1 x practical home assignment
  • 1 x in-depth report based on the articles read for the presentation (1500 words)

The report will be graded 3, 4 or 5. This will determine the overall grade for the course. All other assessment components are obligatory for passing the course.

DVP / FRI / Master / NVP Students (5 points)

In order for a student to fulfill the minimum grade for the course, the following requirements have to be fulfilled:

  • 1 x presentation plus creation of quiz questions (six questions)
  • 1 x opposition to a presentation
  • 8 x quizzes (six questions)
  • 8 x reviews (400-800 words)
  • 1 x practical home assignment
  • 1 x in-depth report based on the articles read for the presentation (2000 words)

The report will be graded G or VG. This will determine the overall grade for the course. All other assessment components are obligatory for passing the course.

Deadlines

Details about the seminars, quiz questions, reviews and reports can be found below. Please note that days refers to working days to allow the instructors to correct your work.

Own Group Seminar

  • Two days before
    • Suggestion of supplementary paper
    • Six quiz questions
  • Two weeks after
    • Report

Normal Seminar

  • Two days before
    • Review of papers

Practical home assignment

  • Monday 29th May

Seminars

The course is essentially a series of seminars given by the participants themselves. The topic list is available on the Seminars page. At each seminar, at least one research article or a topic is presented. Every participant must have read two articles before each seminar.

Two days (will be specified exactly for each session) before a seminar is held, students must hand in (hard-copy in the postbox of Richard Gold) a short review of the article marked as "paper to review". Your review should capture the essence of the material. It is not interesting or possible to say everything. You must use your judgement. Use at least a few lines to evaluate the material and present your personal opinion about it.

A seminar begins by having all participants fill in a multiple-choice test that aims to check that they have read and understood the article marked as "paper to read". This will take about 10 minutes. You get credits for attending a seminar only if you are present and you pass the simple test.

Then one student group presents articles or a topic that they have researched (25 minutes). The presentation which are held the same week should be coordinated by the students. The presentations on the same topic should cover the articles marked on the Seminars page and at least one additional article to be found by the students presenting. Additional articles must be approved by the instructor two days prior to the presentation.

After the presentation, there will be a discussion on important or current issues related to the topic of the seminar (10 minutes), which the opposing student group will be responsible for preparing (2 questions, each of which can spur discussion.)

The instructor will grade the tests and inform the failing students the same day as the seminar. Students whose reviews have been rejected will also be informed at this time, as well as the presenters.

Quiz Questions

The student group which is preparing the presentation for a seminar should also prepare six multiple choice questions about the main paper they are reading, i.e., the paper listed on the Seminars page. These questions should try to test the understanding of the other students of the main concepts of that paper. It is not necessary to go into detail, however the questions should be reasonably technical. You will need to use your own judgement based on your understanding of the paper.

Report

All students are to write a report on the topic which they have presented together with the other person that presented it. The report should be approximately 1500 words long and must be handed in within two weeks of the presentation. The report will be judged to high standards and can be rejected at most once. If it is not deemed adequate by the second time it is handed in, you will fail the course. The report should contain a practical example where you either:

  • illustrate how the techniques from the paper will function in a given situation
  • point out a weakness in the proposed technique (do you have a better solution?)

All reports should take on board our Technical Writing advice!

Reviews

You must have had at least 8 short abstracts (400-800 words) (DV etc.) or 5 short abstracts (IT) accepted in order to pass the course. One review should be written per-paper listed on the seminars page. It is up to you to choose which papers to review based upon your own interest.

You must use your judgment and carefully select what points made in the article you include in your review. You cannot say it all. Note that it is important and required that you present your personal opinion about the article. Use at least a few lines at the end to evaluate the text. This means that you say what you think about what the author says. Does it make sense? Were any problems overlooked? Did the article cover an important area? Was it interesting? Was the text easy to read? (You do not have to answer all these questions, they are here to help you understand what we want to see in the evaluation part.)

If a review is deemed unacceptable due to being handed in later than two days before the seminar, lack of understanding of the topic, being fuzzy, bad disposition, missing essential points, errors in essential points, bad spelling, or bad grammar, it will be rejected. A retake may then be attempted.

Retakes for failing a quiz, an absence, a bad review or seminar presentation

A retake for failing a quiz is done by handing in an 800-1500 word review of the article which the test was on (the paper listed in seminars). You will not get a chance to retake for this review if it is not good enough. If your review of the paper to review was rejected, you should hand in an improved review of the same paper. Retakes should be handed in no later than seven days after the seminar (i.e., seven days after the grading results are published).

If your seminar presentation is deemed unsatisfactory you will be asked to extend your report to cover the details missing in your presentation.

Group work

When working in a group on an assignment, each group member shall be able to account for the work handed in by the group. Each group member should also contribute equally to the completion of the assignment.