Communications Services

Code:

EEC0048

Acronym:

SCOM

Keywords
Classification	Keyword
OFICIAL	Telecommunications

Instance: 2014/2015 - 1S

Active?	Yes
Web Page:	http://inescporto.pt/~jneves/feup/2014-2015/scom
Responsible unit:	Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Course/CS Responsible:	Master in Electrical and Computers Engineering

Cycles of Study/Courses

Acronym	No. of Students	Study Plan	Curricular Years	Credits UCN	Credits ECTS	Contact hours	Total Time
MIEEC	22	Syllabus	5	-	6	56	162

Teaching language

Suitable for English-speaking students

Objectives

This course covers topics in advanced networking, namely congestion control, quality of service, multimedia networking, peer-to-peer networks, and communication services, like email, web and cloud. The goal is to give students deeper understanding of networking by covering concepts, principles, protocols and services that are not covered in basic computer networking courses. Typical network services, such as email, web, voice over IP or video on demand, are covered focusing on their design principles and evolution.

 

Learning outcomes and competences

The student should acquire theoretical and practical knowledge in the fields of communication services, multimedia services and de-centralised services running on top of TCP/IP infrastructure. The course will also cover models for quality of service (QoS) support as well as mechanisms for its implementation in IP networks.

The student should be able to analise requirements of communication services, recognise trade-offs (theoretical and practical) and propose appropriate solutions in terms of protocols and network connectivity. The student should also understand ethical, legal and economical issues related to the availability and deployment of communication services.

Working method

Presencial

Program

1. Communication Services
a. Email; Spam,
b. Web,HTTP,CDN
c. Cloud Services; Akamai case study

2. Multimedia Services
a. Audio and video coding, formats, normalisation, requirements
b. IETF multimedia architecture: architecture, protocols
c.VoIP and IPTV: evolution, deployment and economical issues

3. Congestion control and QoS
a. Congestion collapse; congestion control
b. QoS support mechanisms: admission control, traffic shaping, policing,
scheduling, flow control
c. QoS paradigms and protocols: IntServ, DiffServ

4. De-centralisedServices
a. P2P introduction, evolution; Structured P2P, DHT
b. Unstructured P2P;Reputation and Incentives; ALTOproblem
c. De-centralised streaming: broadcast, VoD and conferencing
d. Network virtualisation

Mandatory literature

Andrew S. Tanenbaum; Computer Networks. ISBN: 0-13-038488-7
Jon Crowcroft, Mark Handley, Ian Wakeman; Internetworking Multimedia. ISBN: 1-55860-584-3

Complementary Bibliography

Ralf Steinmetz and Klaus Wehrle; Peer-to-peer Systems and Applications, Springer, 2005. ISBN: 978-3-540-29192-3
Douglas E. Comer; Internetworking with TCP/IP. ISBN: 0-13-187671-6
Cricket Liu, Paul Albitz; DNS and BIND. ISBN: 978-0-596-10057-5

Comments from the literature

Support material will consist also of survey papers and books available online. The references to these materials will be made available per topic in the moodle page of the UC.

Teaching methods and learning activities

The course is based on lectures, interleaved with example exercises and discussion of relevant networking papers on the covered topics.

Additionally, laboratory assignments aim at solidifying concepts from the lectures with hands-on experience in setting up, debugging and monitoring networking applications and services, as well as offer the opportunity to get acquainted with practical issues related to the services and protocols discussed.

Evaluation Type

Distributed evaluation with final exam

Assessment Components

Designation	Weight (%)
Exame	50,00
Participação presencial	10,00
Trabalho laboratorial	40,00
Total:	100,00

Eligibility for exams

Students have to reach a minimum mark of 50% in each of these components to complete the course.

Students have to do all the practical assignments.

Calculation formula of final grade

0,4CA + 0,1CP + 0,5E

CA- Continuous Assessment
CP- Class Participation
E- Exam

Examinations or Special Assignments

Since the assessment of this course is based on laboratory assignments, all students have to do them.
A closed book exam.

Special assessment (TE, DA, ...)

Since this course assessment is based on laboratory assignments, all students have to do them.

Classification improvement

Students can improve the mark of the continuous assessment component by doing an extra assignment.