Networking technologies

Max amount of FITech students: 15

Persons without a valid study right to a Finnish university have preference to this course.

The course discusses the core networking technologies used in computer networks. The focus is on the core Internet protocols and algorithms.

Course contents

The course discusses the core networking technologies used in computer networks. The focus is on the core Internet protocols and algorithms:

• Internet Protocol (IPv4 and IPv6) and related core protocols and mechanisms
• Loss recovery and congestion control
• Unicast routing in the Internet
• Multicasting and multicast routing
• Support for host mobility
• Multimedia networking and quality of service support in the Internet.
  

Learning outcomes

After the course, the student

• can explain the most important operating principles in the Internet protocol design
• can explain and analyze the operation of the core Internet protocols in different situations and compare alternative designs and solutions
• can find and explain various constraints and shortcomings of the protocols
• can illustrate and justify the operation of the major congestion control algorithms in different packet loss scenarios
• is able to evaluate the effect of the different loss recovery congestion control algorithms to the protocol performance
• can explain the essential features and operational principles of the Internet routing protocols for unicast, multicast, and host mobility and separate differences in the different protocols
• can explain the challenges for multimedia delivery and describe core methods for improving the packet delivery from the “best effort” based packet delivery
• can explain the basic architecture and operation of the IntServ and DiffServ mechanisms for Internet quality of service support

In terms of academic skills, students learn about networking technologies as a possible career and as a path towards deep expertise in computer networking. Students learn also group work and interaction skills during exercise sessions. They develop their systemic and strategic thinking by deliberately taking a system-level view to the interaction between the the different protocols and services as well as to the alternative design choices and design decisions that affect the operation of networked services and protocols, including the resulting protocol performance and various trade-offs between the design choices.

Course material

The course web page and Moodle work area contains all the materials or links to materials to study, except the course text books’ content.

The materials have been derived from several sources. The main text book (Comer D. E.: Internetworking with TCP/IP, Vol. 1: Principles, Protocols, and Architecture) covers the majority of the course content. A part of the course reading material is based on scientific articles and the protocol specifications in the IETF RFC series.

Teaching schedule

• Lectures Tue 14-16 and Wed 16-18
• Exercises Tue 10-12 and Tue 16-18

Completion methods

• Participation in teachning: weekly exercise sessions (non-mandatory but yield course points)
• Course exam

The course can be passed by taking a separate exam after independent study of the course materials. This course may be arranged in a different format and with different assessment methods for open university students.

More information in the University of Helsinki study guide.

You can get a digital badge after completing this course.