Course syllabus

Course Description

This is a research-oriented course covering various aspects of computer networking with a strong focus on the Internet. The objective of the course is training students to undertake research in the general area of computer networking. Course material is drawn from new and classical refereed papers, industry reports, and textbooks. Assessments include extensive paper presentations/discussions and a semester-long original research project leading to a conference style write-up. Topics typically covered include Internet measurements, performance evaluation, Internet applications, Internet architecture, content distribution, global routing, stochastic processes, and wireless networks. Background in computer networks or distributed systems will be helpful. 

Course content

This course will cover various aspects of computer networking with a strong focus on the Internet. The course will discuss Internet architecture and the protocols that allow communication among systems. It will cover applications (e.g., Web, P2P) that are used on the Internet, and how ISPs and content providers (e.g., Google, Facebook) manage demand. The course will discuss methodologies for Internet traffic measurement and case studies of such works. Much of the research material presented in the course aligns with the research interests of the course instructors. Guest talks from academia and industry will provide insights from other topics in computer networking.

The objective of the course is to train students to undertake research in the general area of computer networking. The course includes reading research papers, extensive paper presentations/discussions, and a semester long (group) research project as part of the assessment.

The lectures will be broadly focused on the following topics:

•     Introduction to research in computer networking (searching, reading, writing, and reviewing research papers)
•     TCP/IP Protocol Performance (TCP variants, TCP performance modeling, congestion avoidance, congestion control)
•     Network traffic measurement and modeling (Internet measurement, Network traffic measurement techniques, trace collection, flow analysis)
•     Characterizing Internet traffic applications (Web, P2P, DNS, content providers)
•     Stochastic processes (Queueing theory)
•     Wireless Networks (IEEE 802.11 Wireless Local Area Networks, Interference)
•     IP addressing (IPv6 Standards, current deployment, v4-v6 transition)
•     Global Routing (Internet addresses, Autonomous Systems, BGP, Virtual Circuits, MPLS, traceroute, Internet topology mapping)
•     Transport protocols (SCTP, DCCP, RTP)

Instructors

We are eager to help you with the course. Please feel free to contact us either through email or in person.

•     Aniket Mahanti, a.mahanti AT auckland.ac.nz, (Course Supervisor), (City 303S, Room 591)
•     Wanqing Tu, w.tu AT auckland.ac.nz, (City 303S, Room 592)

We will primarily use CANVAS to share course notes, slides, handouts, assignment instructions, and any other pertinent information about the course. Please check COMPSCI 742's CANVAS page to stay up-to-date. We will heavily use the Discussions feature of Canvas for interacting with students. Make sure that you are set up to receive notifications when a post is made on Discussions (Account --> Settings --> Notifications and select Notify me right away for Discussions).

Lecture Times and Locations

• Mon 2:00PM - 3:00PM (Old Choral Hall, 104-155)
• Tue 2:00PM - 3:00PM (Rehutai Academic Blk, 253-101)
• Fri 12:00PM - 1:00PM (Arts 2, 207-303)

Please check Student Services Online (Class Search) for updated class time and location.

Assessment

There is no mid-semester test.

There are three assignments in the course accounting for 50% of your final grade.

1. The first assignment is a short Internet measurement assignment based on trace-driven analysis of a dataset. This assignment accounts for 5% of the final grade. This is an individual assignment.
2. The second individual assignment involves writing a two-page review of a research paper (from a list of selected papers provided by the instructors) and present this paper to the class. This assignment accounts for 10% of the final grade (5% for the written review and 5% for the presentation).
3. The third assignment is a group work, where you will conduct a semester-long research project. Your group will write a project report and present your work to the class. This accounts for 35% of the final grade (5% for the project proposal, 25% for the final report, 5% for the in-class project presentation). Your submission must report novel ideas, methods, or results.

The 2-hour closed-book final exam accounts for 50% of the final grade. There will be an exam review lecture before the exam.

Textbook

There is no required textbook for this course. Much of the lecture material is based on research papers. Here are some recommended textbooks, which you can read to brush up on your networking background:

•     Computer Networking: A Top-Down Approach (6th or 7th Edition) by Kurose and Ross
•     Computer Networks: A Systems Approach (5th Edition) by Peterson and Davie
•     Data and Computer Communications (10th Edition) by Stallings

If you are interested in further exploring advanced material covered in this course, then you can read the following books:

•     Internet Measurement: Infrastructure, Traffic and Applications by Crovella and Krishnamurthy
•     Queuing Systems by Kleinrock