Lecturer: Giuseppe Federico Rossi  

Course name: Advanced Computer Networks
Course code: 503048
Degree course: Ingegneria Informatica
Disciplinary field of science: ING-INF/05
University credits: CFU 6
Course website: http://www.unipv.it/retical/didattica/aa2010-11/retitel
pv/index.html

Specific course objectives

This course examines some advanced topics in computer networks. A focus will be placed on network address translation, IPv6, congestion control, multimedia over IP, mobile IP (only MIPv6) and multicast communications. After this course students should have a good knowledge on how the Internet works and they will be able to understand technical papers in this area.

Course programme

Introduction
Circuit switching and packet switching. Routing and switching in the packet switched networks. Layered architectures & communication protocols. Network performance: analytical models and simulation.

Advanced IP networks
Network Address Translation; TCP/IPv6; MultiProtocol Label Switching.

Multiservice IP networks
Quality of service in IP networks: definitions. IntServ & DiffServ models. VoIP applications.

The switching node
Theoretical background of hierarchical routing. Address lookup algorithms and their computational complexity.

Congestion control in packet switched networks
Network congestion. A taxonomy of flow control schemes. Efficiency and fairness. Congestion avoidance & congestion recovery. Binary feedback scheme. Queue management & buffer management.

Scheduling disciplines
Work-conserving and non-work-conserving disciplines. FCFS, GPS, WRR, WFQ.

Multicasting
Multicasting in packet switched networks. Graph theory & multicast routing. Multicast routing protocols in IP networks (DVMRP, PIM-DM, PIM-SM).

Course entry requirements

Introductory courses on computer networks (with focus on TCP/IPv4).

Course structure and teaching

Lectures (hours/year in lecture theatre): 42
Practical class (hours/year in lecture theatre): 6
Practicals / Workshops (hours/year in lecture theatre): 0

Suggested reading materials

G. F. Rossi. RETI TELEMATICHE - Lucidi delle Lezioni. (University of Pavia website). Downloadable from http://www.unipv.it/retical/didattica/aa2010-11/retitelpv/index.html..

Testing and exams

Final exam (written).