Communication Networks

EE 6093 Section A Winter 1999

General Information

EE 6093: Communication Networks.

3-0-3. Prerequisites: EE 6050, EE6051 is strongly recommended.

Course Objective: An introductory presentation of queueing theory and its application to the performance evaluation of local area networks.

This course will deviate from previous in that a significant amount of the course will require knowledge of a high-level programming language and the ability write and compile software to validate the theory which will be taught in this course.  After all, it can be easy to derive expressions for any number of quantities, but it is also seems to be beneficial for one to see that the derived value is, in fact, what occurs when the system (or a simulation thereof) is implemented.  While the student is allowed to use whatever language is most familiar to them, students will be directed to materials which may be useful in the course which use "C" and/or "C++" (and, when possible, various dialects of Fortran).  These skills will be required in order to complete all problems on the take-home exams which will be offered during the quarter.

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Instructor: Dr. Bill McKinnon

• Office: 248 GCATT (250 14th St.)
• Phone: (404) 894-8806
• Email: b.mckinnon@ieee.org or bill.mckinnon@gtri.gatech.edu
• Office Hours: Generally open (from 9am until later than I would like to admit), but appointments are strongly recommended (I won't be held responsible if I am working somewhere else when you "drop by")

Textbooks

Other References

    Telecommunications
Telecommunication Networks: Protocols, Modeling and Analysis by Mischa Schwartz, Addison Wesley, 1988
Data Networks, 2nd ed. by Dimitri Bertsekas and Robert Gallager, Prentice Hall, 1992
Computer Networks, 2nd ed. by Andrew S. Tanenbaum, Prentice Hall, 1989

    Probability, Random Processes, Queueing Theory, and Statistics
Probability and Random Processes for Electrical Engineers by Yannis Viniotis, WCB/McGraw-Hill, 1998
Probability, Random Variables, and Stochastic Processes, 3rd ed. by Athanasios Papoulis, McGraw Hill, 1991
An Introduction to Probability Theory and Its Applications (vol. 1), 3rd ed. by William Feller, John Wiley & Sons, 1968
An Introduction to Probability Theory and Its Applications (vol. 2), 2nd ed. by William Feller, John Wiley & Sons, 1971
Queueing Systems, vol. 1: Theory by Leonard Kleinrock, John Wiley & Sons, 1975
Queueing Systems, vol. 2: Computer Applications by Leonard Kleinrock, John Wiley & Sons, 1976
Fundamentals of Queueing Theory, 2nd ed. by Donald Gross and Carl M. Harris, John Wiley & Sons, 1985
The Art of Computer Systems Performance Analysis by Raj Jain, John Wiley & Sons, 1991

    Software
Numerical Recipes in C: The Art of Scientific Computing, 2nd ed. by William H. Press, William T. Vetterling, Saul A. Teukolsky, and Brian P. Flannery, Cambridge University Press, 1992
Simulation Modeling & Analysis, 2nd ed. by Averill M. Law and W. David Kelton, McGraw Hill, 1991

    Basic Knowledge of Transform Theory, Linear Algebra, and Operations Research helpful

Commercial Network Performance (and related) Products
Make Systems' NetMaker
CACI's Comnet
MIL3's Opnet
Mesquite Software
ARENA (SIMAN)
GPSS/PC and GPSS/H
Any information found on the SLAM simulation programming language would be appreciated.

• An discussion of several simulation & modeling tools can be found at http://www.isoquantic.com/pr/iq-simtools.html

More information may be added as the course progresses.

Grade Division

Homework is not assigned in this class for the same reason.  It is the responsibility of the student (particularly when in graduate school) to learn the material in whatever fashion works for you, such that you perform on the examinations.  I, as the instructor, am a resource who will provide what assistance I can in a manner fair to all of the students in the class.

The "(Recommended) Assignments" are not to be turned in and do not even necessarily have to completed on the dates assigned.  However, they provide a reasonable path for the student to develop tools which will be required for the examinations' completion.  I will not provide debugging assistance in using these tools; the students are expected to have the skills to put together tools (from whatever source they choose, not necessarily those I provide, but possibly including themselves) which will solve the problems on the examinations.

Examinations will be distributed via hyperlinks shown in the syllabus.  These links will be activated just prior to class on the days listed in the syllabus.  It is the student's responsibility to download the exam, print it, and solve the problems.  The take-home examinations are open book, but are to be solved without any personal assistance from other individuals; software used within the examinations should have been developed individually or downloaded from public domain sources and compiled by the student.  An honor code will be attached to each examination.  In order to preserve fairness in grading the examinations, only social security numbers should be used for identification on examinations.  Academic dishonesty will be dealt with harshly by the instructor.

Examinations are due promptly at 3pm on the date noted in the syllabus below; any exams turned in within 10 minutes of the start of class will have 20% of their grade deducted for being late.  No exams will be accepted after that time.  Finally, exam grades are non-negotiable (i.e., "binding") at 5pm on the days indicated in the syllabus below (i.e., one week after they are returned).

Syllabus