CS 420/520: Data Communication

Welcome to CS420/520 Data Communication. This course is offered in the Fall Semester 2002 at the University of Idaho in Moscow and is also available though Engineering Outreach for off-campus students. The course is taught by Dr. Axel Krings.

This web-page contains information about the course, e.g. syllabus, class notes, pointers to interesting places etc. Material can be down-loaded in pdf (or postscript) format, and will be made available in the updated form as the class goes on. To get an idea of what this class is about, take a look at 2000 semesters page. However, materials and topics constantly change, and this class will be no exception. If you have comments, please let me know.

Engineering Outreach students, there are several things you should know. First of all, if you are trying to contact me, you can call 800-824-2889 ext. 4078 (toll free). Please download the class material from the web page. This speeds up the distribution process and avoids shipping delays. If you do not have a pdf viewer, you can get it free at adobe, if you need a postscript viewer, check out the aladin viewer. If for some reason you are not able to download the material, please contact Engineering Outreach. There are several assignments that require access to local simulation tools. Engineering Outreach students need to have web access with telnet capability in order to use this software. Accounts on local workstations will be made available.

Course description: this course covers the concepts and terminology of data communications, electrical interfaces, data transmission, protocols, local area networks, wide area networks, internetworking, network management, architectures, transmission alternatives, as well as some regulatory issues. Please refer to the Complete CS420/520 Class Handouts of the Fall 2000 semester page for the sequence of topics. Note: This class has a CS341 (operating systems) co-requisite. This implies a prerequisite of Computer Organization and Architecture (CS245). In a 400/500 level computer science class I expect working knowledge of unix and MS operating systems as well as programming ability.

• Contact information:
  • Axel Krings (PhD), JEB 320,
  • Phone: 208-885-4078, fax: 208-885-9052.
  • Engineering outreach students: dial toll free 800-824-2889 ext 4078
  • Mailing address: Engineering Outreach, PO Box 441014, Moscow, Idaho 83844-1014.
  • Office Hours: (see here)
  • Live-taped: MWF 9:30-10:20, JEB 026.

• News Group
  • CS420/520 has a news group as a forum for questions/answers related to the material covered. The news server is: news.uidaho.edu, the news group is: uidaho.class.cs.420-ak Note, this is a standard news group accessible using any news reader, e.g. netscape or tin, it is not a "chat room". If you have problems accessing the group, make sure that the news server news.uidaho.edu is in the list of servers. For example, in Netscape, you can do this by going to "Edit->Preferences->Mail&Newsgroups->Newsgroup Server" and add the server.

• Fall 2002 Term Class Handouts:
  • The handout numbers refer to the lecture in which the handout was made available. This does not necessarily mean that this material was covered in this particular lecture. (Most likely there is some overlap).
  • If there are any problems with accessing the handouts, please let me know (email, phone, smoke signs, drums, ...)!
  • Corrections: some slides may contain formatting errors, typos etc. which have been addressed in class, but have not been reflected in the notes posted here.
  • WARNING LOCAL STUDENTS: Do not send pdf files (i.e. files in pdf format) to the printer! Pdf files are binary files and printing them "directly" will result in a big printer mess!!! There are 2 ways to look at or print the pdf notes:
    • Save the file and use acroread (usr/local/bin/acroread) to open it. Then from within acroread use the print option.
    • Better: update netscape to use pdf files. To do this go to "edit - preferences", then expand "Navigator" and click "Application". Next click "New" and fill in the following: Description: acroread, MIMEType: application/pdf, Suffixes: pdf. Then click on "application" and enter: /usr/local/bin/acroread %s
    • Now "OK" out of it and it should work.
  • Syllabus.

  • lecture 1 (08/26/02): ( pdf ) Introduction
  • lecture 2 (08/28/02): ( pdf ) DoD and ISO Model
  • lecture 3 (08/30/02): ( pdf ) Physical Aspects
  • Labor Day (09/02/02): no class
  • lecture 4 (09/04/02): ( pdf ) Noise, attenuation, limited bandwidth
  • lecture 5 (09/06/02): ( pdf ) Communication Media
  • lecture 6 (09/11/02): ( pdf ) Modulation, ASK, FSK, PSK
  • lecture 7 (09/13/02): ( pdf ) Data Signaling
  • lecture 8 (09/16/02): ( pdf ) Data Encoding
  • lecture 9 (09/18/02): no new handout: catching up
  • lecture 10 (09/20/02): ( pdf ) Data Transmission
  • lecture 11 (09/23/02): ( pdf ) Interfacing
  • lecture 12 (09/25/02): ( pdf ) Communication Techniques, Error control (from Parity to CRC)
  • lecture 13 (09/27/02): no new handout: catching up
  • lecture 14 (09/30/02): ( pdf ) Compression, Data Link Basics
  • lecture 15 (10/02/02): ( pdf ) Data Link Basics, ARQ, Stop & Wait ARQ
  • lecture 16 (10/04/02): no new handout: catching up
  • lecture 17 (10/07/02): ( pdf ) more on ARQs
  • lecture 18 (10/09/02): no new handout: catching up
  • lecture 19 (10/11/02): ( pdf ) data link
  • lecture 20 (10/14/02): no new handouts
  • lecture 21 (10/16/02): ( pdf ) HLDC [class canceled]
  • lecture 22 (10/18/02): Local: Exam I
  • lecture 23 (10/21/02): ( pdf ) more DL protocols (LAPB, LAPM, LAPD, LLC, MAC)
  • lecture 24 (10/23/02): ( pdf ) multiplexing
  • lecture 25 (10/25/02): ( pdf ) ISDN - statisitcal multiplexing
  • lecture 26 (10/28/02): ( pdf ) Circuit Switching
  • lecture 27 (10/30/02): ( pdf ) Circuit-Packet Switching
  • lecture 28 (11/01/02): ( pdf ) Routing, Topologies
  • lecture 29 (11/04/02): ( pdf ) CSMA/CD
  • lecture 30 (11/06/02): ( pdf ) Token ring
  • lecture 31 (11/08/02): ( pdf ) Highspeed LANs
  • lecture 32 (11/11/02): ( pdf ) FDDI, Bridged LANs
  • lecture 33 (11/13/02): no new handout
  • lecture 34 (11/15/02): ( pdf ) Internetworking
  • lecture 35 (11/18/02): ( pdf ) Internetworking cont.
  • lecture 36 (11/20/02): ( pdf ) Internetworking cont.
  • Thanksgiving Break (11/25/02 - 11/29/02)
  • lecture 37 (12/02/02): no handout
  • lecture 38 (12/04/02): no handout
  • lecture 39 (12/06/02): EXAM II + ( pdf ) Multiservice Networks
  • lecture 40/41 (12/09/02): ( pdf ) ATM
  • lecture 42 (12/13/02): ( pdf ) Transport, TCP/UDP
  • Excursion 12:30 in the Admin Building (in front of the sever room, main floor) ( network-overview.pdf )

  • FINAL EXAM (12/20/02): 10:00 am JEB 26

  • CS420/520 Homeworks/Exams:
    • HW1 due: 09/18/02, (09/30/02 video): (pdf) handed out 09/12/02
    • HW2 due: 10/16/02, (10/29/02 video): (pdf) handed out 10/02/02
    • HW3 due: 11/13/02, (11/26/02 video): (pdf) handed out 11/04/02
    • HW4 due: 12/20/02, (12/28/02 video): (pdf) handed out 12/10/02
    • CS520 graduate project (pdf) handed out 10/15/02

  • CS420/520 old exam questions:
    • Note that some of the material covered in an old exam might not overlap with the material covered this term.
    • Midterm 1 (2000), (1999), (1998).
    • Midterm 2 (2000), (1999), (1998).
    • Final (2000), (1999), (1998).

  • Complete CS420/520 Class Handouts of previous semester: Fall 2000
  • Interesting Links: Pointers to Research Areas.
  • William Stalling's book: I like this text and we will be using is from this book. Take a look at his support material.

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