Telecommunication Networks

Higher education teachers: Hercog Drago

Subject description

Prerequisits:

• Understanding of the following topics: communication fundamentals and computer science.
• A student may pass the exam if they attended tutorial in the lab.

Content (Syllabus outline):

Standardisation. Information types. Information transfer modes (analog, digital, circuit/packet oriented, synchronous, asynchronous, connectionless, connection-oriented, signalling). Quality of service (errors, loss, delays, delay variation). Telecommunication traffic (traffic theory, lossy systems, queuing systems). Information type and transmission mode. Circuit emulation. Architectures of telecommunication systems (network, topology, protocol stack, communication planes). Message synchronisation (synchronous and asynchronous transfer, transparent transfer). Multiplexing/demultiplexing techniques (space, frequency, time, code division multiplex, statistical multiplex, packet multiplex, examples). Addressing. Switching and routing (principles, techniques, influence on quality of service, a more detailed description of some methods and algorithms). Medium access control (MAC methods classification). Fundamentals of flow/congestion control. Technologies/services convergence. A more detailed description of some typical transfer systems (TDM, PDH, SDH, data transmission through voice networks, IP networks, VoIP) and telecommunication networks (telephone networks, SS7, ISDN, Internet).

Objectives and competences:

Understanding of different information transfer modes, telecommunication system architectures, and switching/routing methods used in telecommunication networks. Understanding modern trends of network convergence.

Intended learning outcomes:

The course emphasis is on understanding principles and methods of information transfer through telecommunication networks, especially in data-link and network layers. The goal of a detailed description of typical transfer technologies and telecommunication systems is to strengthen this understanding.

Learning and teaching methods:

Lectures and laboratory work. The exam is both written (consisting of 20 multiple-answer questions and 5 calculation exercises) and oral (a part of which is the discussion on student's laboratory work report).

Study materials

Readings:

1. Hercog, D., Telekomunikacijska omrežja, Pasadena, 2013
2. Stallings, W., Data and Computer Communications, 9th Ed., Pearson, 2011
3. Olifer, N., Olifer, V, Computer Networks: Principles, Technologies, and Protocols for Network Design, John Wiley & Sons, 2006
4. Stevens, W. R., TCP/IP Illustrated, Volume 1: The Protocols, Addison Wesley, 1994
5. Gibson, J. D., Ed., The Communications Handbook, 2nd Ed., CRC Press, 2002
6. Pujolle, G., Les Réseaux, Ed. 2011, Eyrolles, 2011