MIS 44042 F05 Bakes

INSTRUCTOR:              Dr. Catherine M. Bakes

OFFICE:                       A-405 BSA

OFFICE HOURS:           Tues & Thurs 3-5:15 pm and 6:45-7 pm

OFFICE PHONE:           (330) 672‑1162                          

E-MAIL:                        cbakes@bsa3.kent.edu

TEXT:                           Data Communications & Computer Networks: A Business User's Approach, Third Edition, Curt M. White, Course Technology, 2004 (ISBN 0-619-16035-7)

URL:                             http://business.kent.edu/courses/current/m&is/44042/

LISTSERV:                   telecom@listserv.kent.edu

This course provides an introduction to the basic concepts underlying local and wide area telecommunications networks and an understanding of the relevant terminology.  It includes an overview of transmission media, data communications protocols, and network configurations, a description of modulation, error control, multiplexing, and switching techniques, and a discussion of current telecommunications technologies, services, standards, and regulations. In addition, students are to complete a team research project focusing on some topic from the field of telecommunications.

You are expected to take each quiz in class on the day that it is scheduled. A makeup quiz (which may be different from the original quiz) will only be given if you have a legitimate excuse (i.e., sickness, athletic event, religious observation, military responsibility, or death in immediate family), obtain my permission prior to the scheduled quiz time, and provide written documentation. Otherwise you will receive a zero for a missed quiz. If you have any questions concerning a grade you receive on a quiz, it is your responsibility to inform me within 1 week of the quiz being returned to you.  Quiz grades will not be discussed after that time.

If your project report is turned in late, 20% of the available points will be deducted for each calendar day that it is late. The guest lecture forms and project presentation forms will NOT BE ACCEPTED after their respective deadlines. You are required to join the course listserv and, if you join by the specified deadline, you will receive 1 point of extra credit.

After rounding your numeric score to the nearest integer, your course letter grade will be assigned according to the scale:  A = 90-105; B = 80‑89; C = 70‑79; D = 60‑69; and F = 0‑59. 

Attendance is not mandatory but is highly recommended if you wish to do well in the course. You are responsible for all material presented in class and should not expect any special consideration if you miss material due to being absent.

You are expected to be respectful of other students and the instructor at all times during the semester! Come to class on time and stay until the class has ended. Unless you have a legitimate reason for doing so, do not come to class late or leave early. Other students wish to be in class and it is not fair to disrupt them by the noise and disturbance of late arrivals and early departures.  Any time you have questions ask them, in class, during office hours, or via e-mail. This is likely to benefit you as well as other students in the class.  Use of cell phones or pagers is not permitted during class. Make sure to turn them off before class or to place the ringer on silent or vibrate mode. Improper classroom behavior will not be tolerated and is grounds for dismissal from the course, resulting in a grade of F.

Prerequisites: Students attending the course who do not have the proper prerequisite risk being deregistered from the class.

Course registration: Students have responsibility to ensure they are properly enrolled in classes.  You are advised to review your official class schedule (using Web for Students) during the first two weeks of the semester to ensure you are properly enrolled in this class and section.  Should you find an error in your class schedule, you have until Sunday, September 11, 2005 to correct the error with your advising office.  If registration errors are not corrected by this date and you continue to attend and participate in classes for which you are not officially enrolled, you are advised now that you will not receive a grade at the conclusion of the semester for any class in which you are not properly registered.

Academic Honesty:  Cheating means to misrepresent the source, nature, or other conditions of your academic work (e.g., tests, papers, projects, assignments) so as to get undeserved credit.  The use of the intellectual property of others without giving them appropriate credit is a serious academic offense.  It is the University's policy that cheating or plagiarism result in receiving a failing grade (0 points) for the work or course.  Repeat offenses may result in dismissal from the University.

Course withdrawal: For Fall 2005, the course withdrawal deadline is Sunday, Nov 6, 2005. Withdrawal before the deadline results in a "W" on the official transcript; after the deadline a grade must be calculated and reported.

Students with disabilities: University policy 3342-3-18 requires that students with disabilities be provided reasonable accommodations to ensure their equal access to course content.  If you have a documented disability and require accommodations, please contact the instructor at the beginning of the semester to make arrangements for necessary classroom adjustments.  Please note, you must first verify your eligibility for these through Student Disability Services (contact 330-672-3391 or visit www.registrars.kent.edu/disability/ for more information on registration procedures).

To join the course listserv, send an e-mail to listserv@listserv.kent.edu. The subject is optional and the body of the message must have the 1-line command sub telecom firstname lastname where firstname and lastname are your first name and last name, respectively. If you succeed in joining you will receive a confirmation message.

To post a message to the listserv, send an e-mail to telecom@listserv.kent.edu.

There will be 6 quizzes, of which your best 5 will be worth 15 points each and your worst will be dropped. Their emphasis will be on the material discussed in class. Each quiz will be approximately 20 minutes long and given at the beginning or end of a class period. While taking a quiz, you may refer to one 1-sided 8 ½ x 11” page of notes which you are to show me when you turn in your quiz.  I strongly recommend being very selective in deciding what to include on the page. This should help you to prepare better for the quiz and save you time while taking the quiz. Except for your page of notes, each quiz will be closed book and closed notes.

You have the option of submitting a form for each of the 2 guest lectures. The form is available on the course web site and each completed form is worth 2 points of extra credit added to your course grade. Use size 11 Ariel font, carefully follow all the instructions provided, and submit a hard copy.

Each team of 3 to 5 students is to write a project report on some topic from the field of telecommunications and present it in class. The topic you select should be relevant to the course and add new information beyond the material that I cover. For ideas on possible project areas, I suggest that you browse through the text, explore the Internet, visit the libraries at Kent State, Akron, Cleveland State, and/or CWRU, and consult the following list:

Asynchronous transfer mode (ATM)

Cellular/mobile communications

Compression techniques (data, audio, video)

Directory services (Active Directory, DEN, LDAP)

Domain name system (DNS)

Fiber optic networks (LANs, MANs, WANs, SONET, WDM, PONs)

Frame relay

HDTV

High speed networks (Internet2, Abilene)

Internet access technologies (dial-up modem, ISDN, DSL, cable modem, power lines, wireless)

Internet telephony/IP telephony/Voice over IP

Internetworking (bridges, switches, routers, gateways, routing algorithms)

Network security (threats, authentication, data encryption, firewalls)

Protocols (TCP/IP, IPv6, IPSec)

Quality of service (DiffServ, IEEE 802.1 p/Q, MPLS, GMPLS, RSVP, VLANs)

Regulation and deregulation (AT&T divestiture, telecom legislation)

Satellite communications

Videoconferencing

Virtual private networks (VPNs)

Wireless LANs (IEEE 802.11, Bluetooth)

You have the choice of selecting your team members and project topic or having me assign your project team and topic for you. If you choose the former option, your team must discuss your project with me and obtain my approval of your topic selection by 5 pm on 9/16. You may do this in person during my office hours, or by phone or e-mail. If you do not obtain my approval by 9/16, I will assign a team and topic for you. Note that the topics listed above are suggestions only. Your team’s topic does not have to be on the list, nor is it guaranteed that I will approve your selection of a topic that is on the list.

The project report should have a cover page, executive summary, table of contents, body (with at least 3 to 4 pages of text per team member), bibliography, and appendix with illustrative figures and tables. At a minimum, the cover page should have the project title, team number, team members’ names, and date. The executive summary should be one page long and give a complete summary of the report. The table of contents should list all major section headings, the bibliography, and the appendix. The body of the report should have an introduction, a section for each subtopic, and a conclusion. Each page (starting with the second page) should be numbered and you should use size 12 Times New Roman font, 1.25 inch margins (for all 4 margins), 1.5 line spacing, and left justification (only). Also, instead of separating paragraphs with blank lines, start each paragraph with a tab character. The bibliography should include a mix of print and electronic references and all references should be cited at appropriate locations within the report using any well-established style, e.g., APA or IEEE. The figures and tables should be numbered systematically, have captions, and be discussed in the body of the report. While there may be individual grade adjustments based on feedback from the peer evaluation forms, the report will be graded initially according to the following 10 equally weighted categories: breadth; depth; clarity; organization; difficulty/effort/new information; professionalism; executive summary; references; figures/tables; and relevance to course. NOTE: All team members are expected to be familiar with the entire report and evidence of plagiarism will result in a grade of zero for the team.

PROJECT PRESENTATION

Each team (either some or all team members) is to present their project in class at the end of the semester.  When giving your presentation, it is not necessary to include all the details in your report.  You are strongly encouraged to use PowerPoint (do not read the information you present), to begin the presentation by introducing your team members and topic, to include a hands-on demonstration if appropriate, and to rehearse your presentation to ensure that it fits the allotted time (this will be based on the class size and announced in class approx. 3 weeks before the presentations begin). You may assume that an overhead projector, computer, and computer projector will be provided, although I strongly recommend that you have a backup plan in case of equipment failures. If you wish to use any additional equipment, you should notify me at least one week in advance, schedule a time to test the equipment in the classroom, and coordinate your presentation with the other teams presenting on the same day.  While there may be individual grade adjustments based on feedback from the peer evaluation forms, the presentation will be graded initially according to the following 10 equally weighted categories: breadth; depth; clarity; organization/teamwork; difficulty/effort/new information; professionalism; visual aids; enthusiasm/innovation; diction/pace/time management; and eye contact.

Each student is required to attend all the project presentations at the end of the semester and to submit forms (which are available on the course web site) for 5 presentations, with at least 1 from each of the 3 class meetings in which projects are presented. On each form enter your name, the date, the presenters’ team number, and the topic being presented. Then complete the form making sure that you write legibly and follow all the instructions.

All team members are expected to contribute equally to creating a high-quality project report and presentation. However, each project team will be self-managed and responsible for determining the roles played by its members, and the nature of the contributions may differ across team members. For example, one team member might be responsible for the introduction and conclusion, as well as proofreading the paper and ensuring that there are smooth transitions between subtopics, while others might be responsible for one or 2 subtopics each. It is up to the team to make these decisions appropriately and all team members should ensure that their contributions are on track and sufficient. 

The team project report and project presentation grades will be assigned initially using the grading schemes outlined above. However, I reserve the right to make adjustments to individual grades based on information from the peer evaluation forms which you are to download from the course web site and complete. You are to use these forms to award points that indicate the value of the project contributions of each member of your team and to provide written comments justifying the points you award. Failure to complete and submit a peer evaluation form by the specified deadline is likely to result in a negative adjustment to your own project report and presentation grades.

Weeks of 8/29 & 9/5: Ch. 1-2 & pgs 391-392

Introduction to course

Analog & digital data & signals

Digital encoding schemes (NRZ-L, NRZI, Manchester, differential Manchester, 4B/5B)

Modulation schemes (AM, FM, PM, QAM)

PCM

Spread spectrum

Weeks of 9/12 & 9/19: Ch. 3 & pgs 386-393

Transmission media (twisted-pair, coaxial cable, optical fiber, microwave, satellite, cellular, IR, WAP, LMDS/MMDS, Bluetooth, WLANs, UWB)

Telephone system

PBXs & Centrex

Private/leased/switched lines & bypass

Weeks of 9/26 & 10/3: Ch. 4 & pgs 393-395 & 405-408

Modems & modem types (internal, external, PCMCIA, 56k)

CSU/DSUs

Cable, ISDN & DSL “modems”

DTE/DCE interface (RS-232, RS-449, FireWire, USB, SCSI, Fibre Channel)

Asynchronous & synchronous transmission

HDX, FDX & simplex transmission

Multipoint lines & polling

Week of 10/10: Ch. 5

Multiplexing (FDM, TDM, T carrier system, ISDN, SONET/SDH, STDM, WDM, DMT, CDM)

Week of 10/17: Ch. 6 & pgs 40-42, 58-62 & 72-76 

Noise (white noise, impulse noise, crosstalk, echoes, jitter, delay distortion, attenuation, dBs)

Error detection (parity, checksum, CRC)

Error correction & flow control (ARQ techniques, Hamming codes, sliding window)

Data codes (EBCDIC, ASCII)

Data link control protocols 

Weeks of 10/24 & 10/31: Ch. 7 & pgs 255-262

LAN topologies (bus, tree, star, ring)

Ethernet LANs (CSMA/CD, IEEE 802.3 frame format, shared & switched, VLANs, fast & gigabit)

Token ring & FDDI LANs (token-passing, IEEE 802.5 frame format)

Wireless LANs (IEEE 802.11)

Weeks of 11/7 & 11/14: Ch. 8 & 11 & pgs 14-26

Internetworking (hubs, bridges, switches, routers, gateways)

OSI & Internet reference models

Internet protocols & services (IP, TCP, ICMP, UDP, ARP, DHCP, NAT, VPNs, HTTP, DNS, SNMP, E-mail, FTP, telnet, IP telephony)

IP addressing

IPv6

Weeks of 11/21 & 11/28: Ch. 10 & 12

Circuit & packet (datagram, virtual circuit) switching

Frame relay & ATM (congestion, QoS)

Weeks of 12/5 & 12/12: Project presentations

NOTE:  I will make every effort to follow the schedule outlined above and to cover the topics in the order listed.  However, depending on the pace of the class, we may cover some topics earlier or later than scheduled.