M&IS 64081 Spring 2007 Bakes

INSTRUCTOR:              Dr. Catherine Bakes

OFFICE:                       A-405 BSA

OFFICE HOURS:           Tues & Thurs 1:30-2 pm, 3:30-5:15 pm, and 6:45-7 pm

OFFICE PHONE:           (330) 672‑1162                          

E-MAIL:                        cbakes@kent.edu

TEXT:                           Data Communications and Computer Networks: A Business User's Approach, Fourth Edition, Curt M. White, Thomson Course Technology, 2007 (ISBN 1-4188-3610-9)

URL:                             http://business.kent.edu/courses/current/bad/64081/

LISTSERV:                   datacomm@listserv.kent.edu

This course provides an introduction to the basic concepts underlying local and wide area data communications 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 data communications technologies, services, standards, and regulations. In addition, students are to complete a project focusing on some topic from the field of data communications.

You are required to join the course listserv and, if you join by the specified deadline, you will receive 1 point towards your course grade.

You are expected to take each exam in class on the day that it is scheduled. A makeup exam (which may be different from the original exam) will only be given if you have a legitimate excuse, obtain my permission prior to the scheduled exam time, and provide written documentation (e.g., a medical excuse from a doctor) explaining why you are not able to take the exam at the scheduled time. Otherwise, you will receive a zero for a missed exam. If you have any questions concerning a grade you receive on an exam, it is your responsibility to inform me within 1 week of the exam being returned to you. Exam 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.  No other course assignments (i.e., listserv membership, guest lecture forms, project presentation forms) will be accepted for credit after their respective deadlines.

After rounding your numeric score to the nearest integer, your course letter grade will be assigned according to the scale: A = 90-100, 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. They must be turned off before class begins and not turned back on until after class ends. 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 Friday, January 26, 2007 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 for the work or course.  Repeat offenses result in dismissal from the University.

Course withdrawal: For Spring 2007, the course withdrawal deadline is Sunday, March 25, 2007.   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 equal access course content.  If you have 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 the Student Accessibility Services (contact 330-672-3391 or visit www.kent.edu/sas 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 datacomm 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 datacomm@listserv.kent.edu.

There will be 3 exams during the semester and their emphasis will be on the material discussed in class. While taking an exam, 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 exam.  I strongly recommend being very selective in deciding what to include on the page. This should help you to prepare better for the exam and save you time while taking the exam. Except for your page of notes, each exam will be closed book and closed notes.

You are required to attend both guest lectures and to submit a form (which is available on the course web site) for each. Carefully follow all the instructions provided on the form and submit a hard copy.  

Each team of 1 or 2 students is to write a project report on some technology (or legislation/regulation) 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 I cover. For ideas on possible project areas, I suggest that you browse through the text, explore the Internet, visit a university library, and/or consult the following list:

Active directory (AD)

Broadcast and multicast technologies

Computer telephony integration (CTI)

Data, audio, and video compression

Domain name system (DNS)

Fiber optic networks (Fibre Channel, PONs, SONET, WDM)

Frame relay and MPLS

Internet access technologies (56k modem, ISDN, DSL, cable modem, BPL, satellite, wireless)

Network protocols (TCP/IP, IPv6)

Network security (threats, authentication, data encryption, firewalls, IPSec, IDS/IPS)

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

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

Routing (algorithms, protocols)

Videoconferencing

Virtual private networks (VPNs)

Voice over IP (VoIP)

Wireless communications (fixed, mobile)

Wireless LANs and PANs (IEEE 802.11, Bluetooth)

Wireless security

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 Feb 2. You may do this in person during my office hours, or by phone or e-mail. If you do not obtain my approval by Feb 2, 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 (1) a cover page, (2) table of contents, (3) executive summary, (4) body (with the pages numbered and at least 4 to 6 pages of text per team member), (5) bibliography, and (6) appendix with illustrative figures and tables.

At a minimum, the cover page should have (1) the project title, (2) team number, (3) team members’ names, and (4) date. The table of contents should include all major components of the report. The executive summary should be one page long and give a complete summary of the report.

The body of the report should have (1) an introduction, (2) a section for each subtopic, and (3) a conclusion. It should also explicitly address each of the following areas as they relate to your topic: (1) background and goals, (2) design and implementation, (3) business applications and implications, (4) options and alternatives, (5) strengths and limitations versus alternatives, and (6) future trends.

The bibliography should include a numbered list of all references (with the complete URL for each electronic reference and with the title, author, publisher, and date for each print reference) and each reference should be cited (by its number in square brackets) at the appropriate location(s) in the report. The figures and tables should be numbered systematically and consistently, have captions, and be discussed and referenced at the appropriate locations in the report.

For the executive summary and body of the report, use size 12 Times New Roman font, 1.25 inch margins (for all 4 margins), 1.5 line spacing, and left justification (only). Insert 1 blank line after each section heading and after each section and, instead of separating paragraphs with blank lines, start each paragraph with a tab character.

While there may be individual grade adjustments based on feedback from the peer evaluation forms, the report will be graded initially according to how well you satisfy the above requirements as well as according to the following 6 categories: breadth; depth; clarity; organization; difficulty/effort; and professionalism. 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.

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 (1) use PowerPoint, (2) not read the information you present, (3) begin the presentation by introducing your team members and topic and providing an outline of the subtopics to be addressed, (4) include a hands-on demonstration if appropriate, (5) conclude the presentation with a summary of the key findings, and (6) rehearse your presentation to ensure that it fits the allotted time (this will be based on the class size and announced in class approx. 2 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; professionalism; visual aids; enthusiasm/innovation; diction/pace/time management; and eye contact.

You are 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 2 presentations, with 1 from each of the 2 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 carefully follow all the instructions provided.

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 1/15 & 1/22: Ch. 1-2 & pgs 381-382

Introduction to course

Analog & digital data & signals

Digital coding schemes (NRZ-L, NRZI, Manchester, differential Manchester, bipolar-AMI, 4B/5B)

Modulation schemes (AM, FM, PM, QAM)

PCM

Spread spectrum

Weeks of 1/29 & 2/5: Ch. 3 & pgs 376-381, 390, & 402-405

Transmission media (twisted-pair, coaxial cable, optical fiber, microwave, satellite)

Telephone system

Private, leased, & switched lines

PBXs & Centrex

Wireless communications (cellular, IR, WAP, LMDS/MMDS, WiMax, Bluetooth, WLANs, UWB)

Weeks of 2/12 & 2/19: Ch. 4 & pgs 147 & 382-389

HDX, FDX, & simplex transmission

Modems (56k, ISDN, DSL, cable)

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

Asynchronous, synchronous, & isochronous transmission

Multipoint lines & polling

Week of 2/26: Ch. 5 & pg 390

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

Week of 3/5: Ch. 6 & pgs 42-44, 59-62, & 70-74

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, Unicode)

Weeks of 3/12 & 3/19: Ch. 7 & pgs 245-254

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)

Week of 3/26: Spring Recess

Weeks of 4/2 & 4/9: Ch. 8 & 11 & pgs 15-27, 311-312, & 475-476

Internetworking (repeaters, bridges, switches, routers)

OSI & Internet reference models

Internet protocols & services (IP, TCP, ICMP, UDP, ARP, DHCP, NAT, VPNs, HTTP, DNS,

E-mail, FTP, telnet, IP telephony, SNMP)

IP addressing

IPv6 and Internet2

Weeks of 4/16 & 4/23: Ch. 10 & 12

Circuit & packet (datagram, virtual circuit) switching

Frame relay & ATM (congestion, QoS)

Weeks of 4/30 & 5/7: 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.