Courses

Current Courses

In the Fall of 2008, I will be teaching ECE/CSC 570. I shall teach the new course on Survivable Networks in Spring, 2009.

For more information on these courses, see below.

CSC 778 : Optical Networks

This advanced graduate level course has been regulary taught once a year for the past several years. It addresses the technology, algorithms and recent research in this area. I taught it in Fall, 2006 and Fall, 2007; an archived version of the latter administration is available here. Some of the student deliverables have been removed due to space constraints. (All the final reports and presentations are available.)

Note: In Fall, 2006 and previously, this course had been numbered CSC/ECE 775.

CSC 791b : Survivable Networks

This special topic was recently developed jointly by George Rouskas and myself, and we co-taught it for the first time in Spring, 2007, and again in Spring, 2008. In the past few decades, networks have attained critical infrastructure status, and continued operation in the face of equipment failure has become a mainstream issue. This course focuses on the theory, protocols, and research issues related to network fault-tolerance and survivability in large long-haul networks, as well as some coverage on survivability-related issues such as performability in wireless networks. Archived versions of Spring, 2007 and Spring, 2008 administrations are available here. Some of the student deliverables have been removed due to space constraints. (All the research project reports are available.)

CSC 791b : Advanced Topics in Network Design

In Spring, 2005, I created this special topic to address a gap in our networking curriculum, and taught it in both Spring and Fall of 2005. This course is also a guided entry into research in this area. Here is general information on 791b. An archived version of the Spring, 2005 administration of this course is available here. Some of the student deliverables have been removed due to space constraints. (All the final reports are available.)

While producing actual publishable research is not a required goal of this course, some students do get to that point. From the above administration, one student's work was submitted, accepted and presented at a conference, all before the end of Fall, 2005! Two more students' works were close to final submission, and may be submitted for publication in future.

ECE/CSC 570 : Computer Networks

This is the cornerstone course in computer networking in the CSC graduate curriculum and the MCN curriculum. Several sections of this course are taught each year. In the past five years, I have taught at least one section of 570 each year. Representative material has been archived and is available for 2004, 2006 and 2007. Note that the oldest page does not contain the course notes etc. material.

Currently (in Fall, 2008) I am teaching this course again; here is the WolfWare locker for this administration. Please note that this site can be expected to change through the semester.

CSC/ECE 573 : Internet Protocols

This course presents details and internals of the main protocols of the TCP/IP suite of protocols, and provides conceptual views of the protocols, the Internet, and related issues such as Quality of Service issues in the Internet. Note: MPLS is no longer covered in this course, but has been subsumed in CSC/ECE 576. Some representative information on my last administration of this course (in Spring, 2005) is available at the archived course homepage.

CSC 401 : Data and Computer Communication Networks

This is the first of the two-course networking sequence in our undergraduate curriculum. In 2003, I revamped this course and taught it in two successive semesters, some representative information is archived here for the Fall 2003 administration. I also taught it in Spring, 2007, and currently serve as course coordinator for this course.

CSC 230 : C and Software Tools

This is a new course, instituted in Fall, 2005, to serve as a course in a second high-level programming language and introduction to procedural programming. In Spring, 2006, and Spring, 2007, I taught this course with large classes of undergraduate students (107 and 112 final grades were assigned respectively). Some representative material is available for both the Spring, 2006 and the Spring, 2007 administrations. Note that the older page does not contain the full set of course notes etc. material due to lack of space.

CSC600 : Graduate Orientation

I have presented a session in CSC600 in each of the last six years. The Fall 2006 version lecture is available here, as PPT and PDF.

Internet Teaching Laboratory

I developed this laboratory in Spring 2000 since which time 500+ students have been through it. The first two sets of exercises currently accompany CSC573 - Internet Protocols, the third set involves using the SmartBits network tester and will be deployed for students when sufficient SmartBits boxes become available. This set of exercises was demonstrated at the CAIDA Internet Teaching Laboratories workshop at the University of Virginia at Charlottesville, VA, in summer 2001.

The following handout accompanied the demonstration, and contains all three sets of exercises. A complete package to replicate the entire lab is available from the NC State Networking Laboratories site. Please also read the legal notices posted in the complete package.

The lab is physically located in Ventures II, Suite 150, at the Centennial Campus.

Virtual Laboratory

I am also part of the virtual laboratory initiative, and the ITL lab above was part of the IT Expo held at the McKimmon Center of NCSU in September, 2001. More information about this initiative can be found at the NC State Networking Laboratories site.

A Distance Lab Proposal

This proposal relates to the possible use of dedicated resources to let distance students have a lab experience similar, though not indistinguishable, from that of in-class students. It is only proof-of-concept scale, not full scale, but could serve as a blueprint for a future full scale deployment.

The proposal was awarded and Sharat C. Visweswara received a net-lab assistantship for a spring semester and half of a summer semester to perform the implementation under my direction. The implementation was successful and the system was used to support CSC570 students during Fall 2003.

Last updated: Aug 20, 2008