1. Communication Networks NETW 501
Lecture 1
Course Overview & Introduction
Course Instructor: Dr.-Ing. Maggie Mashaly
C3.220

2. Text Book and References
“Communications Networks 2nd Edition”, A. Leon-Garcia, and I. Widjaja, McGraw Hill, 2003
Reference Books:
“Computer Networking: A Top-Down Approach Featuring the Internet 3rd Edition”, J. F. Kurose, and K. W. Ross, Addison Wesley, 2005
“Computer Networks 4th Edition”, A. Tanenbaum, Prentice Hall, 2002

3. Socket Programming (5%)
Course Assessment
Assessment Type
Description
Weight
Quizzes
Best 2 out of 3
15%
Assignments
Packet Tracer (5%)
Socket Programming (5%)
10%
Mid-term
Exam
Theoretical
30%
Final Exam
45%

4. Communication Networks: The Revolution!
System/Network on Chip
WiFi Networks
DSL Networks
Optical Networks
Cable Networks
Sensor Networks
Home Networks
Data Centers and Cloud Computing
Body Area Networks

5. Communication Networks: Applications
Telecommunications
Business
Inter vehicle communication
Health
Mobile Applications
Industrial Process Control
Agriculture & Irrigation

6. Communication Networks: Applications

7. What will you learn from this course?
Fundamental Concepts of Communication Networks
Basics of Design and Architecture of Communication Networks
Different Interconnectivity Approaches of Communication Networks
Role of Software & Hardware in Communication Networks
Different Examples of Existing Communication Networks

8. Skills you need for this Course
A Good Memory
Around 40% of the midterm/final exams is theoretical
If you understand the concepts well, memorizing will be quite easy
Problem Solving
Practice problems to digest the theoretical concepts
Some problems require some understanding about the basics of probability

9. Communication Networks NETW 501
Lecture 1
Layered Architecture of Communication Networks

10. Comm. Networks: First Questions
What is a Communication Network?
A System connecting different devices such as Phones, Mobiles, PCs, Printers, and Disk Drives to provide a certain Service
Why do we need Communication Networks?
Need to communicate and share information among different devices
Direct connectivity between each and every device is not feasible
Direct connectivity between each and every device is not actually necessary
In the following we shall focus on Computer Networks

11. The Need for Communication Standards
Computers have different architectures, understand different languages, store data in different formats, and communicate at different rates
Getting everybody to agree on a particular standard has not been easy…
Defacto Standards:
Standards that exist by the virtue of wide spread use
Vendors know that producing products consistent with them will have a large market
Standards adopted by Agencies:
Write a proposal and submit it to an agency for consideration
If the proposal has merit and wide spread acceptance, the agency will make suggestions and send it back to the originators for modifications
After several rounds of suggestions and modifications the proposal will be adopted or refused

12. OSI Reference Model
Describes a seven-layer abstract reference model for a network architecture
Purpose of the reference model was to provide a framework for the development of protocols
Open System Interconnect (OSI)
Developed by ISO (International Organization for Standardization)
Open System: A set of protocols that would allow any two different computers to communicate regardless of their underlying architecture

13. The Concept of Layering

14. References NETW 707 Lectures slides by A. Prof. Tallal El-Shabrawy
“Communication Networks 2nd Edition”, A. Leon-Garcia and I. Widjaja, McGraw Hill, 2013