Fundamentals of Computer Networks

ECE 478/578

Lecture #1
Instructor: Loukas Lazos
Dept of Electrical and Computer Engineering
University of Arizona
What is this Course All About
Fundamental principles of Computer Networks

First course – Broad coverage of topics (important topics in depth)

Topics categorized to:

network architectures - technologies
protocols
applications

We will not discuss specific implementations: e.g., how to configure

the latest cisco routers

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Why Learn about Networking?
Indispensable part of modern society
Commercial – e-commerce, banking, inventorying, telecommunications,
archiving, health
Social – critical infrastructure, homeland security, policing
Human interaction/communication – email, chat, videoconferencing, social
networking, entertainment

Appears in every facet of engineering

Modern trend – Network every (electronic) device (computers, phones,
sensors, planes, cars, TVs, appliances, heart monitors, …)

Prolific field to pursue graduate studies

Many problems remain unsolved
Research funding is still strong
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Course Logistics
Textbook
“Computer Networks: A Systems Approach”
L. Peterson, and B. Davie, 5th edition.

Additional References
“Data Networks”
D. Bertsekas, and R. Gallager, 2nd edition
“Computer Networks”
S. Tanenbaum and D. Wetherall,
5th edition,

Course Website
www.ece.arizona.edu/~ece578
Lectures, Homework, Useful links,
Supplementary material, Announcements
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Where to find me
My Office:
ECE bldg: Room 356H

Office Hours
10:00 – 11:00 AM TTh
and by appointment

My Email: llazos@ece.arizona.edu

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Class Expectations
Class participation – Your input is needed for good discussion

Keep up with reading material

Complete assignments and projects on time

Submit clean, organized, and concise reports (back of a flyer is not

ok!)

Identify potential project partners early (in one week, if possible)

Brush up prior knowledge (Probability theory, C Programming)

Follow academic integrity code

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Grading Scheme
Assignment Points
Homework 20
Midterm 20
Project 30
Final Exam 30
Total 100

Homework: Analytical Problems and C implementations

Midterm: March 8th (tentative)

Final Exam: May 10th

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Course Objectives
Develop a fundamental understanding of the network design principles and
performance metrics

Become familiar with the mechanisms and protocols for reliable data
communication via a computer network

Be able to evaluate the performance of various network technologies and protocols

Think as an engineer: What technologies should be employed to build a network

with particular specifications?

Develop interest in performing research in the area of Computer Networks

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Topics to be covered
Network architectures, performance metrics, layering

Medium access control

Internetworking, routing

End-to-end protocols, flow control

Congestion control and resource allocation

Applications

Network security

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Definition of a Network
A system that carries a commodity between 2 or more entities
Examples: Transportation network, electric grid, postal, water, telephone

Computer network: A system that carries

information between 2 or more entities, in
the form of electric signals

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Transportation vs. Computer Networks
Transportation Network Computer Network
Vehicles/People Packets/Payload
Street address IP address
Intersection Bridge/router
Street, highway, path Link/broadband/path
Traffic jam Network congestion
Stop and go traffic light Flow control
Taking alternative path Alternative route
Collision Collision of packets
HOV lane Flow Priority
Following a route to school Routing algorithm
… …
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Most commonly known Networks

The Internet*
Ethernet (LAN)
WiFi
3G/4G
An internet**

* The global network adopting the IP technology

**Internet: A network of networks
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How does the Internet Look Like?

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How does the Internet Look Like?

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How Many Users?

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How many more Users?

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How much Traffic?

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How is Time Spent?

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What Do Users Expect?

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How do they get it?

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Where are we headed?

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Biggest Internet Challenge

Scale
How to manage such a large system,
growing rapidly and uncontrollably,
consisting of heterogeneous devices,
managed by multiple entities
having limited resources

Let’s take things one at a time

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Network Elements
Nodes: Special purpose devices

PC server switch bridge router

Links: Connections between nodes

Optical fiber Coaxial cable wireless 25

Network Design
The task of connecting nodes via links, so that nodes can exchange
information, reliably, timely, efficiently, safely, privately, “greenly”,
and with low cost.

Need to define the network architecture, protocols, applications,

interfaces, policies, usages.

Let’s start with the architecture

Directly connected networks
Circuit-switched networks
Packet-switched Networks

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What Drives Network Design?
Applications
WWW, email, chat, videoconferencing, e-commerce, audio/video streaming,
VOIP, file sharing

Who deploys the network

Enterprise, government, end-user

Where is the network deployed

Home, building, campus, state, country, continent, globe

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How do we Evaluate a Network

Metrics (think again a transportation network)

How many cars can it service (throughput)?
How fast can it service them (delay)?
How reliable can it service them (collisions, losses, outage
probabilities, etc)?
Can it provide any guarantees (QoS)?
Any other metrics you can think of?

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Directly-Connected Networks
Point-to-point links: Each node is directly connected to all others via
a link

Multiple access: All nodes share the same physical medium

point-to-point

multiple access

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Switched Networks
terminal/
Circuit-Switched host
A dedicated circuit is established
across a set of links
Example: Telephone network

Packet-Switched switch
Data is split into blocks called
packets or messages.
Store-and-forward strategy
Switches: Store and forward
packets

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Circuit-Switched Networks
End-to-end permanent connection
Dedicated path for communication
No need for a destination address since a path is already established
Once communication is complete, connection is ended and links are
released.

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Advantages of Circuit Switching
Guaranteed bandwidth (Quality of Service)
Predictable bitrate and delay
Good for delay-sensitive applications
Reliable communication
Rare packet loss
Packets are delivered in order
Simple data routing
Forwarding based on time slot or frequency (multiplexing)
No need to inspect a packet header for address
Low per-packet overhead
Forwarding based on time slot or frequency
No IP (and TCP/UDP) header on each packet

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Disadvantages of Circuit Switching
Wasted bandwidth
Bursty traffic leads to idle connection during silent period
Blocked connections
Connection refused when resources are not sufficient
Unable to offer “okay” service to everybody
Connection set-up delay
No communication until the connection is set up
Unable to avoid extra latency for small data transfers
Network state
Network nodes must store per-connection information
Unable to avoid per-connection storage and state

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Packet Switched Networks
Data is divided into packets (messages)
Each packet contains identification info (source/destination address seq.
number, etc)

Packets traverse the network individually

Use the destination address to forward packets
May use more than one routes, nodes may store packets temporarily

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Advantages of Packet Switching
No wasted bandwidth (not entirely true)
Links are not reserved during idle period
Multiplexing (see next slides)
Frequency, time, statistical multiplexing
Service
More connections of lesser quality
No blocking of users
Adaptation
Can adapt to network congestion and failures

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Multiplexing

Three pairs of senders/receivers A switch is multiplexing packets

share the same physical link to from different senders into one
communicate packet stream

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Multiplexing Methods
Time Division Multiplexing

S1 S2 S3 S1 S2 S3 S1 S2 S3 S1 S2 S3
time

Frequency Division Multiplexing

frequency
f3 S3

f2 S2

f1 S1
time

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Multiplexing Methods
Statistical multiplexing
Division of the communication medium into a number of channels
of variable bandwidth

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Disadvantages of Packet Switching
No guaranteed bandwidth
Harder to build applications requiring QoS
Per packet overhead
Need a header with source/dest. address, etc.
Complex end-to-end control
Packets can be lost, corrupted or delivered out-of-order
Delay and Congestion
No congestion control, can lead to arbitrary delays and packet
drops

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