IS 450/IS 650: Data Communications and Networks
  Fall 2014

Course Descriptions: This is an upper-undergradaute and first graduate-level course in computer networks for students in information systems. This course will introduce students to the key concepts of underlying wired, and wireless networking. The layered architecture of the network protocol stack will be the focus of discussion. Alongside, a variety of case studies will be drawn from the Internet, combined with practical programming exercises. At the end of the semester, students will well understand several concepts, including the Internet architecture, HTTP, DNS, P2P, Sockets, TCP/IP, Routing protocols, IEEE 802.11, wireless and sensor networking, mobile computing, cellular and satellite networks, security, etc.

Course Objectives: This course aims at introducing the students to modern computer networks, in particular the Internet. We will discuss basic network architecture, design principles, different protocols, and applications. We will study the application, transport, networking, and link layers. We will also cover basic topics of network security and management. Students are expected to perform various projects and homework assignments to obtain hands on knowledge.

Course Topics:

• Introduction to Networks
• Application Layer
• Transport Layer
• Network Layer
• Link Layer
• Wireless and Mobile Networks
• Network Security
  

The idea of this project is to set up those real devices in your own living environment and find out what communication protocol has been employed to transport the DATA and how useful it is for that specific application? Is there a better alternative? At the end of this study we would like to hear from each group of students about your recommendation for a specific device, the technology it has used, how it has been deployed to communicate bits and bytes? A comparative study on different communication protocols we use in our day to day lives either knowingly or unknowingly based on different metrics such as range, power consumption, RSSI signal strength, security etc would be well appreciated by the class and albeit by the instructor! 

All the devices will be sponsored by the Mobile, Pervasive and Sensor Computing (MPSC) Lab in the Information Systems department at UMBC. We heartily acknowledge our sponsors Constellation Energy, National Science Foundation and UMBC to make this student hands-on data communications and networking project possible in Fall 2014. 

The project is motivated by our effort on developing non-intrusive, energy-efficient, cost-effective scalable technological solutions for independent living and green building applications.  Please see the following Wall Street Journal article on sensor enabled technologies for independent living. Please recall that it is not possible to scale this system if the underlying communication protocols are not robust, energy-efficient, secure, fault-tolerant and universally acceptable with their coexistence in a variety of different hardware or software domains.

Logistics, Requirements & Deliverables:

1. Form a group of 3 students at the undergraduate-level and 2 students at the graduate-level.

2. Decide by the last week of September what devices you want for your project. Keep in mind that our goal is to find out which device should be an ideal choice for large scale smart home healthcare or green building energy management applications. So keep an eye on the cost of the device along with its hardware and software versatility to make a win-win recommendation.

3. You are expected to give a demo of how your system works, what underlying communication protocol has been deployed and why?

4. Submit a 3-page report (undergrads team) and a 6-page report (grads team) to the instructor by email. More details will be provided later.