CSE6349 Special Topics in Advanced Networks

Dr. Mohan Kumar

FALL 2010

Course Syllabus and Details

Course Description

The course deals with advanced networking topics. The state of the current Internet; new applications and their impact on the Internet; Sensors and the Internet; mobile ad hoc networking, disruption-tolerant networking and opportunistic networking. This course consists of lectures, discussions, debates, seminars and project presentations. 

Course Objectives

The primary objective of this course is to expose graduate students to the exciting new research topics in networking.  The secondary objective is to motivate graduate students to take up research work in the new and exciting areas in networking.

Course Prerequisites

CSE5311 Design and Analysis of Algorithms, CSE5306 Distributed Systems, and CSE5344 Computer Networks I. 

Instructor: Mohan Kumar, 335 ELB   

Email: mkumar at uta.edu Phone: (817) 272-3610

Class: Tue/Thu 5:30 to 6:50 PM     Office Hours: Thursdays - 2:00 to 5:00 PM.

Course site: http://crystal.uta.edu/~kumar/cse6349_10FLSTAN

GTA: TBA          

Course Syllabus:

A set of research papers will be assigned to the class. Each student will be required to complete a thorough review, evaluate and critique at least 3 of these papers. Students will be given a chance to give their preference, but the assignment of papers will be made by the instructor. The list of research papers will be posted on the first day of classes. Paper assignments to students will be completed by September 5, 2010.

Three topics will be identified for debates. For each debate, there will be two teams – one in favor of an issue and the other against.  One the day of the debate, each (for and against) team will present their case and field questions from the opposing team as well as the  rest of the class. Debates and teams will be identified by September 20, 2010.

Projects will be carried out by teams of three members (2 or 4 in one or two cases at most).  Typically, projects will involve i) real prototype development on small devices/laptops/sensor nodes or ii) extensive simulation studies to evaluate new algorithms/schemes.  Project teams and topics will be identified by September 20, 2010.

Text book: There will be no text book for this course.

References

A list of research papers for reference and study will be provided on the course page.  Here is a list of journals and conferences for research papers.

IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing

IEEE Communications

IEEE Pervasive Computing

IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking

Elsevier’s Computer Communications

Elsevier’s Pervasive and Mobile Computing

IEEE International Conference on Pervasive Computing

ACM Workshop on Challenged Networks

ACM SIGCOMM

IEEE INFOCOM

ACM MobiCom

IEEE IPSN

ACM SenSys

Others to be mentioned from time to time

Assessment

For each component, the grading will take into account each student’s rankings of their peer’s work (paper discussions, debates and projects).  When not presenting, each student will be required to participate in discussions, evaluate and rank presenters/debaters/project teams, and ask questions. For each component, peer ranking weight will be 50%.

Presentations and Discussions: 30%

Each paper presentation and discussion: 2 students to present, 2 students to critique and 2 students to scribe. Rest of the class will participate in the discussion and evaluation.

Debate: 30%

Two groups debate on conflicting topics.

Group Project: 40%

Project problems will be finalized September 31, 2010 and the expected date of Completion is November 30, 2009. Presentation and demonstration of the projects will be during the last quarter of the semester.

Homework Assignments: No Grades awarded directly!

Class participation: Students are expected to interact actively during lectures. All students are expected to read, understand, criticize and discuss published research papers. .

Attendance and Drop Policy

Attendance though not mandatory, is HIGHLY encouraged. Class participation is important to your grade in the 'Quizzes and Class Participation' component.

Please visit course page for details on Americans with Disabilities Act, Academic Dishonesty and Student Support Services.