EE210 Data Communications and Computer Networks

Module co-ordinator: Dr. Gabriel-Miro Muntean

Brief Description | Goals and Learning Outcomes | Syllabus

Course Textbooks | Lecture Notes | Assessment | Tutorials | Exam

Brief Description

EE210 module aims to familiarize the student with the operation and implementation of the data communications systems used to exchange information between computer systems.

Goals and Learning Outcomes

The goal of this module is to:

provide a good understanding of the electrical characteristics of digital signals and the basic methods of data transmission.
introduce the concept of communication protocols and give an overview of Data Communication Standards.
give an introduction to the area of computer networks, with emphasis on the range of communication protocols utilized.
explore the concept of Open Systems, giving an overview of Transport and Application Support Protocols.

Having successfully completed this course, the student will:

Be familiar with the electrical interface and the basics of digital data transmission.
Appreciate the need for Data Communication standards
Acknowledge the importance of the ISO 7-layer reference model.
Have a broad knowledge of the protocols used in various types of computer networks.
Understand the principles of Open Systems and the Transport/Application protocols, which facilitate them.

Syllabus

Data Communication Standards
Physical Aspects (Basics) - Transmission Media, Attenuation and Distortion Sources, Signal Types, Public Carrier Circuits, Physical interface standards
Physical Aspects (Advanced) - Data Transmission, Error Detection Methods, Data Compression
Data Link Layer - Go-Back-N retransmission techniques
Local Area Networks (Basics) - Ethernet and Token Ring
Local Area Networks (Interconnection) - Routing
The Network layer - Inter networking
The Transport layer – UDP and TCP Protocol

Course Textbooks

Strongly recommended textbooks:

Fred Halsall, "Computer Networking and the Internet", Fifth Edition, Addison-Wesley, Pearson Education, 2005, ISBN 0-321-26358-8
Fred Halsall, "Data Communications, Computer Networks and Open Systems", Fourth Edition, Addison-Wesley, Pearson Education, 1996, ISBN 0-201-42293-X
Andrew S. Tanenbaum, "Computer Networks", Fourth Edition, Prentice Hall, Pearson Education, 2003, ISBN 0-13-038488-7