This course initiate students into the world of telecommunication networks. The course is divided into three basic parts (6 credits for "Elementi di Reti"), plus one additional and advanced part (3 credits for "Complementi di Reti"). The first part introduces the basic concepts of a telecommunication network, including communication models, hierarchical/layered approaches and the main technologies. The second part introduces the main techniques for data transmission, especially in local area networks. Finally the third part provides an overview of the TCP/IP stack, including the IP protocol, the congestion control algorithms in TCP and the main application protocols.
The last part of the course presents the most important technologies used in both local area networks and metropolitan are networks, including the algorithms and the protocols used to route packets through the Internet.
Elementi - part 1: Introduction to Telecommunication Networks
• Introduction, brief history, standardisation entities
• Introduction to point-to-point channels
• Layered architectures, ISO/OSI model, TCP/IP reference model
• Circuit switching and packet switching networks
• Network technologies and architectures
Elementi - part 2: data-link layer
• Introduction: framing, error detection, flow control
• Medium access control algorithms
• Local Area Networks and IEEE 802 standards
Elementi - part 3: TCP/IP stack
• IP/network layer: header content, addressing, ARP, fragmentation, routing, ICMP
• Transport layer: multiplexing, error detection and correction, fragmentation and re-assembly, UDP, TCP
• Application layer: HTTP, e-mail, FTP
• IPv4 limits: NAT. Beyond IPv4: IPv6
Complementi - part 4: Routing of IP packets
• Algorithms for unicast routing
• Introduction to routing protocols
• Intra-domain unicast routing protocols
• Inter-domain unicast routing protocols
• Multicast routing
• Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS)