Advanced Topics in
Communication Networks Fall 2023

Networked Systems Group

This course covers advanced topics and technologies in computer networks, both theoretically and practically.

The goal for this course is to provide students with a deeper understanding of existing and upcoming Internet routing and forwarding technologies used in large-scale computer networks such as Internet Service Providers (e.g., Swisscom or Deutsche Telekom), Content Delivery Networks (e.g., Netflix) and Data Centers (e.g., Google).

Besides covering the fundamentals, the course will be “hands-on” and will enable students to play with the technologies in realistic network environments, and even implement some of them on their own during labs and a final group project.

News

Mar 20 Website for the Fall 2023 course edition goes live (yes, we are early). Please stay tuned for more contents.
If you are interested in the materials from the previous years, you will find everything in the p4-learning repository on GitHub.

Contact

Professor Laurent Vanbever

Assistants

  • TBD

Research group. Networked Systems

Questions?

Content

The course will cover advanced topics in Internet routing and forwarding such as:

  • Hierarchical routing
  • Traffic Engineering and Load Balancing
  • Fast Convergence
  • Network security
  • Network verification
  • Network measurements
  • Network programmability (OpenFlow, P4)
  • Sustainable networking
  • Video streaming
  • Congestion control

Prerequisites

  • Communication Networks (227-0120-00L), Computer Networks (252-0064-00L) or equivalents.
  • Good programming skills (in any language) are expected as many exercises involve coding.

Performance assessment

  • 6 ECTS credits
  • Final written exam

We add materials (slides, recordings, labs) as the course progresses.