This course will give an introduction to wireless networking using a very hands-on approach. The course will combine lectures with a set of assignments in which students will run experiment on wireless networks. The assignments will reinforce the concepts introduced in the lectures and will help understand how the performance of wireless networks depends on factors such as the protocols used, node placement and behavior, and traffic conditions. The last assignment will be a course project in which students can explore a particular aspect of wireless networks in more depth. The assignments will use a wireless emulation testbed that supports repeatable and fully controllable experiments using real wireless devices (laptops). See http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~prs/emulator for more information on the testbed.
Prerequisites: Students must have a taken a course in networking (e.g. Computer Networks in D-INF, Communication Networks in D-ITET, or equivalent) and must be familiar with Java programming.
Topics covered:
Prof. Peter Steenkiste and Prof. Thomas Gross
Yang Su
Office: RZ H5
E-mail: ysu at inf.ethz.ch
Office Hours: Thu. 10.00 - 11.30, Fri. 13.30 - 15.00 @ RZ H5
"Wireless Communications and Networks", William Stallings, Prentice Hall, 2002.
Lectures will be held Fridays 10-12 in RZ F 21. Lab sessions will be Mondays 1-3 pm in IFW B42.
| Week from | Monday (labs) | Friday (lectures) |
| 19/3 | - | Lecture1 |
| 26/3 | Lecture 2 | Lecture 3 |
| 2/4 | Lab 1 , demo | No class (Osterfeiertage) |
| 9/4 | No class (Osterfeiertage) | Lab 2 , example |
| 16/4 | No Class | Lab 3 , Lecture-4-phy , Lecture-4-mac |
| 23/4 | Lecture 5 | Lab 4, example-lab4.tar |
| 30/4 | Lab 5 (Q&A) | Lecture 6 /Proj presentations |
| 7/5 | Lecture 7 | No class |
| 14/5 | Lab 6/ Lecture 8 | No class (Auffahrt) |
| 21/5 | No class | Status pres. |
| 28/5 | No class (Pfingsten) | Exam |
| 4/6 | No class | Lecture 9 |
| 11/6 | No class | No class |
| 18/6 | No class | Final pres. |
The table below shows the readings for each of the topics covered in the course. Note that the textbook is sometimes more detailed than the material that was covered in class (e.g. Chapters 5 and 6 in the textbook). In that case, please feel free to skip the more detailed discussion in the textbook and focus on the high level concepts covered in class.
| Course topic | Reading |
| Transmission Fundamentals | Chapter 1 |
| Antennas and Propagation | Chapter 5 |
| Signal Encoding Techniques | Chapter 6, Sections 6.1-2 |
| Spread Spectrum | Chapter 7, Sections 7.1-4 |
| Coding and Error Control | Chapter 8, Section 8.4 |
| Cellular Wireless Networks | Chapter 10, Pages 265-272, 285-286 |
| Wireles LAN Technology | Chapter 13, Sections 13.1 and 13.3 |
| IEEE 802.11 Wireless LAN | Chapter 14 |
| Personal Area Networks | Chapter 15 |
| Wireless Local Loop and WiMAX | Chapter 11, Section 11.3 |
| Wireless and the Internet | Chapter 12 |
Since this is a "hands on" course, the assignments are very important. You will learn much more about wireless networks by experimenting with them than by listening to the course or reading the textbook alone.
Assignments will be executed on the wireless emulator testbed:
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~prs/emulator
We will explain how to use the emulator in the lab sessions.
You must solve the assignments on your own! It is important that you realize that the solution to an assignment that you turn in must be your work. Copying another student's solution (or providing a solution for another student) is not acceptable and we must refer to the university's rules on cheating in exams. You are welcome (and encouraged) to discuss problems and assignments with other students but the work you turn in must be your own. If you have any questions about this policy, please contact the instructors.
Your grade will be based on the assignments (30%), exam (20%), project (40%),and other factors such as class participation (10%). This distribution is tentative.
| Out | Due | Description | Comments | |
| 1 | 2007-04-04 | 2007-04-20 | hw1.pdf | hw1-handout.tar |
| 2 | 2007-04-27 | 2007-05-05 | hw2.pdf | hw2-handout.tar |
In the second half of the course, students must do a project in wireless networking. Projects are team-based (preferred team size is 2) and topics have been discussed in class. Project related deadlines are shown in the table below.
| Due date | Description |
| Wed 25-4-07 | Submit team membership (e-mail) |
| Mon 30-4-07 | Submit project proposal (e-mail) |
| Fr 4-5-07 | Short presentation on proposed project |