Course Descriptions
ENTS 622: Introduction to Digital Communication Systems (3)
Principles of analog and digital communication systems design. Analysis of the performance and relative merits of different modulation and demodulation, signal processing, filtering and error control schemes in communication systems. Also provides an understanding of the design of modern digital communication systems.
ENTS 625: Management and Organizational Behavior in the Telecommunications Industry (3)
This course covers the two areas: 1) management and organizational behavior and 2) strategic management. In both cases topics specific to the telecommunications industry will be stressed. Topics will include principles of leadership and personnel management, staffing and training, organizational structures, typical organizational structures in the telecommunications industry, introduction to the concept of strategy, industry analysis and competitive dynamics, and strategic cost analysis. Specific case studies in the telecommunications industry will also be addressed.
ENTS 629A Special Topics in Cybersecurity: System Security (3)
This course will consider the entire protocol stack, from link layer to the application layer, from the perspective of a malicious attacker and examine the different possible security attacks at each layer. Then, the available countermeasures and security protocols to prevent such attacks will be discussed. Topics will include VLAN hopping, ARP attacks, spanning tree attacks, malformed IP packets, flooding, IP spoofing, denial of service, malformed TCP/UDP packets, port scanning, botnets, viruses, worms, Trojan Horse, spy ware, rootkit, buffer overflow, password cracking on the attack side, and WLAN security, IPSec, TLS/ SSL, HTTPS, SRTP, SNMP, NAT, firewalls and intrusion detection on the defense side.
ENTS 629B Special Topics in Cybersecurity: Cryptography and Network Security (3)
Prerequisite ENTS 640 and ENTS 641. The main objective of this course is to introduce the important concepts and technologies used in the area of cryptography and network security. Computer and network security is paramount in this age of universal electronic connectivity, viruses and hackers, eavesdropping and electronic fraud. In this course, we will seek to provide the student with a proper grounding in this area as well as a practical overview of important concepts in this field. First, we will seek to obtain an understanding of the basic issues that would be addressed by a network security capability and then take this knowledge and apply it to practical applications currently in the field. The students will be expected to research selected (by instructor) topics of research in this field and present their findings to the class.
ENTS 630: The Economics of International Telecommunications Policy and Regulation (3)
Basic microeconomic principles used by telecommunications firms, including supply and demand, elasticity, costs, productivity, pricing, market structure and competitive implications of alternative market structures. Market failures and government intervention. Public policy processes affecting business operations.
ENTS 631: Competitive Strategies and Public Policies in Telecommunications (3)
Prerequisite ENTS 630. This course looks at competitive strategies for the network economy and the age of information goods. It will also cover how telecommunications policy and regulation impacts competitive strategy in the telecommunications industry, including how policy is made in the United States including the roles of the FCC, the Commerce Department, Congress, etc.; the history of telecommunications law and policy; and the major current policy issues and the arguments surrounding them (for example, product standards, deregulation, anti-trust, trade barriers, network neutrality). It will also provide a global perspective, by looking at other countries, how they regulate their telecommunications industries, with a focus on developing countries, and comparisons with U.S. telecommunications policy.
ENTS 632: Telecommunications Marketing Management (3)
Topics covered include strategic marketing, sales and customer service challenges confronting organizations in the computer, communications and media industries. The course also addresses volatile technology, regulatory and competitive environments as a backdrop to strategic planning and management in the marketing domain.
ENTS 635: Decision Support Methods for Telecommunications Managers (3)
The telecommunications industry has been growing rapidly over the past decade and is increasingly viewed as the engine of the new information economy. Given the increasing complexity of this sector, telecommunications managers need to understand the process of evaluating tradeoffs to make sound and strategic business decisions. The aim of this course is to introduce management science techniques for informed decision making. Topics covered will include data analysis and regression, optimization models and applications ( workforce scheduling, manufacturing, network design, facility location), sensitivity analysis, decision trees, risk analysis, project management, and simulation. Emphasis will be on telecommunications managerial problems, model development and the use of software packages for decision support.
ENTS 640: Networks and Protocols I (3)
The course is an overview of design issues and the important industry standards for digital communications networks. This includes protocols, data communications technologies, error correction and detection, congestion control, traffic routing, Local Area Network (LAN) protocols, TCP/IP, and some security issues.
ENTS 641: Networks and Protocols II (3)
Prerequisite ENTS 640. Techniques for the specification, design, analysis, verification and testing of communication protocols are discussed. The course includes detailed discussions on routing protocols in the Internet. This includes Routing Information Protocol (RIP), Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (EIGRP), Open Shortest Path First (OSPF), and Border Gateway Protocol (BGP4).
ENTS 649A Special Topics in Networking: Optical Communication Networks (3)
Optical communication has become a classic networking technology. This course will present the state-of-the art in optical communication networks and their applications. It will provide coverage of basic optical technology and networking topics, presented in a format that is easy to understand for practical engineers and networking specialists. The course will start with a broad coverage of different physical aspects of light propagation, basic components and modulation/demodulation methods, and fundamentals of the physical-layer design. It will then proceed with optical networking, starting with a description of technologies for which optical networking is used. The course will also provide an overview of next-generation SONET technologies along with optical transport network, the generic framing procedure, and Ethernet solutions. The IEEE new resilient packet ring (RPR) protocol will be discussed. Besides the theoretical coverage, the students will be engaged in developing their understanding of optical communication networking through hands on projects.
ENTS 649B Special Topics in Networking: Cloud Computing (3)
The course will present the state of the art in cloud computing technologies and applications. The course will explore potential research directions, as well as the technologies that will facilitate the creation of a global marketplace for cloud computing services that support scientific, industrial, business, and consumer applications. Topics will include: telecommunications needs; architectural models for cloud computing; cloud computing platforms and services; security, privacy, and trust management; resource allocation and quality of service; cloud economics and business models; pricing and risk management; interoperability and internetworking; legal issues; and novel applications. Course projects will expose students to different tools and technologies used to build and utilize clouds and the related security, privacy and trust management issues.
ENTS 650: Network Security (3)
Prerequisite ENTS 640. Various approaches to design, specification, and verification of security protocols used in large systems and networks. Topics of network security, security threats and countermeasures, communication security and basic encryption techniques, data confidentiality and integrity, analysis of cryptographic protocols, and access control in large systems and networks.
ENTS 653: AWS/PCS System Implementation (3)
Formerly ENTS 689A. Engineering issues associated with designing and deploying an AWS/PCS cellular wireless communications system in the current world environment will be examined.The course will focus on implementation issues such as the impact of real world concerns on the deployment strategy and the use of good engineering practice to overcome obstacles. Students will create and modify mock deployments using professional tools for cell planning and interference analysis. Students will also be exposed to drive testing tools and concepts for migration to future technologies.
ENTS 654: Optimization and Analysis of GSM Networks (3)
Formerly ENTS 689D. Prerequisite ENTS 653 or ENTS 656. The techniques needed to successfully optimize a functioning GSM network will be examined. Students will conduct extensive drive tests of a working network in the Washington, DC area using state-of-the-art drive test equipment and will analyze the recorded data with post-processing analysis tools. Also, they will learn to recognize problems based on network behaviors and what courses of action are available to correct them. Lab work and data collection will constitute a majority of the class work.
ENTS 656: Introduction to Cellular Communication Networks (3)
Concepts and techniques involved in wireless digital communications with emphasis on cellular and PCS systems. Properties of Mobile radio channels; intersymbol interference, multipath, and fading effects; interleaving and diversity; multiple access schemes (TDMA, FDMA, CDMA); interuser interference, traffic issues, and cell capacity; power control strategies; frequency reuse and channel assignment; handoff, paging, and location update; cell layout; introduction to modern cellular standards.
ENTS 657: Satellite Communication Systems (3)
An examination of satellite telecommunication systems with an emphasis on the mobile satellite systems (MSS). Topics will include a historical perspective, orbital mechanics and constellations, choice of orbital parameters, propagations considerations, link budgets, interference issues and other obstacles, and existing and proposed mobile satellite systems. It will also look at some of the business aspects such as the cost of deploying and maintaining these systems.
ENTS 659A Special Topics in Communications: Wireless Communications System Design and Simulation (3)
Co-requisite: ENTS 622. This course is oriented towards practical detailed waveform simulation of transmitter/receivers which has been adopted by the industry as a first step in implementation of communications systems on software defined radios. During this course we use a communication standard (11 Mb/s and 54 Mb/s 802.11 for example) to cover practical implementation of communication concepts and modules. The goal of this course is to develop and test individual transceiver modules throughout the course and integrate them to build an end to end transceiver. The performance of the end to end system will be tested using channel models (AWGN, Frequency Selective and Frequency Non-Selecting Channels) developed during the course with a special attention on the concept of noise power, oversampling, and Doppler spread. The course will cover modulator/demodulator, frequency and time synchronization, channel equalization, and channel coding and decoding modules in great detail.
ENTS 659B Special Topics in Communications: Microwave Radio Communications Systems (3)
This course will study the design, deployment and coordination of point-to-point microwave communications systems. Emphasis will be placed on the use of microwave systems as backhaul for modern cellular networks to support increasing data demands. Topics will include modulation, equipment, design strategies, fade margins, interference, and coordination and implementation issues. Students will use industry-leading professional design software to perform RF-path analysis and design backhaul capacity networks. Through real-world case-studies, students will be exposed to professional coordination methods. Grades will be determined based on performance on exams and projects.
ENTS 665: Advanced Wireless Communications Networks (3)
Prerequisites: ENTS 622 or equivalent; ENTS 653 or ENTS 656. Formerly ENTS 689E
This course presents the key concepts and principles used in the design of Third and Fourth Generation of wireless access technologies, i.e. 3G and 4G systems and networks. In addition to generic technology concepts the course also provides students with system level overviews of such key radio access systems from both radio interface and network architecture perspectives as well as deployment, evolution and service planning issues. More specifically PHY and MAC/signaling layer design of 3GPP2 technologies like CDMA 2000 and EV-DO as well as 3GPP standards such as WCDMA and HSPA will be the focus of this course. The course concludes with a technical introduction to OFDMA based 4G systems such as WiMAX and LTE and their deployment plans.
ENTS 670: Introduction to Business and Entrepreneurship (3)
Formerly ENTS 689J. This is a fundamentals course that provides a broad introduction to various business issues faced by any small business or startup. Course instructors present the key issues involved in outlining a clear value proposition and profitable business model, managing and monitoring finances, developing a winning team, addressing legal considerations, executing on operations including marketing sales, manufacturing and service.
ENTS 672: The Global Economic Environment (3)
Formerly ENTS 689O. This course is intended to provide the future manager, particularly in the telecommunications industry, with the tools necessary to intelligently interpret the national and international economic environment including the impact of economic policies on the economy and the firm. The course develops basic macroeconomic theory to enable managers to critically evaluate economic forecasts and policy recommendations and then applies these concepts in a series of case studies.
ENTS 673: Project Management for Telecommunications (3)
This course will introduce modern project management. The course begins with an overview of the nuts and bolts of project management. From here it expands into Adaptive and Extreme project management. The focus of the course then shifts to the individual skills required to be an effective project manager, such as time management, leadership, and motivation. Once skills of the individual have been addressed, the course looks at social networks and how they could impact project management.
ENTS 689E Special Topics: Advanced Engineering Start Up Ventures (3)
This course covers principles and practices important to engineering startup ventures, and includes the preparation of business plans and tools used to obtain funding. This course is designed for graduate students in engineering; however, since most advances involve multidisciplinary collaboration, and since most technology entrepreneurship principles, practices apply to other engineering and scientific disciplines, the course open to graduate students of all disciplines. The course involves four activities: lectures, discussions, business plan development and student presentations. Early in the semester, students will form into teams, and each team will develop a plan for a technology venture. The plans will be submitted and presentations of the plans will be given at the end of the semester. Also, an important entrepreneurship book or article will be assigned to each group according to the interest of each group. Homework will be assigned at the end of each class.
ENTS 689F Special Topics: Fundamentals of Wireless LANs (3)
Wireless LAN protocols (802.11 family) are at the foundation of this course. This course covers engineering concepts and business-practices related to Wireless LAN technologies. The first half of the course will go into engineering details of Wireless LAN protocols (802.11 b,g,a and n). Starting with the basics of radio technologies used for Wireless LANs to deployment related issues like site-survey and RF-efficient installation of antennas will be covered. MAC layer frames and communication will be taught in great details. Key features of 802.11n - MIMO, Radio Chains, Spatial Multiplexing and Transmit Beam Forming will be studied.
In the second half of the course, Wireless LAN Security will be covered with an examination of current practices and standards in use (WEP/WPA, RADIUS, AES, 802.11i, 802.1x). New addition to the course is 802.11 “ac” and “ad” protocols which are the latest initiatives in WLAN industry. 802.11 protocols will be compared with DAS (Distributed Antenna Systems), Femto Cells and 802.22 (Super Wi-Fi).
Throughout the semester, students will be required to practice class-room learning through hands-on projects. Industry-accepted software and hardware based tools for WLAN Site Survey, Design and Deployment, Network Optimization, Spectrum Analysis and Packet Sniffing will be provided to the students to work on group projects. Class presentations on each project by each group will ensure familiarity and learning of all the tools for every student.
ENTS 689G Special Topics: Design and Analysis of Communication Networks (3)
Prerequisite: ENTS 640. This advanced-level graduate course is designed to build on the material covered in ENTS640 and to provide a practical and more in-depth view of the protocols and architectures used in real-world communication networks. The objective of this course is to give the students a reasonable combination of analytical and practical knowledge that is expected from graduate-level network engineers. Due to its practical nature, this course is highly project-oriented and multiple network design problems are visited both in the class and also as homework assignments. OPNET simulation and modeling software is used as the main tool for homeworks and projects. This course covers a combination of theoretical and practical concepts and a tentative list of covered subjects is as follows: Delay calculation in communication networks; QoS techniques in IP networks; Wired/Wireless medium access protocols and LAN technologies; Routers, Switches and other networking devices; Network planning and design; TCP protocol and traffic analysis. The course material and its projects are designed to highlight the main properties of some well-known protocols used in today’s networks. Students will learn the role of fundamental theories in the initial stage of a design cycle and subsequent use of modeling and simulation tools for performance evaluation and tuning of their designs.
ENTS 689I Special Topics: Network Immunity (3)
The course is practically oriented toward the knowledge and skills for secure operation of systems and networks. The course will be composed of three segments. The first segment is an overview of cryptography protocols and security algorithms. The second segment is focused on immunity of individual machines or systems. The third segment covers immunity of networks to attacks and threats.
ENTS 689K Special Topics: Telecommunications Entrepreneurial Practicum (3-6)
ENTS 689K allows students to participate in the New Markets Venture Capital Clinic, which is offered as BUFN 738B by the Robert H. Smith School of Business. The clinic allows students to gain professional experience commensurate with that of an Analyst or Associate in a Venture Capital Firm. Students will be trained by members of New Markets Venture Partners, plus guest lecturers from the area’s leading venture and service firms. The course will expose students to real life activities covering the entire deal process from research, diligence, selection, negotiation and investment, as well as management and exit of portfolio companies. In addition to the training students will receive, they will be personally responsible for the conduct of several of these activities.
Students will be required to spend 12 hours per week on this class (class time plus 10 additional hours) and register for two full semesters. Please see the Entrepreneurial Sequence for more information.
ENTS 689L Special Topics: Cellular Network Infrastructure- Cell Site Design and Components (3)
This course will familiarize the students with different elements of the cellular eco-system. After going through the fundamentals of cellular communication, this course will provide in-depth understanding of various in-line RF equipments, starting from Base Station (BTS) inside the shelter of a cell-site to the antennas mounted on the tower and all other components in-between, including and not limited to, power amplifiers, tower mounted amplifiers (TMAs), filters, combiners, multiplexers, diplexers, bias tees, cable connectors and lightening protectors. Applications, limitations, and troubleshooting of various RF inline components will be studied through hands-on exercises. Students will get the opportunity to learn antenna and cable sweeping measurements through Anritsu test-gear.
Towards the end of the class, a field-trip to a live cell-site will be scheduled where we will be able to see all the RF components in action and relate the RF theories to the practical applications.ENTS 689N Special Topics: Network Programming (3)
This course teaches the fundamentals of programming in C including skills that students need for solving typical telecommunications engineering problems. Data structures, control flow, memory allocation, pointers, and sockets will be covered. In addition to the weekly classes and bi-weekly homework assignments, students are required to complete a final group project and make a short presentation. Students taking this course do not need to have any prior programming experience.
ENTS 689V Special Topics: Voice over Internet Protocol (3)
This course presents the leading edge technologies, and practice pertaining to Next Generation Networks (NGN) Voice over Internet (VoIP), examines standards, methods and implementations for wired/wireless computer systems and communications network systems. Topics include NGN signaling systems, security threats and mechanisms, Quality of Services (QoS), and network management. Various security and QoS mechanisms are explored. QoS includes voice codec, policies, and network performance. The standards include Third Generation Partnership Project / Internet Multimedia Subsystems (3GPP/IMS), ITU-T, IETF, WiMax, WiFi, Satellite, Cable, Fiber, and Digital Subscriber Loop (DSL), National Institute of Science & Technologies (NIST), and National Security Agency (NSA). The course also explores the interoperability and other issues in migrating from legacy telecom systems to NGN VoIP.
ENTS 689W Special Topics: Short-range Wireless Systems (3)
Prerequisite: ENTS 622. This course will cover the physical layer characteristics and performance of wireless LAN technologies including ZigBee (IEEE 802.15.4), prominent 802.11 standards, and Bluetooth. The course focuses on the modeling and implementation of physical layer aspects of these technologies, such as channel characteristics, modulation techniques and packet and frame synchronization, carrier recovery and symbol synchronization, ranges and data rates.
ENTS 689X Special Topics: Information Systems Security Management (3)
Covers the fundamental principles and practices of Information Systems Security Management - managing enterprise security, overall information systems security, and information assurance. The course is designed in parallel to ENTS 650 to cover the Common Body of Knowledge (CBK) associated with the CISSP (Certified Information Systems Security Professional) certification. The course will cover the five domains of the CBK associated with the CISSP-ISSMP (CISSP - Information Systems Security Management Professional) certification: Security Management Practices; Systems Development Security; Security Compliance Management; Business Continuity Planning (BCP) & Disaster Recovery Planning (DRP), and Law, Investigation, Forensics and Ethics. At the conclusion of the course and ENTS 650, the student should have the background to begin preparing to take the CISSP-ISSMP certification exam (or similar certifications).
ENTS 689Y Special Topics: Multimedia Communication over Networks (3)
This course covers the principles of multimedia source coding and compression, and networking technologies and techniques for multimedia applications. Topics include: multimedia traffic generation and characterization; image and video compression; scalable layered video representation; error protection techniques; network protocols for multimedia applications; real-time transport and streaming protocols; standards: JPEG, MPEG-1,2,4, H.261, H.263, H.264.
Students investigate multimedia compression algorithms and networking protocols in Matlab or C.
ENTS 699A Independent Study in Telecommunications: Advanced Seminar 3G and 4G (1)
Prerequisite: ENTS 759A or ENTS 665. This is a 1-credit hour independent study course designed as a seminar style group discussion class and a follow up to ENTS 759A: Advanced Wireless Communications. The course is structured around individual or group research on select advanced topics in 3G/4G wireless technologies followed by students’ presentations and group discussions. In most cases students will conduct their research in few weeks and present their findings/observations to the class. The topic will be further expanded by the instructor as needed and during group discussions. Each student may directly work on 2-3 topics but will learn about, and will be graded on, all topics discussed in the class.
ENTS 699R Special Topics in Communications: Analytical Foundations of Telecommunications (1)
This course will provide the fundamental knowledge and analytical tools necessary to pursue graduate-level studies in telecommunications. The topics will include: continuous-time and discrete-time signals and systems, time- and frequency-domain analysis, Fourier transforms and their properties, filtering and modulation, including hands-on analysis in Matlab. Probability and random processes, expected value, correlation and covariance, power spectral density, noise and its impact on communication systems' performance and bit error rate, also with hands-on analysis in Matlab.
ENTS 749A Advanced Topics in Networking: Network Traffic and Application Performance Analysis (3)
Prerequisite: ENTS 640. This graduate-level course covers the fundamentals of network traffic measurement and how the information in traffic traces can be used for different purposes. We will target an important use-case of traffic analysis which is application performance management. Due to the growing trend in online services, application performance management has become an important requirement for all organizations. Furthermore, maintaining the necessary infrastructure to guarantee acceptable user experience is critical to their success. This course will take a top-down approach by reviewing the basics of application and transport layer protocols as well as the effects of various network components on the performance of an application. Through lecture and lab sessions, students will learn different traffic measurement tools and how the traffic traces can be used to evaluate the performance of an application under different conditions. The course also briefly discusses another use-case of traffic measurement i.e., network security, through hands-on experiments with available software packages. Cryptography and security fundamentals are not covered and they are presented in detail by other specialized courses.
ENTS 759A Advanced Topics in Wireless Communication: 3G/4G Wireless Networks and Systems (3)
Prerequisite: ENTS 622 and ENTS 653 or 656. This course presents some of the key concepts and technologies used in the design of third generation (3G/3G+/4G) wireless networks and standards. The course is divided into three main areas of study. First, the course begins with an overview of 3G concepts and technologies followed by detailed discussion of their implementation into 3G standards such as cdma2000 and WCDMA. Then the course moves on to providing a technical overview of 3G+ systems such as EV-DO and HSPA, which are the key technologies for high speed mobile internet today. Design concepts and comparisons are emphasized. Finally, after covering 3G systems, the course will also provide an overview of OFDMA based technologies including WiMAX and LTE which are contenders for 4G/IMT-Advance technologies.
ENTS 759B Advanced Topics in Wireless Communication: Wireless OFDM Systems (3)
Prerequisite: ENTS 622 and ENTS 653 or 656. The main objective of the course is to introduce the most important concepts and technologies used in the design of current wireless OFDM systems, focusing on the physical layer. First, the basic principles of OFDM systems are presented: OFDM modulation/demodulation, role of the cyclic prefix, pilot symbols and preambles, transmit/receive filtering, RF impairments and their impact on performance, channel estimation, timing and synchronization. Then, the 3PP Long Term Evolution (LTE) standard is described in details as an example of a state-of-the-art wireless OFDM system, emphasizing its physical-layer aspects. As a part of the course work, the students will explore the design and implementation issues of an OFDM-based transceiver in Matlab.
