ECE 577 - Spring 2020
Computer System and Network Evaluation
Syllabus [click here]
Time and Place
Monday and Wednesday, 3:30-4:45pm, ECE Bldg., Rm. 107
Instructor
Dr. Marwan Krunz
ECE Building, Room 365
Phone: (520) 621-8731
Email: (krunz@email.arizona.edu)
Office Hours
Monday 1:30-2:30pm, Friday 10-11am, and by appointment.
Class Material
There is no designated textbook for this class.
The material will be based on lecture notes, selected chapters from
books, and handouts. Much of the
material will be sent by email, posted on the D2L class page, or
distributed during the class.
References:
- R. Srikant and L. Ying, Communication Networks: An Optimization, Control and Stochastic Networks Perspective,
Cambridge University Press, 2014.
- Kishor S. Trivedi, Probability and Statistics with Reliability, Queueing and Computer Science
Applications. John Wiley & Sons Inc., 2002 (2nd edition).
- Raj Jain, The Art of Computer Systems Performance Analysis. John Wiley
& Sons, Inc., 1991.
- L. Kleinrock, Queueing Systems -- Volume I: Theory, J. Wiley & Sons, 1975.
- L. Kleinrock, Queueing Systems -- Volume II: Computer Applications,
J. Wiley & Sons, 1976.
- Research papers.
Prerequistes
ECE 503 or an equivalent course in probability theory and random processes
(check with the instructor if you are not sure of the suitability of your background).
Homework Assignments, Solutions, and Extra Handouts
- Homework 1 (due by XXX, 2020)
- Homework 2 (due by XXX, 2020)
- Homework 3 (due by XXX, 2020)
- Homework 4 (due by XXX, 2020)
- Homework 5 (due by XXX, 2020)
Course Objectives
Computer systems and networks play a vital role in our lives. The ability to
predict the performance of these systems and optimally design their
parameters is an area of significant interest to computer engineers
and scientists. This course
will provide the theoretical
foundation for computer systems analysis and evaluation. With such
foundation, students will learn how to model and evaluate
network systems, switches, routers, etc. The underlying
principles of computer systems analysis and evaluation are based on
probability, queueing theory, and optimization.
Mathematical analysis will be augmented, when possible, with simulations.
Topics (tentative):
- Preliminaries: Notation, review of basic concepts in random processes, important theorems,
transform methods, random sums, distribution of failure times, reliability analysis, etc.
- Elementary queueing theory.
- Advanced queueing theory (M/G/1 queue, G/M/1 queue, G/G/1 queue).
- Heavy-traffic approximation.
- Networks of queues: Jackson's networks, open and closed-loop networks.
- Analysis of priority scheduling and queueing systems.
- Fluid analysis of bursty packet networks.
- Effective bandwidth theory.
- Bounds and approximations.
- Operational laws.
- Teletraffic modeling and characterization:
- Quality of service (QoS) metrics
- Poisson-based and renewal traffic models
- Advanced traffic models (Markov-modulated processes, self-similarity
and long-range dependence, etc.)
- Models for multimedia traffic.
- Workload characterization techniques.
- Mean value analysis (MVA).
- Art of data analysis and representation.
- Analysis of wireless communications systems.
The above topics will be discussed in the context of computer applications (network protocols,
memory systems, wireless packet networks, capacity analysis, etc.). Examples of related applications will be presented
throughout the course.
Discrete-Event Simulation Using Csim
Although simulations is not the main focus of this course, for some of the
homework assignments you will
be asked to write simulation code and run experiments using the Csim package. The purpose of these
simulations is to study the performance of certain complicated queueing systems that are hard to analyze or to validate
analytical results by comparing them with simulations. I will spend 2-3 lectures reviewing Csim, but you may want to get a
head-start by learning this package on your own before I cover it in class. The full documentation of Csim (including the
User's
Guide and Reference Manual) can be found online at
Mesquite's website (check under 'Documentation').
Grading:
| Homework Assignments | | | 25% |
| Quizzes and Class Participation | | | 10% |
| 1st Midterm Exam (tentatively on Monday, Feb. 17, 2020) | | | 20%
|
| 2nd Midterm Exam (tentatively on Monday, March 23, 2020) | | | 20%
|
| Final Exam (Tuesday, May 12, 2020, 3:30-5:30pm) | | | 25% |