University of Pennsylvania

TCOM 670 - Telecommunications Seminar (Spring 2008)

 


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Course Information

Time/Location:

Friday 1-4pm, Moore 212

URL:

www.seas.upenn.edu/~tcom670

 

Professor:

Sanjay Udani (udani@seas)

 

Office: TBD

 

Teaching Assistant:

Arvind Murali  (arvinmur@seas)

 

Office Hours/Location: TBD

Details

A course pack (required) is available from the Copy Center in the Moore building. There are no textbooks required for this course as most of the topics discussed are rapidly changing; a significant portion of the course will involve Web-based research. Grading will be based on class participation[1], weekly paper reviews, current topic discussion, presentations and a final paper.

Assignments

  • The paper selected for each week will be discussed in class and everyone will be expected to participate. Each student will hand in a printed 1-2 page critical evaluation (not summary) of the paper/topic the week it is being discussed.
  • One student per week will be responsible for leading a current topic for discussion in class, and the lead is expected to have read background material on the topic prior to the class. A one-page summary for the class may be useful. The current topic will be selected during the prior week based on class suggestions.
  • Each student will also pick a main research topic (some topics are listed on the next page) for which they will make a 45 minute presentation in class as well as write a 20-25 page research paper by the end of the semester. In addition, within the first few weeks of class, each student will be required to do a 1-2 slide presentation to talk about their proposed topic. Needless to say, copying paragraphs from print/web sources is not allowed (unless used as a quote) for the paper, and any graphics used must be appropriately referenced.
  • Final papers are due the last day of class; there will be no extensions.

 

 

Summary: The typical class will have three items. First, there will be a paper discussion with participation from the whole class. Second, a student will present a current topic followed by discussion. Third, a different student will make a presentation on their main topic.

 

There are no midterms or finals planned for this class.

Code of Academic Integrity

Students who fail to comply with the Code of Academic Integrity will be given a zero grade for the course.

 

Potential Presentation Topics

  • Should a global body (e.g. UN) run/manage the Internet (DNS etc.)?
  • Spam: Analysis of proposed solutions
  • What rules/laws should apply to the Internet?
  • The state of broadband 20 years from now
  • Internet traffic analysis (What kind of traffic is flowing on the Internet?)
  • Frequency spectrum allocation (How to do it?)
  • Web Privacy (web bugs, logging)
  • Content protection vs. User rights (DRM,  copyrights)
  • Cellular broadband (3G, 4G and beyond)
  • IPTV & IP-based video delivery issues
  • What’s the best way to deliver video – real-time, or as a file transfer?
  • Net Neutrality
  • Global deployment of broadband
  • Emergency telecommunication services
  • Is the Internet a basic necessity (e.g. like water and electricity)?

 



[1] Participation is defined by quality of input, not quantity