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Technische Universität München

Seminar - Internet Measurements (2018)

Dr. Vaibhav Bajpai, Ljubica Kärkkäinen

The Internet is one of the most complex systems the human race has engineered. However, this increasing complexity has made it remarkably difficult for engineers to not only understand but also reliably predict its behavior today. It becomes intangible to identify improvements to a system when many aspects of the system become opaque to its designers.

Internet measurements has emerged as a new field in our era that helps to identify the properties of the Internet so that we are in a better position to improve it for future generations. Measurements are used today to not only isolate network failures but also to ascertain network performance and study the natural evolution of this running system. This is the reason why measurements are starting to get actively used by standardization bodies to inform protocol engineering and design. They are also actively used by network operators and content providers to help improve the quality of experience of their customers. Measurements are also becoming input for regulators that shape future broadband policies.

In this seminar, we will explore seminal papers in the field of Internet measurements. These papers will help teach us techniques and tools that are used to reveal the properties of the Internet today.

Course requirements (recommended)

The participants should be already prepared by an undergraduate-level course on computer networks. Familiarity with networking tools used for performance evaluation may be beneficial.

Moodle page

To stay up to date with the latest course information, please refer to the course Moodle page.

Time and location

Thursdays (14:00 - 16:00) in Room 01.07.023.

First lecture: 12 April 2018.

Learning outcomes (study goals)

The participants will learn how to critically read and discuss research papers. This will be achieved by reviewing papers individually, and actively participating in group discussions during the seminar presentations. Students will also have the opportunity to advance their soft skills through presentation in a conference-style setting with session moderation. Participants will learn how to act as a chair of a session. Presentations will involve learning to not only stay within time limits but also to appreciate the Q/A session at the end of the talk. 

Further Reading: How to read a paper.

Teaching and learning methods

  1. Paper reviews before the presentation (40%)
  2. Weekly presentations during the semester (50%)
  3. Group discussions (10%)

Each participant presents one paper during the seminar. The list of seminar topics is given below. Paper allocations will be done on a best-effort basis, based on preferences (favourite 2-3 topics) solicited over email during the semester. A topic will be randomly assigned if no preference is sent.

To ensure that everyone has read the paper being presented, participants are also required to submit a review of the paper via our review management system (a chair-managed instance of HotCRP).

See summer and winter iterations of previous similar seminars for an example of student presentations.

Seminar Topics

Content Delivery Networks
New Protocols
Internet Security
Web and Video
Digital Divide
Mobile Networks
Network Congestion

Pre-course meeting

Wednesday: 31.01.2018 (15:00 - 16:00) in Room 01.07.023

Contact

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