CS 725/825 Computer Networks, IT 725 Network Technology

Final Exam

Due: Friday, December 15, 2023, 11:59 pm.

Paper:

Write a brief paper that outlines the protocols currently developed by the IETF WebTransport (webtrans) Work Group (https://datatracker.ietf.org/wg/webtrans/about/). You can focus on the protocol framework plus WebTransport over HTTP/3 and skip HTTP/2 considerations. Include comparison with protocols that were traditionally used for the same purpose. You may include a brief general introduction to QUIC and HTTP/3 but the main focus should be on WebTransport.

The paper should read like a white paper and must have a clear structure. Include technical details. Illustrations are encouraged, dividing paper in sections is a must. A stream of consciousness recorded in the form of a single paragraph stretching over many pages is not acceptable.

You must cite your sources. Use IEEE citation style. The paper will be machine checked against the documents available on the internet and the use of generative AI. While using external resources and rephrasing what they say is expected, copying, especially without an attribution, will get you into trouble. If in doubt, ask!

There is no minimum page count for the paper. Shorter, well-written and edited papers are preferred over those that are artificially-inflated for the sake of making a page count. However, very short papers are unlikely to hit all the key points and will receive lower marks. For those with page-count anxiety, three standard 1in margin, spacing-1 pages will be likely be enough.

Question:

  1. (20 points)

    Consider a smartphone phone and describe the device from the connectivity perspective. What physical/link layer networking technologies does the phone support?

    Now assume that after the phone was previously powered down, it is turned on. List protocols in all layers that the phone could utilize over the first few minutes after it is turned on. State the layer in which they operate, and outline what they do in this case (finish a sentence that starts with “In this case, the protocol is used to …”)

  2. (20 points)

    Assume a network using a sliding window protocol with constant window size W = 1,251,000 bytes, running over a single link with bit-rate R = 1 Gbps. The data packet length is 1,000 bytes and you can assume that the acknowledgment packet size is negligible. What is the maximum round-trip time T that would still yield 100% utilization? Assume that the packet size is negligible when compared to the window size.

  3. (10 points) Come up with a question that can be used on the future exam in this class. The question should be such that it cannot be answered using a quick Google search. Outline the answer. You will be graded on the quality of your question, not the answer.

Submission instructions:

Upload your submission as two PDF files using myCourses (mycourses.unh.edu), one for each part of the assignment.