CS 725/825 Computer Networks, IT 725 Network Technology

Final Exam

Due: Friday, December 12, 2025, 11:59 pm

Paper:

Write a brief paper that outlines one of the following aspects of QUIC:

  1. Low-latency connection establishment
  2. Privacy-protecting features
  3. Connection migration

You may include a brief general introduction to QUIC, but the main focus should be on the core ideas of the particular aspect of QUIC. Where appropriate, include a comparison with TCP, TLS, etc.

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

You are expected to cite your sources. Use IEEE citation style. The paper will be machine-checked against the documents available on the internet. While using external resources and rephrasing what they say is expected, copying, especially without 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 ones 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.

Questions:

  1. (20 points) Consider a user at powering up a smart speaker and starting to listen to music using a streaming service. List, as many as you can, network protocols and technologies that can get be utilized in this scenario. Focus on all the involved components, not just the in-home piece. Consider all layers.

    2. For each protocol or technology, briefly outline what service it provides and briefly describe how it works. If there are alternatives (e.g., wired vs. wireless local network), pick one for a more detailed description and list the other(s).

  2. (10 points) Pick a networking protocol or a technology discussed in class and propose an idea of how it could be improved. The improvement can be minor, and you do not have to be concerned with how it would be deployed.
  3. (10 points) What makes running TCP over a wireless link more challenging than over a fiber or a wire? In your opinion, which of the two TCP congestion control mechanisms, CUBIC and BBR, is better suited for wireless links? Outline the reason for why you chose one over the other.
  4. (10 points) Propose two questions that could be asked on future in-class exams of this course and provide answers. Each question should take about 5 minutes of the exam time to answer. The questions have to be directly related to the topics covered in the course, but you should not be able to answer them by directly quoting the text of a lecture slide.

Submission instructions:

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