G E N E R A L   C O U R S E S

Basic Mathematics and Electrical Circuit Principles (5 days)

Mathematical tools and techniques that are commonly used in telecommunications, including basic mathematical operations (exponentiation, roots, factoring, etc.), algebra, linear, quadratics, and higher-order functions and equations, logarithms and decibels, geometry, trigonometry, probability, statistics, and calculus. Basic direct current and alternating current circuits. Key mathematical equations and relationships in telecommunications, such as Shannon's Law and Nyquist's Theorem.

Analog versus digital signals. Voice and data transmission characteristics. Decibels. Bit rates. Analog and digital multiplexing. Voice networks and the Public Switched Telephone Network. Circuit switching versus packet switching. Data networks. The Internet.

Characteristics of voice telephone calls. The Public Switched Telephone Network. Local loops. Exchange and transit switching. Inter-exchange transmission. Customer terminal equipment. Digitization of the local exchange network. Services and features supported by the PSTN. Network operations, administration, and maintenance. Advantages and disadvantages of the PSTN.

Data communications and computer networking. Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN). Packet switched data services. Introduction to the Internet. Local area networks (LANs). Evolution of the PSTN to broadband. Convergence of voice, data, and video networks. Wireless voice and data networks. Current focus on applications performance.

Analog versus digital communications. Types of data signals. Digital multiplexing. Protocol concepts and functions. OSI protocol concepts and the OSI layered protocol model. Examples of protocol at each layer. Data structures -- frames, packets and cells.

Types of computers and why they are networked. Concept of distributed processing, and types of distributed processing. Computer networking requirements - speed, reliability, availability. Overview of Computer communication protocols. Synchronizing computer actions at a distance

Concept of internetworking. Public and private internets. Overview of LANs and their relationship to the Internet. Connection - oriented versus connectionless network protocols. Definition and overview of the TCP/IP protocol suite. IP addressing. Routers and routing. Overview of Virtual Private Networks and Voice over IP. Future of the Internet.

Techniques, architectures, and technologies of cellular and other modern wireless systems. Radio technologies. Multiple-access techniques. Analog and digital cellular telephony. Personal communications systems. Wireless LANs.

T E L E C O M M U N I C A T I O N S    T E C H N O L O G Y   S P E C I F I C

Advanced Data Communications (4 days)

Communications Protocol Theory. Detailed exploration of applications layer protocols (HTTP, FTP, SMTP, DSN, Sockets), session and transport layer (UDP, TCP), multimedia (RTSP, RSVP), and network security (DES, RSA, SSL, AH).

Detailed examination of each layer of the TCP/IP protocol model, including services, interfaces, and packet structures. Overview of TCP/IP protocols, including TCP, IP, SMTP, FTP, Telnet, SNMP, DHCP, and DNS. Routing protocols. Internet management using the Simple Network Management Protocol. Traffic management and security.

Detailed examination of current and future mobile wireless networks and wireless LANs. CDMA and GSM. 2, 2.5, 3 and 3+ generation networks. Narrowband and broadband data communications over wireless networks. Fixed wireless systems.

Fundamental concepts of satellite communications, including satellite network architectures, spacecraft and earth station system configurations, link loss budgets, modulation/multiplexing techniques, multiple access schemes (FDMA, TDMA, CDMA), error control coding. Current and future issues in commercial GEO, MEO, and LEO systems.

Traditional and modern cable television architectures, technologies, and services. Spectrum utilization. Limitations of a traditional coaxial-only network. Internet access, telephony, and other new services supported on a hybrid fiber-coaxial network. Regulatory treatment of services offered over a cable television network.

Definition of broadband communications. Evolution to broadband from the existing public switched network. Introduction to frame relay networks, metropolitan area networks, and asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) networks. Synchronous optical networks and the Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (SDH).

In-depth examination of interior and exterior gateway protocols (IGPs and EGPs). Distance vector protocols versus link state protocols such as Open Shortest Path First. Border Gateway Protocol v4, and its use in the Internet.

Review of existing narrowband and broadband networks, and of voice, data, and video applications. Concept of network convergence. Advantages and disadvantages of convergence. Solutions to key convergence problems, including the support of voice and other timing-critical applications. The Broadband ISDN concept. Broadband ISDN architectures, technologies, and services.

Characteristics of telephone traffic. Telephone signal attributes. Telephony requirements - quality, availability, reliability. The US and International numbering plans. Design and engineering of the Public Switched Telephone Network. Introduction to traffic engineering and queuing theory.

The mathematics of traffic analysis and queuing theory. Queuing theory applied to the PSTN. Traffic engineering. Analyses and methods of determining equipment requirements for telecommunications systems. Introduction to engineering data networks.

Optical communications systems theory and practices. Optical fiber properties. Optical transmitters, receivers, and amplifiers. Wave division multiplexing and dense wave division multiplexing. Synchronous Digital Hierarchy standards. The "Internet Protocol over light" concept. Fiber in the loop. Optical switching. Future optical networks.

Packets, frames, and cells. Connection-oriented versus connectionless communications. Virtual connections. Cell switching concepts, and associated advantages and disadvantages. ATM protocol layers and cell structures. ATM Services classes. Examples of ATM network with virtual circuits and paths. Examples of applications using ATM - Voice, Frames, IP packets.

Detailed examination of ATM design and engineering practices. Virtual paths and virtual connections. Traffic management in ATM networks. Best effort versus committed information rates.

Definition and scope of network management activities. Client-server model of network management. The internet Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP). Telecommunications Management Network (TMN) Standards. Element, network, service, application, and business management. Network management systems and software. Typical organization and operation of network management activities.

Detailed examination of theory and operation of SNMP. Concepts and elements of the TMN. The Management Information Base (MIB). Object-oriented network management.

Critical aspects of network security, identifying network threats, vulnerabilities, detection, and prevention. Prevention techniques including cryptography, firewalls, network protocols, and intrusion detection. Security architecture. Privacy. Laws related to security.

Voice over IP (VoIP) (3 days)

VoIP architectures and technologies. IP-enabled PABX equipment. Voice gateways. Session Initiation Protocol. Internet-enabled voice features. VoIP versus VoATM.

Concept of a VPN over the Internet. Implementation of VPNs. VPN security and reliability. The relative advantages and disadvantages of Internet VPNs and equivalent connections in frame relay and ATM networks.

Examination of management issues associated with the use of telecommunications in modern businesses. Merging the telephony and data management functions. Strategic and tactical planning based on use of telecommunications capabilities. Business policies related to telecommuting, employee privacy, access to Internet for personal use, security, electronic theft.