Overview

Class Central Tips

This course is the last course in our series of four courses and builds on the previous three courses: IoT Devices, IoT Communications, and IoT Networking. After we have built and programmed a small self-driving vehicle, we then set out to enhance its connectivity and add important security infrastructure. In this course we will now look closer into various remaining types of decentralized network topography. In the lab, we will additionally cover important cloud technologies based on machine-learning. In the first two weeks' lectures, we will cover important components of networks. Metaphorically speaking, when you learn how the human body works, you start by understanding the "organs", the stomach, the liver, and so on. Likewise, we can best understand networks by understanding the individual components that make them up and their function. In this lecture series we will study "devices" such as routers, switches, firewalls, load balancers, and many more. We will learn about how they individually operate, how they are configured, and how they work together to achieve various network-wide properties and goals.

Syllabus

Week 1: Course Orientation and Networking Devices Part 1

You almost made it! This course is the last course in our series of four courses and builds on the previous three courses: IoT Devices, IoT Communications, and IoT Networking. After we have built and programmed a small self-driving vehicle, we then set out to enhance its connectivity and add important security infrastructure. In this course we will now look closer into various remaining types of decentralized network topography. In the honors lab (which we strongly recommend), we will additionally cover important cloud technologies based on machine-learning. In the first two weeks' lectures, we will cover important components of networks. Metaphorically speaking, when you learn how the human body works, you start by understanding the "organs", the stomach, the liver, and so on. Likewise, we can best understand networks by understanding the individual components that make them up and their function. In this lecture series we will study "devices" such as routers, switches, firewalls, load balancers, and many more. We will learn about how they individually operate, how they are configured, and how they work together to achieve various network-wide properties and goals.

Week 2: Infrastructure: Networking Devices Part 2

This week, we continue to explore further the topic of week 1. Please be aware that the quiz of this week will cover both week 1 and 2.

Week 3: Infrastructure: Physical Infrastructure and Wiring (Part 1)

As the Internet becomes "everything", we need to deal with physical challenges. We will study how to protect our systems from the elements and other challenges that occur in deployments in real environments. We will learn about different kinds of wiring and metals, how their makeup and design can protect against the elements, we will talk about how to deploy, maintain, and troubleshoot in the air, the sea, and in jungles. The goal of this lecture series is to make you aware of challenges, and to design robust systems that work well in a broad spectrum of real environments.