Mustafa-Hatem-Moex

What are the differences between a single-mode and a multi-mode fiber?

Single-mode are used in long distance networks in CATV and packetswitched with very small core.
Multi-mode are cheaper and used in short distance networks such as LANs with larg core.

The transmission of light through an optical fiber is subjected to optical effects, known as
impairments. Attenuation and Dispersion are linear impairments of the optical signal in an optical
fiber. They are called linear because their effect is proportional to the length of the fiber. Explain
these two types of linear impairments. ?

Attenuation
Loss of signal power in a transmission that can be caused by absorption, scattering or reflections due to
splices and connectors.

Dispersion
distortion of the shape of the pulse It is modal dispersion, chromatic dispersion or polarization mode
wich leads refractive index or core not round enough.

What are the non-linear impairments in Optical fiber?

due to the scattering effects in the fiber medium because of the interaction of light waves with phonons
it is a non-linear function of the applied electric and magnetic field amplitude.

An ADSL system using DMT has 256 channels in total, including six channels for POTS, two channels
for control, and the rest of channels are dedicated for downstream/upstream data. It allocates 3/4 of
the available data channels to the downstream link. Assume that the ADSL system uses 64-QAM
modulation on each channel and a signaling rate equal to 4000 baud. What is the capacity (in Mbps)
of the downstream link?

256-8 = 248
248*3/4 = 186 channels
64x6 = 24000
The total bandwidth is 186 x 24000=4464000
4464 MB

Question 3: (5 marks)
a. Briefly explain whether High frequencies are usually used for long distance or short distance
communication purposes over land.
High frequencies are usually used for short distance communication purposes over land since they suffer
attenuation from obstacles etc. (2 marks)

b. Briefly explain a major benefit of High frequencies for cellular communication purposes over land?
A major benefit of High frequencies for cellular communication purposes over land is that they create
less interference for frequencies in nearby cells. (2 marks)

c. Provide one drawback to an approach limiting access to wireless stations with recognizable MAC
addressesThere are several problems with this approach (one is required): (1 mark) ?
Because the list of MAC addresses in each access point has to be maintained, it is feasible only for small
networks and cannot be applied to large networks in which the maintenance overhead would be too
large.
It is not secure because attackers could monitor the network to detect valid MAC

What the usefulness of the communication between wireless sensor nodes in:
a. Power management?
To inform the neighbor nodes of low power and consequent inability to route data. (1.5 mark)
b. Mobility management?
To make sure that, through an awareness of one another’s location, nodes do not move out of range.
(1.5 mark)
c. Task management?
To help nodes cooperate and avoid unnecessary sensing, processing and transmission in a region that is
more than adequately covered by sensor nodes. (2 marks)

Question 5: (5 marks)
Summarize five major characteristics of 4G Mobile Networks.
4G has the following characteristics: (1 mark for each one)
Based on an all-IP packet switched network
Support peak data rates
Dynamically share and use the network resources to support more simultaneous users per cell
Support smooth handovers across heterogeneous networks
Support high QoS for next-generation multimedia applications

Question 6: (5 marks)
a. Present four main benefits of cloud computing?
Cloud computing provides: (2 marks: 0.5 mark for each one)
Economies of scale Professional network management Professional security management Another big
advantage of using cloud computing to store your data and share it with others is that the cloud
provider takes care of security
b. Describe the concept of Cloud Networking
Cloud networking refers to the collection of network capabilities required to access a cloud, including:
Making use of specialized services over the Internet Linking enterprise data centers to a cloud Using
firewalls and other network security devices at critical points to enforce access security policies.

Question 7: (5 marks)
With SDN, the task of traffic engineering should be considerably simplified compared with a non-SDN
network given that SDN offers a uniform global view of heterogeneous equipment and powerful tools
for configuring and managing network switches. Present five traffic engineering functions that can be
implemented as SDN applications:
(1 mark for each one; only five are required)
■ On-demand virtual private networks
■ Load balancing
■ Energy-aware routing
■ Quality of service (QoS) for broadband access networks
■ Scheduling/optimization
■ Traffic engineering with minimal overhead
■ Dynamic QoS routing for multimedia apps
■ Fast recovery through fast-failover groups
■ QoS policy management framework
■ QoS enforcement
■ QoS over heterogeneous networks
■ Multiple packet schedulers
■ Queue management for QoS enforcement
■ Divide and spread forwarding tables

Question 8: (5 marks)
a. Give four transmission rates of Ethernet LANs?
Ethernet LANs have transmission rates of 10 Mbps, 100 Mbps, 1 Gbps, 10 Gbps, 40 Gbps, 100 Gbps, and
more in the future. (2 marks: 0.5 for each one; only 4 are required)
b. Compare the frame structures for 10BASE-T, 100BASE-T, and Gigabit Ethernet.
The three Ethernet technologies have identical frame structures. (1 mark)
c. What are some of the physical media that Ethernet can run over?
Today, Ethernet most commonly runs over twisted-pair copper wire (1 mark). It also can run over fibers
optic links. (1 mark)

Question 9: (5 marks)
a. The MPLS architecture permits an LSR to maintain multiple entries for each incoming label. Give an
example where this feature can be used.
An LSR can maintain multiple entries for each incoming label. This permits the LSR to carry out load
balance among the outgoing links. The LSR can route the packets to alternate routes in case of
congestion in the network along a particular link. Multiple entries might also offer better protection for
the packets. (2 marks)
b. Describe the difference between an explicit route and a hop-by-hop route. Under what conditions
an explicit route between an ingress LSR and an egress LSR coincides with the hop-by-hop route?
An explicit route is a route where all the nodes or the autonomous systems on the route are described.
It is calculated following a criterion such as to minimize the number of hops, minimize end-to-end delay,
or maximize throughput. (1.5 marks)
A hop-by-hop route is the one an IP packet follows based on the next-hop routing information in each IP
router. This information is obtained by using link-state or distance vector protocols and stored in the
FIB. Typically the hop-by-hop route is calculated so as to minimize the number of hops. An explicit route
will coincide with a hop-by-hop route if it has been calculated so that number of hops is minimized. (1.5
marks)

Question 10: (5 marks)

a. What are the main sources for jitter and what is its effect on the QoS for voice over packet?
Jitter is the variability of the inter-arrival times of packets at the destination. It is caused primarily by
delays in the various buffers of the packet switches/routers through which the packets are routed. (1.5
marks)
Jitter is an important parameter for quality of service in real time applications like voice over packet. If
packets do not arrive at the expected rate, then the play-out process will run out of packets and pause
which is not desirable. (1.5 marks)
b. Explain, how an ISP provides QoS for a phone call over a traditional IP network.
An ISP cannot guarantee quality of a service for a phone call on an IP network using classical IP
forwarding. (2 marks)