Telecommunications Standards Education

Michael R. BartolacciAssociate Professor of Information Sciences and

TechnologyPennsylvania State University - Berks

Pennsylvania State University (Penn State)Largest university in the state of Pennsylvania

which has a population of 12 million peopleState affiliated, but not part of the “State University

System” – majority of its working revenue (95%) is derived from sources other than the state’s financial subsidies (it is a nonprofit institution)

23 campuses and approximately 93,000 studentsMain campus is in the geographic center of the

state with about 46,000 studentsContains a law school and a medical school as well

Pennsylvania State University (Penn State)Has a 8.5 billion dollar direct and indirect

economic impact on the state of Pennsylvania2010 Wall Street Journal research showed that

Penn State University students were the most heavily recruited by U.S. employers out of all universities in the U.S.

Has five main academic colleges that play a role in the teaching of standards for ICT“Engineering”, “Business”, “Communications”,

“Law”, and “Information Sciences and Technology”

Different Focus For EachEngineering – contains the departments of “Electrical

Engineering” and “Computer Science and Engineering”Business – contains the “Management Information

Systems” and “Supply Chain and Information Systems” programs

Law – courses and faculty expertise cover areas such as telecommunications regulation, patents, and other legal aspects of ICT

Communications – contains the “Telecommunications” program which deals more with mass media aspects of telecommunications

Information Sciences and Technology – contains the “Information Sciences and Technology” and “Security and Risk Analysis” programs

College of Information Sciences and TechnologyTwo Degree Programs

Information Sciences and Technology or IST Concentration on the implementation of ICT to solve

problems Concentration on systems development (with much

more of a technology focus than computer science) Concentration on the impact of technology on people

and societySecurity and Risk Analysis or SRA

Concentration on information cyber security Concentration on intelligence analysis and monitoring Concentration on social factors and risk

IST and SRA Have ICT Standards Embedded in Their CurriculumI personally have taught 38 different courses in my 14 years at

Penn State and can speak to the fact that ICT standards, the standards process, and organizations involved in the process are discussed throughout the curriculum for both IST and SRA (and, to my knowledge, also the few College of Business and College of Communications courses that I have taught in the past), but only in passing and there is no focus on any of these per se

You can probably already see the main point of this talk, that large universities in the U.S. spread out ICT over many programs and that standardization is not given a full treatment in any of them (students miss the big picture)

Foundation courses common to both programs are IST 110 (Introduction to Information, People and Technology ), IST 210 (Organization of Data), and IST 220 (Networking and Telecommunications)

Grant From National Science FoundationWe (Dr. Abdullah Konak and other faculty in

IST/SRA at my campus) received a grant of about $160,000 for creating virtual computing networks for teaching Networking and Information Security technologies

Allow access to the virtual networks for other PSU campuses and for community colleges

Past grants have allowed for the summer camps in Networking and Information Security for middle school and high school students and the creation of online training modules in these topics

Penn State’s Information Sciences and Technology (IST) and Information Security and Risk Analysis Programs (SRA)Both programs require an introductory

telecommunications and networking course (IST 220) which provides the foundations for all future networking and cyber security classes

IST 220 - Networking and TelecommunicationsFirst semester sophomore year course for both IST

and SRA majorsI have taught this course more than 25 times and it

has evolved over the yearsMost recent course redesign was completed May 2013

Elimination of all discussion of analog voice telecommunications and related standards, history of voice telecommunications, and almost all older technologies

Focus mainly on wide area networking technologies and standards

Lesser focus on local area networking technologies and standards

Learning Goals for IST 220Remember that this is a course required for IST and

SRA majors with a focus on the technology and its implementation and less on the theory behind it

Discussion of standards is undertaken in the context of their role in the choice of technology to solve a problemTelecommunication and networking standards are

covered through IST 220, but in less subtle ways and not as a specific section of the course

The following are the actual Learning Goals created for the course as part of the recent redesign (committee on which I was a member)

1. Explain the components of computer networks and their relationships to each other a) Illustrate current network applications (Web, Social

Networking, Peer-to-Peer, Mobile Apps, and Cloud Computing) b) Describe how applications may use the network differently c) Identify the common network topologies (e.g., bus, ring and

star) and scope (e.g., PAN, LAN, WAN, MAN) d) Compare and contrast the uses of hubs, switches and routers

e)Identify the opportunity and need for network security f) Examine the OSI and Internet reference models and identify

roles that individual protocols and equipment play in a network implementation

g) Explain the concept of encapsulation as it applies to the network stack and protocols

h) Examine wireless networking technologies, including 802.11

2. Explain the impact of Application Layer Protocols on the user and the network

a) Describe the application layer protocols and their role in the protocol stack

b) Describe the utility of network support protocols (e.g., DHCP and DNS)

c) Compare and contrast network traffic based on email (SMTP, POP, IMAP), web (HTTP), file transfer (FTP) and network administration (SNMP) protocols

3. Describe the how different Transport Layer protocols package data for transmission across the network

a) Compare and contrast the differences between TCP, UDP and ICMP

b) Explain how error correcting and sequencing codes work

c) Explain principles of congestion and flow control

d) Describe the relationship between sequence numbers, fragmentation and fairness in TCP/IP

e) Describe the how data is sent across a network

4. Discuss how network layer protocols and routers move packets across the network a) Demonstrate understanding of network layer protocols b) Explain the interaction between the transport layer and network layer

protocols c) Demonstrate high-level understanding of the interaction between the

network and link layers d) Distinguish between process names, port numbers, IP addresses, and

network interfaces e) Identify need for IPv6 and describe differences between IPv4 and IPv6 f) Differentiate between virtual circuits and datagram networks g) Compare and contrast link-state and distance-vector routing algorithms h) Describe IPSec and how it provides network security i) Calculate basic subnet properties (subnet address, broadcast address,

subnet size) in IPv4 under CIDR and IPv6 j) Illustrate mobile networking within the same subnet k) Demonstrate capability to connect networking devices together l) Demonstrate capability to connect internetworking devices

5. Explain the Link Layer and the Physical Layer

a) Describe link-layer addressing and the Address Resolution Protocol (ARP)

b) Describe the common uses of physical and wireless media (coax, twisted pair, fiber, RF, microwave, etc)

c) Express characteristics of multiple transmission technologies d) Define key characteristics of Ethernet protocols e) Describe CSMA/CD, ALOHA, and Slotted ALOHA protocols f)

Define CDMA in mobile networks g) Compare and contrast the physical layer of an 802.11 wireless

LAN to Ethernet (CSMA/CA plus CTS/RTS to CSMA/CD) h) Define the process of modulation and demodulation and the

components of that process through one or more network technologies

i) Describe the operation of ARP

6. Design of Local and Wide Area Networks

a) Illustrate the design and analysis of Local Area Networks

b) Discuss and compare the designs of traditional enterprise and residential networks

c) Practice common tasks conducted while administering LANs

d) Capture end-user requirements for network use; select matching network design components and features

e) Describe how DHCP operates

As You Can See …Limited time devoted to any discussion of

standards organizations or the standards process per se; discussed more in passing with the introduction of the reference models and specific standards such as 802.11

Even the higher level SRA cyber security courses do not include in-depth discussions of these per se; the discussions are focused more on the advantages and disadvantages of various standards in terms of information security (such as WEP versus WPA versus WPA2)

Also …In any given semester, approximately 40 different

instructors teach IST 220 across 21 campuses with varying network laboratories and equipment

Experience and expertise of these instructors range from only a bachelor’s degree with several years of networking experience in industry to Ph.D.’s with no industry networking experienceAlthough the curriculum is supposed to be

standardized, each instructor ultimately varies it somewhat based on the above factors; this results in students getting a mixed bag of standards-related education across both degree programs

MIS and Telecommunications Courses in Other Colleges at Penn StateI have taught several sections of an MIS

course for the business degree program (Bachelor of Science in Business) and a telecommunications technology course for the Telecommunications program of the College of CommunicationsNeither course included any specific module

specifically on standards or the standards process

The Telecommunications program course did devote a significant amount discussion to the impact of changing standards and technologies on mass media

Main PointsA very large U.S. university such as Penn State includes

ICT in many degree programs and coursesOne can surmise that most of these programs and courses

do not specifically address ICT standards and the standards process as a course or even a specific module in a course

Voice communications and its standards are becoming less important in the curriculum for most of the courses related to ICT

Even if standards and the standards process were emphasized in the curriculum, it is difficult to implement and enforce implementation across a geographically dispersed set of campus locations and faculty

Questions ?Michael R. BartolacciAssociate Professor of ISTPenn State University – Berksmrb24@psu.edu