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STUDY GUIDE · GKU 5

Computer networks study guide (Computer Engineering)

A network moves bits from one program to another across links that are slow, lossy and shared. This unit first builds the architecture: the layered models that divide the job, the delays every packet pays, the physical layer and its media, the devices and topologies of LANs, MANs and WANs, and the wireless and mobile networks that add radio, interference and movement. The second part is the protocols that make it work: framing and error detection on a link, IP addressing and routing across many links, TCP and UDP between programs, the flow and congestion control that keep a shared network usable, and the tools used to manage and secure it. Exam questions are mostly short calculations — a delay, a capacity, a CRC, a subnet, a shortest path, a window — so every section works them through.

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Structured by the official ETEC subject standard for this topic: every listed topic and learning outcome, with formulas, figures and worked examples. The full sections are available to members in the app.

SKU 5.1 · Network architecture

  1. Network fundamentals: layered models, encapsulation and delay

    Why networks are built in layers, the seven OSI layers against the five-layer TCP/IP stack, what each layer adds as a packet goes down the stack, and the four delays (transmission, propagation, queueing, processing) plus the bandwidth-delay product.

  2. The physical layer: media, line coding and channel capacity

    What the physical layer does, how guided media (twisted pair, coaxial cable, optical fibre) and unguided media (radio, microwave, satellite) compare, how bits become signals (NRZ, Manchester), and the two limits on bit rate: Nyquist for a noiseless channel and Shannon with noise, with link budgets in decibels.

  3. LANs, MANs and WANs: topologies, devices and switching

    How networks are classified by reach, the topologies they use and their trade-offs, what hubs, switches and routers each do (collision and broadcast domains, VLANs), Ethernet's CSMA/CD and minimum frame, and circuit switching against store-and-forward packet switching.

  4. Wireless networks: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, cellular and ad hoc

    What radio changes compared with a cable, and how the main wireless architectures differ: Wi-Fi with access points and CSMA/CA, Bluetooth piconets, cellular networks built on frequency reuse, and ad hoc networks with no infrastructure; with free-space path loss and cluster-size calculations.

  5. Mobile networks: mobility management, handoff and energy

    The problems that appear when the user moves: finding a mobile (location management and paging), keeping its sessions alive (Mobile IP, home and foreign agents), handing a call from one cell to the next (hard, soft and vertical handoff, thresholds and hysteresis), and making a battery last (duty cycling and sleep modes).

SKU 5.2 · Network protocols and management

  1. Data link layer: framing, error detection, medium access and ARQ

    How a stream of bits is cut into frames, how parity, the Internet checksum and the CRC detect errors (with worked computations), how stations share one medium (ALOHA, CSMA, token passing), and how stop-and-wait, go-back-N and selective-repeat ARQ recover lost frames and how efficiently.

  2. Network and transport protocols: IP addressing, routing, TCP and UDP

    IPv4 addressing with prefixes, subnetting and VLSM (every calculation checked), the helpers ARP, DHCP and ICMP, link-state routing with Dijkstra's algorithm against distance-vector routing with Bellman-Ford, TCP against UDP, and how to judge which protocol suite suits a given application.

  3. Flow control and congestion control

    The difference between protecting the receiver (flow control, the advertised window) and protecting the network (congestion control); TCP's slow start, congestion avoidance, fast retransmit and recovery traced round by round; and how Tahoe, Reno, CUBIC, BBR and router-side queue management compare.

  4. Network management: FCAPS, SNMP, monitoring tools and security

    What network management covers (the FCAPS areas), how SNMP managers, agents and MIBs work and how its versions differ, the everyday instruments (ping, traceroute, packet capture, flow export, syslog, configuration management), polling against traps, and the basic security controls a network manager runs.

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