CS590W : Topics in Wireless Networks
Structure
This is a seminar course. We will be reading, evaluating, and
discussing papers from the wireless networking literature. Each class
session (except for the first) will consist of student paper
presentations. The course requirements include reading the papers,
writing short evaluations, actively participating in class discussions,
and occasionally presenting a paper to the class. Students interested
in simply attending and participating in discussions can register
for with the Pass/No Pass grading option. Those of you
interested in taking the class for a letter grade (3 units) will work
in groups on a term project. There are no exams or homework (other than
the paper evaluations) for this course.
Each of these requirements is described in detail below.
Reading the papers
The goal of the course is to prepare
each of you for research in wireless networking. To that end, we will
be reading a number of seminal and recent conference and journal papers
in the area. In order for you to participate in the class discussions
it is essential that you've actually read the papers. While you don't
necessarily have to understand all of them (that's what the discussion
is for), you should have at least attempted to get through the paper,
at least looking at all of it.
Writing evaluations
To help motivate the class discussion,
everyone enrolled in the class is required to submit a short (1/2 page,
no more than 1 page; single-spaced, 12pt font) evaluation of the papers
being discussed. These evaluations should briefly summarize the main
contributions of each paper, as well as your assessment of its main
strengths and weaknesses. In particular, you should highlight what you
believe to be the novel insight or approach, and how it might be useful
outside the scope of the paper. These evaluations should be submitted
via email the evening before class. Since I realize many of you may
prefer to work while others of us sleep, the "evening before class"
will be construed to end at 6am, EST, on the morning of class. Those
students presenting the paper are excused from submitting an evaluation.
I realize having something due for every
class can be challenging, so those who are taking the class for a
letter grade may elect to skip two classes' worth of reviews (i.e.,
four reviews in addition to presentation days) without penalty.
Participating in class
The most important requirement is active
participation in class discussions. The evaluations should provide
ample topics for discussion, but don't feel constrained to limit your
comments to those expressed in your evaluations. Questions or
clarifications about confusing parts of the papers (there will be
many!) are entirely appropriate. Thoughtful criticism or extension of
the work presented in the paper is highly encouraged. We've all read
the papers---it's your new insight we're interested in!
Paper presentations
Everyone enrolled in the class will be
asked to present at least one paper during the quarter (the more folks
enrolled, the fewer papers you'll need to present, so encourage your
friends to sign up!). This doesn't need to be a conference-quality
talk, so don't worry too much about it. The basic idea is to present to
the class a brief summary of the paper (what problem does it attempt to
tackle, why is that problem interesting, what is the approach, how
effective was it, etc.) for the benefit of those sitting in (there will
usually be several), and to present your evaluation of the strengths
and weaknesses of the paper, as well as any interesting next steps or
related issues. Think of it as an oral presentation of what you would
have written down. You should also prepare a short list of discussion
topics to help get the class started. Slides are encouraged but not
required. In many cases, it might be possible to google for slides
either on the webpages of the first authors or elsewhere.
Project
If you enroll for three units of credit,
you are required to do a term project. Projects will be conducted in
groups of 2-3 people in consultation with me. You may pick your own
groups, or I will form them for you if you haven't done so by the end
of the second week of class. A list of potential topics will be posted
to the class Web site, but feel free to suggest your own. The output of
your term project will be a conference-length report, a 20-minute
presentation to be given during the exam period, and perhaps an
interesting software artifact. Ideally, some of the project reports
will turn into conference or workshop submissions. I'd be happy to
discuss such prospects with you during or after the term.
Here's a brief schedule for the project:
o Now: Topic
Selection
Check out the reading list and start thinking about what kind of
project you'd like to work on and whom you might like to work with.
Talk with other students in the class. It may be possible to do a
project related to research you're already doing, but check with me
first. If you're not sure, or have questions about a project, please
ask. Also, a useful way to think about a project is to read the
abstract of a paper that sounds really interesting, and think about how
you would have solved the problem that paper is attempting to solve.
Then, check what they have done to see if there is some difference
between your approach and theirs and why one is better than the other.
o 9/4: Group
Selection
If
you've found a group, send me the names and email addresses of the
people in it. If you haven't yet found a group, send me a description
of what kind of work you're interested in doing and I'll try to match
you up. Feel free to talk to me about any ideas or concerns you might
have. Final groups will be announced on 9/11.
o 9/25: Proposal
Due
Each
group will submit a 1-2 page project proposal describing the research
question you plan to explore, why it's interesting, how it relates to
other work, and how you expect to approach the problem. Further details
about the project proposal will be posted shortly.
o 10/25: Project
Checkpoint
In
order to ensure you're all on track and making progress towards your
goals, I'll schedule short (20 minute) meetings with each group to
discuss your progress and help you with any difficulties you may have
encountered. While this is our only mandatory meeting, feel free to ask
to schedule additional meetings with me if you'd like.
o 11/22: Reports
due
Each
group will submit a 10-12 page conference-style written reports by noon
so I have a chance to read them before presentations in class the next
day. By this point in the term, you should be familiar with the style
of conference papers in the area. Your report should be written in a
similar fashion, including a discussion of related work (with
references).
o 12/11: Project
Presentations
Each
group will give a short presentation of their work during the final
period. All group members are expected to participate.
Grading
Grade for this class will be based on:
- Class participation 15%
- Term project (software artifact and paper) 60%
- Paper evaluations 15%
- Paper presentations 10%
As with any graduate course, however, grades shouldn't be your first
concern. I hope that your motivation will come from the desire to learn
about the material we're discussing and prepare yourself for further
research. If there's anything about the way this course is evaluated
that causes you to be distracted from that goal, please let me know.
Collaboration policy
Each paper evaluation must be completed individually; you must write
everything that you submit. You may (and, in fact, are encouraged) to
discuss the papers with others, but you may not copy evaluations from
someone else or make your writeups available to others.
You are expected to be aware of the Department's academic honesty
guidelines. Any violation of the course or institute policies will be
treated very seriously, and could lead to severe repercussions, up to,
and including, expulsion. Don't cheat. It's not worth it. For a quick
summary of department and university policies, please refer to Prof.
Spafford's webpage here.