Network Multiplexing Course

Lesson 1 • Taxonomy of Multiplexing Techniques

Maps the major multiplexing families—frequency, time, code, and space—onto a unified framework. Students can categorise any technique by its domain of separation.

Lesson 2 • Why Multiplexing Exists

Examines bandwidth scarcity and the economic need to share transmission media. Establishes the problem multiplexing solves before introducing any technique.

Lesson 3 • Multiplexers and Demultiplexers

Introduces mux/demux hardware roles, signal combining logic, and synchronisation requirements. Connects abstract channel models to physical device behaviour.

Lesson 1 • FDM System Design and Analysis

Applies spectrum allocation and modulation knowledge to end-to-end FDM link design. Students calculate channel capacity, guard bands, and interference margins.

Lesson 2 • Modulation Techniques for FDM

Covers AM, FM, and SSB modulation as tools for placing signals onto subcarriers. Links modulation choice to bandwidth efficiency and interference tolerance.

Lesson 3 • FDM Principles and Spectrum Allocation

Explains how subcarriers divide a shared medium and how spectrum is partitioned among users. Grounds FDM design in the signal fundamentals from Chapter 1.

Lesson 1 • Statistical and Asynchronous TDM

Contrasts statistical multiplexing with fixed TDM, covering queuing, burst tolerance, and efficiency gains. Prepares students for packet-based multiplexing in later chapters.

Lesson 2 • Synchronous TDM Standards

Covers T-carrier, E-carrier, and SDH/SONET hierarchies as real-world synchronous TDM implementations. Students map bit rates across hierarchy levels.

Lesson 3 • TDM Synchronisation and Timing

Addresses clock recovery, jitter, wander, and timing hierarchy in TDM networks. Equips students to diagnose and correct synchronisation faults.

Lesson 1 • Orthogonal Code Families

Covers Walsh-Hadamard, Gold, and Kasami codes and their cross-correlation properties. Students select appropriate codes for given capacity and interference scenarios.

Lesson 2 • Interference and Near-Far Problem

Analyses the near-far effect, multi-user interference, and successive interference cancellation. Students apply mitigation strategies to maintain target signal quality.

Lesson 3 • Spread-Spectrum Fundamentals

Introduces direct-sequence and frequency-hopping spread spectrum as the basis for code-domain separation. Connects spreading gain to interference rejection.

Lesson 1 • WDM Impairments and Mitigation

Addresses chromatic dispersion, polarisation mode dispersion, and nonlinear effects in WDM systems. Students apply compensation techniques to meet bit-error-rate targets.

Lesson 2 • Optical Amplification and Noise

Examines EDFA, Raman, and SOA amplifiers, noise figure, and optical signal-to-noise ratio budgeting. Connects amplifier choice to span length and channel count.

Lesson 3 • WDM Components and Subsystems

Covers lasers, photodetectors, multiplexers, demultiplexers, and optical add-drop multiplexers. Students match component specifications to system performance requirements.

Lesson 4 • Optical Fibre and WDM Basics

Reviews single-mode fibre properties, optical windows, and the ITU channel grid. Establishes the physical medium context for all WDM design decisions.

Lesson 1 • ATM Cell Switching and VCs

Covers ATM cell structure, virtual path and virtual channel identifiers, and connection setup. Illustrates fixed-size cell multiplexing as a bridge between TDM and packets.

Lesson 2 • MPLS Label Switching Fundamentals

Introduces label stack operations, forwarding equivalence classes, and label distribution protocols. Students trace packet forwarding through a label-switched path.

Lesson 3 • Traffic Engineering with MPLS

Applies MPLS to explicit routing, bandwidth reservation, and fast reroute. Students design TE tunnels that optimise link utilisation across a network topology.

Lesson 1 • Traffic Shaping and Policing

Contrasts token bucket shaping with leaky bucket policing and their effects on burst traffic. Students apply shaping and policing to enforce service-level agreements.

Lesson 2 • Queuing and Scheduling Algorithms

Examines FIFO, PQ, WFQ, CBWFQ, and LLQ scheduling disciplines and their latency profiles. Students select and size queues for mixed-traffic multiplexed interfaces.

Lesson 3 • Congestion Avoidance and End-to-End QoS

Covers WRED, ECN, and DiffServ domain interconnection for end-to-end service guarantees. Students validate QoS policies using traffic simulation and measurement tools.

Lesson 4 • Classification and Marking

Covers DSCP, CoS, and MPLS EXP field marking at network ingress points. Students configure classification policies that persist across multiplexed domains.

Lesson 1 • Software-Defined Networking for Multiplexing

Introduces SDN control plane separation and OpenFlow-based forwarding for dynamic multiplexing control. Students program flow tables to implement multiplexing policies.

Lesson 2 • Optical Transport Network Architecture

Covers OTN framing, ODU multiplexing hierarchy, and forward error correction. Students configure OTN tributary mapping for mixed-rate client signals.

Lesson 3 • Resilience and Fault Recovery

Covers protection switching, mesh restoration, and multi-layer failure correlation in advanced architectures. Students design recovery schemes meeting strict availability targets.

Lesson 4 • Network Function Virtualisation and Mux

Examines virtual network functions replacing hardware mux/demux and the orchestration layer managing them. Students design a virtualised multiplexing service chain.