CS 856: Network Transport Protocols: Modeling, Analysis, Performance Exploration (Winter 2026)

Instructor Mina Tahmasbi Arashloo
Schedule Mondays, 3-6PM
Contact Email. Please prefix the subject line of your email with [CS856] for a timely reply.
Office Hours By appointment.
Prerequisites Familiarity with basic networking concepts such as different networking layers (e.g., data link, network, and transport layers), forwarding and routing, and common protocols (e.g., Ethernet, IP, UDP, TCP, HTTP, and DNS), through CS 456/656 or an equivalent course.

Overview

Transport protocols are an essential, complex, and continuously evolving part of network communications. They bridge the gap between distributed applications and the lossy, best-effort network layer by providing key services such as data segmentation and reassembly, data loss detection and recovery, flow control, and congestion control. These protocols handle every piece of data exchanged between application processes on different endpoints. They are asynchronous and event-driven, have to handle numerous nontrivial corner cases to account for the changing network and receiver conditions and packet losses and delays, and significantly impact the network quality of service experienced by distributed applications and online services using the network. As such, it is critical to develop an accurate understanding of the performance characteristics of transport protocols under different application workloads and network conditions prior to deployment.

In this course, through course projects and presentations, we will do a deep dive on recent advances in network transport protocols and analyze and explore their performance characteristics. This performance exploration, which will be part of the course project and student presentations, can be analytical or empirical, depending on the individual student's interest and skills. Students can pick their focus from a wide range of protocols, including but not limited to:

Grading

TBD, but the majority of the grade is based on presentations, in-class discussions, and a course project.

Schedule

TBD

Territorial Acknowledgement

The University of Waterloo acknowledges that much of our work takes place on the traditional territory of the Neutral, Anishinaabeg and Haudenosaunee peoples. Our main campus is situated on the Haldimand Tract, the land granted to the Six Nations that includes six miles on each side of the Grand River. Our active work toward reconciliation takes place across our campuses through research, learning, teaching, and community building, and is centralized within the Office of Indigenous Relations.

Faculty of Math's Statement on Mental Health and Diversity

Mental Health Support: The Faculty of Math encourages students to seek out mental health support if needed.

On-campus Resources: Off-campus Resources: Diversity: It is our intent that students from all diverse backgrounds and perspectives be well served by this course, and that students’ learning needs be addressed both in and out of class. We recognize the immense value of the diversity in identities, perspectives, and contributions that students bring, and the benefit it has on our educational environment. Your suggestions are encouraged and appreciated. Please let us know ways to improve the effectiveness of the course for you personally or for other students or student groups. In particular:

Note for Students with Disabilities

AccessAbility Services, located in Needles Hall, Room 1401, collaborates with all academic departments to arrange appropriate accommodations for students with disabilities without compromising the academic integrity of the curriculum. If you require academic accommodations to lessen the impact of your disability, please register with AccessAbility Services at the beginning of each academic term.

University and Faculty of Math Policy on Academic Integrity

Academic Integrity: In order to maintain a culture of academic integrity, members of the University of Waterloo community are expected to promote honesty, trust, fairness, respect and responsibility. [Check the Office of Academic Integrity for more information.]

Grievance: A student who believes that a decision affecting some aspect of their university life has been unfair or unreasonable may have grounds for initiating a grievance. Please read Policy 70, Section 4. When in doubt, please be certain to contact the department’s administrative assistant who will provide further assistance.

Discipline: A student is expected to know what constitutes academic integrity to avoid committing an academic offence, and to take responsibility for their actions. [Check the Office of Academic Integrity.] A student who is unsure whether an action constitutes an offence, or who needs help in learning how to avoid offences (e.g., plagiarism, cheating) or about “rules” for group work/collaboration should seek guidance from the course instructor, academic advisor, or the undergraduate associate dean. For information on categories of offences and types of penalties, students should refer to Policy 71, Student Discipline. For typical penalties, check Guidelines for the Assessment of Penalties.

Avoiding Academic Offenses: Most students are unaware of the line between acceptable and unacceptable academic behaviour, especially when discussing assignments with classmates and using the work of other students. For information on commonly misunderstood academic offenses and how to avoid them, students should refer to the Office of Academic Integrity's site on Academic Misconduct and the Faculty of Mathematics' site on Academic Integrity.

Appeals: A decision made or penalty imposed under Policy 70, Student Petitions and Grievances (other than a petition) or Policy 71, Student Discipline may be appealed if there is a ground. A student who believes they have a ground for an appeal should refer to Policy 72 - Student Appeals.

References