Calendar
[B] = background paper (no blog post required) · [R] = research paper (blog post required)
Tue Course introduction Form teams
Background How to Read a Paper, S. Keshav, SIGCOMM CCR 2007
Writing Reviews for Systems Conferences, T. Roscoe, SOSP 2007
How to Give a Great Research Talk, S. Peyton Jones et al., SIGPLAN 1993
No blog post due. Presenter: Fabián.
Thu Network design & architecture Team formation confirmed
Background The Design Philosophy of the DARPA Internet Protocols, D. Clark, SIGCOMM 1988
Research paper There is More to Internet Invariants Than Meets the Eye, C. Misa, W. Willinger, R. Durairajan, R. Rejaie — NINeS 2026
Presenter: Fabián.
Tue Internet routing & reachability
Background Stable Internet Routing Without Global Coordination, L. Gao and J. Rexford, SIGMETRICS 2000
Research paper Understanding Partial Reachability in the Internet Core, G. Baltra, T. Saluja, Y. Pradkin, J. Heidemann — NINeS 2026
Thu WAN architecture & traffic engineering Paper selection + project proposal
Background B4: Experience with a Globally-Deployed Software Defined WAN, S. Jain et al., SIGCOMM 2013
Research paper Raha: A General Tool to Analyze WAN Degradation, B. Arzani, S. Taheri, P. Namyar, R. Beckett, S. K. Kakarla, E. Jalilipour — SIGCOMM 2025
Tue SDN & programmable networks
Background The Road to SDN: An Intellectual History of Programmable Networks, N. Feamster, J. Rexford, E. Zegura, SIGCOMM CCR 2014
Research paper Unlocking ECMP Programmability for Precise Traffic Control, Y. Liu, Y. Xiao, X. Zhang et al. — NSDI 2025
Thu Network verification & formal methods
Background Header Space Analysis: Static Checking for Networks, P. Kazemian, G. Varghese, N. McKeown, NSDI 2012
Research paper NDD: A Decision Diagram for Network Verification, Z. Li, P. Zhang, Y. Zhang, H. Yang — NSDI 2025 (Outstanding Paper Award)
Tue Congestion control: signals & theory
Background Beyond Jain’s Fairness Index, R. Ware, M. Mukerjee, S. Seshan, J. Sherry, HotNets 2019
Research paper No Signal to Rule Them All: A Systematic Analysis of In-Network Congestion Signals, S. McClure, N. Dukkipati, S. Ratnasamy, S. Shenker — NINeS 2026
Alt: Agarwal, Arun, Seshan, Contracts: A Unified Lens on Congestion Control, NINeS 2026.
Thu Transport & QUIC In-class proposal pitches (5 min per team)
Background QUIC at Google: Deployed at Scale, A. Langley et al., SIGCOMM 2017
Research paper Waiting for QUIC: Passive Measurements to Understand QUIC Deployments, J. Mücke, M. Nawrocki, R. Hiesgen et al. — CoNEXT 2025
Tue Datacenter transport: rethinking the model
Background A Scalable, Commodity Data Center Network Architecture, M. Al-Fares, A. Loukissas, A. Vahdat, SIGCOMM 2008
Research paper Simulate Before Sending: Rethinking Transport in Datacenter Networks, D. Straussman, I. Keslassy, A. Shpiner, L. Liss — NINeS 2026
Thu RDMA & high-performance datacenter networking
Background DCTCP: Data Center TCP, M. Alizadeh et al., SIGCOMM 2010
Research paper Revisiting RDMA Reliability for Lossy Fabrics, W. Li, X. Liu, Y. Zhang et al. — SIGCOMM 2025 (Best Student Paper, Honorable Mention)
Tue ML training networks Midpoint report
Background Efficient Large-Scale Language Model Training on GPU Clusters Using Megatron-LM, D. Narayanan et al., SC 2021
Research paper InfiniteHBD: Building Datacenter-Scale High-Bandwidth Domain for LLM with Optical Circuit Switching Transceivers, C. Shou, G. Liu, H. Nie et al. — SIGCOMM 2025
Alt: Z. Zhang et al., DistTrain: Addressing Model and Data Heterogeneity with Disaggregated Training for Multimodal LLMs, SIGCOMM 2025.
Thu Sustainable & energy-efficient networking
Background The Datacenter as a Computer (power and energy chapters), L. A. Barroso, U. Hölzle, P. Ranganathan, 3rd ed., 2019
Research paper GREEN: Carbon-Efficient Resource Scheduling for Machine Learning Clusters, K. Xu, D. Sun, H. Tian, J. Zhang, K. Chen — NSDI 2025
Alt: Z. Liu, S. Oh, B. Tao et al., EcoCell: Energy Conservation through Traffic Shaping in Cellular Radio Access Networks, NINeS 2026.
Tue Naming & DNS infrastructure
Background Akamai DNS: Providing Authoritative Answers to the World’s Queries, K. Schomp et al., SIGCOMM 2020
Research paper OpenFLAME: A Federated Spatial Naming Infrastructure, S. Bharadwaj, Z. Ma, I. Liang, M. Farb, A. Rowe, S. Seshan — NINeS 2026
Thu LEO satellites & new access infrastructure
Background Analyzing Starlink from the Ground, Q. Michel et al., SIGCOMM 2022
Research paper LeoCC: Making Internet Congestion Control Robust to LEO Satellite Dynamics, Z. Lai, Z. Li, Q. Wu et al. — SIGCOMM 2025
Alt: B. Kataria, H. Bin Tanveer, R. Nithyanand, R. Singh, What Obstructed Skies Teach Us about Satellite Internet, NINeS 2026.
Tue Video QoE & real-time congestion control
Background Video Stream Quality Impacts Viewer Behavior, S. Krishnan and R. Sitaraman, IMC 2012
Research paper Tight Loops, Smooth Streams: Responsive Congestion Control for Real-Time Video, P. Karimi, S. Fouladi, V. Sivaraman, M. Alizadeh — NINeS 2026
Thu Mobile & wireless systems design
Background BBR: Congestion-Based Congestion Control, N. Cardwell, Y. Cheng, C. S. Gunn, S. H. Yeganeh, V. Jacobson, ACM Queue 2016
Research paper BISCAY: Practical Radio KPI Driven Congestion Control for Mobile Networks, J. Larrea, T. Shreedhar, A. Niemi, A. Sefiane, M. K. Marina — NINeS 2026
Alt: M. Tariq, Y. Chen, H. Hassanieh, R. Mittal, Performance Isolation for 5G RAN Slices Across Multiple Interfering Cells, NINeS 2026.
Tue Anonymity & privacy infrastructure
Background Tor: The Second-Generation Onion Router, R. Dingledine, N. Mathewson, P. Syverson, USENIX Security 2004
Research paper Don’t get caught, keep your Onions in a Vault, H. Ikram, R. Habib, M. Ali, Z. A. Uzmi — NINeS 2026
Thu BGP security & routing integrity Final report (including critique section)
Background How Secure Are Secure Interdomain Routing Protocols?, S. Goldberg, M. Schapira, P. Hummon, J. Rexford, SIGCOMM 2010
Research paper Passive Data-Plane Telemetry to Mitigate Long-Distance BGP Hijacks, S. Sengupta, H. Kim, D. Jubas, M. Apostolaki, J. Rexford — NINeS 2026
Tue CDN architecture & Internet infrastructure
Background Engineering Egress with Edge Fabric, B. Schlinker, H. Kim, T. Cunha et al., SIGCOMM 2017
Research paper Who Holds the Steering Wheel? Opacity and Consolidation in CDN Replica Selection, R. Kumar, F. E. Bustamante, M. Flores — NINeS 2026
Companion reading: M. Weaver, D. Veitch, P. Barford, F. E. Bustamante, E. Carisimo, Monitoring Latency on Submarine Cables, NINeS 2026.
Presenter: Fabián.
Thu Student project presentations Blog posts due
Reproduction project presentations (date TBD)
PAPER INDEX
Background papers
| # | Paper | Venue | Week |
|---|---|---|---|
| B1 | Keshav, How to Read a Paper | SIGCOMM CCR 2007 | 1 Tue |
| B2 | Roscoe, Writing Reviews for Systems Conferences | SOSP 2007 | 1 Tue |
| B3 | Peyton Jones et al., How to Give a Great Research Talk | SIGPLAN 1993 | 1 Tue |
| B4 | Clark, Design Philosophy of the DARPA Internet Protocols | SIGCOMM 1988 | 1 Thu |
| B5 | Gao & Rexford, Stable Internet Routing Without Global Coordination | SIGMETRICS 2000 | 2 Tue |
| B6 | Jain et al., B4: Globally-Deployed Software Defined WAN | SIGCOMM 2013 | 2 Thu |
| B7 | Feamster, Rexford, Zegura, The Road to SDN | SIGCOMM CCR 2014 | 3 Tue |
| B8 | Kazemian, Varghese, McKeown, Header Space Analysis | NSDI 2012 | 3 Thu |
| B9 | Ware et al., Beyond Jain’s Fairness Index | HotNets 2019 | 4 Tue |
| B10 | Langley et al., QUIC at Google: Deployed at Scale | SIGCOMM 2017 | 4 Thu |
| B11 | Al-Fares, Loukissas, Vahdat, Scalable Commodity Datacenter Architecture | SIGCOMM 2008 | 5 Tue |
| B12 | Alizadeh et al., DCTCP: Data Center TCP | SIGCOMM 2010 | 5 Thu |
| B13 | Narayanan et al., Efficient LLM Training: Megatron-LM | SC 2021 | 6 Tue |
| B14 | Barroso, Hölzle, Ranganathan, The Datacenter as a Computer (power ch.) | Book 2019 | 6 Thu |
| B15 | Schomp et al., Akamai DNS | SIGCOMM 2020 | 7 Tue |
| B16 | Michel et al., Analyzing Starlink from the Ground | SIGCOMM 2022 | 7 Thu |
| B17 | Krishnan & Sitaraman, Video Stream Quality Impacts Viewer Behavior | IMC 2012 | 8 Tue |
| B18 | Cardwell et al., BBR: Congestion-Based Congestion Control | ACM Queue 2016 | 8 Thu |
| B19 | Dingledine, Mathewson, Syverson, Tor: The Second-Generation Onion Router | USENIX Sec. 2004 | 9 Tue |
| B20 | Goldberg, Schapira, Hummon, Rexford, How Secure Are Secure Routing Protocols? | SIGCOMM 2010 | 9 Thu |
| B21 | Schlinker et al., Engineering Egress with Edge Fabric | SIGCOMM 2017 | 10 Tue |
Research papers (blog post required)
| # | Paper | Venue | Week |
|---|---|---|---|
| R1 | Misa, Willinger, Durairajan, Rejaie — Internet Invariants | NINeS 2026 | 1 Thu |
| R2 | Baltra, Saluja, Pradkin, Heidemann — Partial Reachability in the Internet Core | NINeS 2026 | 2 Tue |
| R3 | Arzani et al. — Raha: Analyzing WAN Degradation | SIGCOMM 2025 | 2 Thu |
| R4 | Liu, Xiao, Zhang et al. — Unlocking ECMP Programmability | NSDI 2025 | 3 Tue |
| R5 | Li, Zhang, Zhang, Yang — NDD: Network Decision Diagram (Outstanding Paper) | NSDI 2025 | 3 Thu |
| R6 | McClure, Dukkipati, Ratnasamy, Shenker — No Signal to Rule Them All | NINeS 2026 | 4 Tue |
| R7 | Mücke, Nawrocki, Hiesgen et al. — Waiting for QUIC | CoNEXT 2025 | 4 Thu |
| R8 | Straussman, Keslassy, Shpiner, Liss — Simulate Before Sending | NINeS 2026 | 5 Tue |
| R9 | Li, Liu, Zhang et al. — Revisiting RDMA Reliability (Best Student Paper HM) | SIGCOMM 2025 | 5 Thu |
| R10 | Shou, Liu, Nie et al. — InfiniteHBD: Optical Circuit Switching for LLM | SIGCOMM 2025 | 6 Tue |
| R11 | Xu, Sun, Tian, Zhang, Chen — GREEN: Carbon-Efficient Scheduling for ML Clusters | NSDI 2025 | 6 Thu |
| R12 | Bharadwaj, Ma, Liang, Farb, Rowe, Seshan — OpenFLAME: Federated Spatial Naming | NINeS 2026 | 7 Tue |
| R13 | Lai, Li, Wu et al. — LeoCC: CC Robust to LEO Dynamics | SIGCOMM 2025 | 7 Thu |
| R14 | Karimi, Fouladi, Sivaraman, Alizadeh — Tight Loops, Smooth Streams | NINeS 2026 | 8 Tue |
| R15 | Larrea, Shreedhar, Niemi, Sefiane, Marina — BISCAY: Radio KPI Driven CC | NINeS 2026 | 8 Thu |
| R16 | Ikram, Habib, Ali, Uzmi — Don’t get caught, keep your Onions in a Vault | NINeS 2026 | 9 Tue |
| R17 | Sengupta, Kim, Jubas, Apostolaki, Rexford — Passive Telemetry for BGP Hijacks | NINeS 2026 | 9 Thu |
| R18 | Kumar, Bustamante, Flores — Who Holds the Steering Wheel? | NINeS 2026 | 10 Tue |