Computer Networking Lab: Week 1

My first day at the lab, we had a conveniently planned lab meeting. I had taken the train and subway before to go to Columbia, but since I didn't want to be late on my first day, took a very early train and arrived about 1 1/2 hours before the meeting started. I loitered around the area around Columbia until the meeting started. I got to meet everyone in the lab and learned quite a lot about their projects. Since I found my lab during the last week of school, I spent my first week of summer reading as many articles about my phd student's project as I could. I felt that I had a sufficient understanding of his project and had a grasp on the terminology and concepts being explored. However, when he went to present his project to the group, he presented something completely different. I became concerned that I had spent time reading all the wrong papers, and learning the wrong concepts and terminology and that I was not fully prepared for the lab.

We left the lab meeting and my phd student -Varun- showed me around the building, took me to the lab - which is undergoing renovations, and then took me to the new work area where he had taken the time to set up a desk for me with a computer and four large textbooks all about programming in different languages. Our lab area doesn't look very "sciency," but it is a very comfortable working enviornment. We began talking and fortunately, the first thing he said to me was, "the project I presented is not the project you will be working on." This surely calmed my nerves and the more I talked to him, the more comfortable he made me. He made sure that if I needed anything or needed nay help at all, he would aid me in any way possible. He sent me copious emails explaining different parts of his project to me and sent me several articles and power points to read in order that I have a solid understanding of his project.

I read quite a lot about computer networks in general and WiFi network specifically and learned that they are far different than whatever I read about before. Nonetheless, I was very intrigued about how layered computer networks are, and how servers relay messages to clients. My phd student's research centers around creating an algorithm so that when on a WiFi network, the algorithm can effectively select a "feedback node" - essentially a device which can send information back to the server - so that the server can transmit the data better to all the nodes in the network; this is simply a broad and general explanation.

Over the next few days, I spent most of my time reading the papers and powerpoints, and experimenting with ORBIT - a testbed located at Rutgers that has 400 nodes set up. We access ORBIT remotely from Columbia and can upload Varun's algorithm onto the nodes and evaluate how effectively the algorithm is working. Varun spent a great amount of time explaining his project thoroughly to me and in the most basic terms since he knew I didn't have much experience with computer networks before. He courteously answered all my questions, regardless of how time consuming or basic they were drawing vivid diagrams on the white boards. I got to meet an undergraduate student - Josiah - whom I will be working with. He is an undergraduate student studying electrical engineering at North Arizona University. We both bad quite some trouble accessing ORBIT and were trying to problem solve together but to no avail. I worked on it that night when I returned and, unbelievably, I got to show him how to access it! So far, I've been having a great time and have learned so much. Looking forward to the next week!