The M1 program (3rd year in the “cycle polytechnicien”) in Advanced Communication Networks at Ecole Polytechnique is structured into three periods: Period 1 and 2 are dedicated to courses, with Period 3 being a research project, often in form of a “research internship” in an academic or industrial research laboratory.
Period 1+2 consists of a total of 40 ECTS units, spread across 8 scientific courses, a “group project”, human sciences, and language courses. Period 3 also consists of 20 ECTS units.
Each of the scientific course consist of 10 lessons — each lesson consisting of 2h lectures, 2h lab exercises, and students should count on about 4h of indididual studies / homework per lesson.
- Period 1 studies the fundamentals for any computer networking expert, specifically “the architecture, and each layer, of the protocol stack”. Specifically, Period 1 consists of the courses:
- INF557 - Introduction to Concurrent and Communicating System - taught in English. (Thomas Clausen)
- INF553 - Database Management Systems - taught in . (Michalis Vazirgiannis)
- INF559 - Computer Architectures and Operating Systems - taught in English & French. (Francesco Zappa Nardelli)
- INF558A - Introduction to Cryptology - taught in . (Sylvie Putot)
- INF570 - Peer-to-Peer Systems - taught in English. (Dario Rossi)
- Period 2 studies concepts and applications: from understanding “what makes for a successful networking technology”, to understanding how security, mobility, and wireless technology transects and impacts the protocol stack, Period 2 consists of the following courses:
- INF566 - Internet Protocol Success - taught in English. (Mark Townsley & Thomas Clausen)
- INF567 - Advanced Computer Networking - taught in English. (Thomas Clausen)
- INF589 - Queuing Theory, Probability - taught in English. (Sylvie Putot)
- INF586 - Network Security - taught in English. (Julien Cervelle)
- Period 1+2 also contains one, long, group project. Small groups of students work, under supervision of a faculty member, on a project which is either:
- A research project, consisting of the students integrating in the research team of the supervising faculty member, collaborating with, and contributing to the research of that research team, and — ultimately – participating in publication of one (or more) scientific papers.
- A technology maturation project, essentially taking an already well-baked idea (either, developed by the students, or by a research team) and transferring it “from research idea, to potential start-up”. These projects are co-supervised by a computer networking faculty member, and a representative from the Innovation Centre at Ecole Polytechnique.
- Period 3 is entirely dedicated to a research internship – which may happen either in a corporate or academic research laboratory. In both cases, the objective is to participate in a large-scale research project, and the student will be closely followed by both a research tutor (day to day guidance of the research project) and a referent faculty member.