CSCI 547 COMPUTER NETWORKS PAPER/PROJECT SPECIFICATION

***Read the specification carefully***

Each student is required to do one of the following:

(A) PAPER option

To write a research paper on a topic related to Computer Networks  and data communications

OR

(B) PROJECT option

To write a report on an implementation project of network related software/hardware project

Here is the list of projects from previous semesters(Projects are not limited to the following

topics—if you have an idea, talk to the instructor):

Implementation of an application program using any application layer protocol--such as FTP,

      TELNET, SMTP, SNMP, HTTP… using Socket programming on Windows, Unix, or Linux

Implementation of network management program using SNMP,

Implementation of a function in e-commerce,

CORBA applications,

Implementation of Ethernet Manchester code using logic design

Implementation of wireless communication using existing wireless routers and satellite dishes

Implementation of a Web services which checks for errors in WML

Due date:

The project report & a demo to instructor is due during the instructor's office hours(Office Hours:

Mon 10a-11a, Wed 10a-11a, Fri 10a-11a) on the week of Dec 3(Mon) – Dec 7(Fri), 2007 and Dec 10(Mon) – Dec 14(Fri), 2007. There will be a sign-up sheet for project demo on my office door.

If you selected the Paper option, the papers will be due in-class on Dec 16(Sun), 2007.

Note for remote students: Since you may not be able to demonstrate personally, you need to provide

a step-by-step instructions to run your program and all the necessary modules, set up a web page for

the demonstration, or ...

For a project, you need to develop a written report containing detailed description of the concepts,

program structure, description of program modules, documented program, and a user manual.

Note: Simple copying and Cutting & Pasting of information(from Internet or books or journal articles)

are not permitted.

Write the paper in your own words. You are required to submit your document(for papers and projects)

to Turnitin.com and verify that you did not copy from somewhere.

For the instructions for Turnitin.com, click here! When the papers are graded the Turnitin result will be checked. You can submit up to three times.

SUGGESTED(Not limited to these) TOPICS FOR RESEARCH PAPER

AREA1. NETWORK DESIGN ISSUES

For one or more of the network design issues(listed below), discuss the following topics:

*Definition and description of the issue(s)

*Major problems to be solved

*Various design trade-offs to be considered

*Commonly used approaches and existing examples

*Other related topics

*Conclusions

List of design issues:

*Choice of transmission links and sharing links

*Network Topology

*Flow and congestion control

*Routing

*Security and Privacy

*Error control, Recovery and Reliability problems

*Network Addressing

*Network Management

*Network Infrastructure design

*Distributed processing

*Others

AREA2. STUDY OF EXISTING NETWORKS AND PROTOCOLS

Discuss, in detail, the implementation techniques used in one or more existing computer networks

and their protocols:

*Evolution and basics of a network(ARPA, SNA, DNA, ...Internet)

*IEEE 802 standards--general overview of LAN standards

*Study on Ethernet

*Study on LAN switches(10Mbps Ethernet switches, 100Mbps Ethernet switches...)

*Study on High-speed LANs(100BaseT, 100Base-VG-AnyLAN, Gigabit Ethernet, 10G Ethernet)

*Study on Frame-Relay networks

*Study on any one or more of the high-speed data services

            T1/T3 Carriers

            ATM(Asynchronous Transfer Mode)

            SMDS(Synchronous Multi-megabit Data Service)

            FDDI

            SONET(Synchronous Optical Network)

*Networks using Optical Fibers / FDDI / FDDI  II / SONET / WDM

*Satellite Communication Networks

*Study on ISDN(Integrated Services Digital Network) & BISDN

*Current status of standard protocols in OSI structure

*Internetworking with TCP/IP—general overview of TCP/IP

*Study on "INTERNET"--current status and issues

*Study on networking devices--Repeaters, Bridges, Routers, Protocol converters,...

*Detailed study of any one layer protocol in TCP/IP Architecture

*Study on Internet routing structure

*Case study of an Intranet

*Study on Wireless networks

*Others

AREA3. GENERAL TOPICS

Any valid study on the subjects related to Computer Networks:

*Interconnection of networks(Internetworking)

*Study on standards or standard organizations in networking

*Comparison of Data Link Layer Protocols

*Current status of protocol standards

*Distributed Processing

*Multimedia

*Network security issues

*Data Compression used in Computer Networks

*Comparison of LANs

*Survey of MODEMs

*Others

A research paper is required on an area chosen from the above. The length of the paper should be

in the close range between 15 to 40 double-spaced typed/word-processed pages. Each paper should

also mention the current "activities/status/how the technology is used" in the chosen area.

Each paper should refer at least five references from related publications.

A printed paper along with a soft copy must be handed in before the due date.

LIST OF SUGGESTED REFERENCES

(In random order)

WWW

IEEE Transactions On Communications

IEEE Computer magazine

IEEE Communications magazine

IEEE Network magazine

IEEE Transactions On Information Theory

Proceedings of the IEEE(Special issue--Dec. 1983)

IEEE Journal On Selected Areas In Communications

ACM Computer Communication Review

ACM Computing Survey

Conference Proceedings of IEEE or ACM

IBM Systems Journal

Data Communications magazine

LAN magazine

Faulkner Reports

Byte magazine

Reference list at end of text

Others

Note: Please notify the instructor if you find any other good reference source or any other hot

topic that are not listed above.