Note: This unit version is currently under review and is subject to change!
ELEC3506: Data Communications and the Internet (2016 - Semester 2)
|Unit:||ELEC3506: Data Communications and the Internet (6 CP)|
|Faculty/School:||School of Electrical & Information Engineering|
Prof Xu, Dong
|Session options:||Semester 2|
|Versions for this Unit:|
|Site(s) for this Unit:||
|Brief Handbook Description:||Students undertaking this unit should be familiar with fundamental digital technologies and representations such as bit complement and internal word representation. Students should also have a basic understanding of the physical properties of communication channels, techniques and limitations. Furthermore, students should be able to apply fundamental mathematical skills.
The unit will cover the following specific material: Communication reference models (TCP/IP and OSI). Circuit switched and packet switched communication. Network node functions and building blocks. LAN, MAN, WAN, WLAN technologies. Protocols fundamental mechanisms. The TCP/IP core protocols (IP, ICMP, DHCP, ARP, TCP, UDP etc.). Applications and protocols (FTP, Telnet, SMTP, HTTP etc.), Network Management and Security.
|T&L Activities:||Laboratory: The labs are designed to greatly deepen students` understanding of network protocols by seeing them in action. The labs cover various layers of internet protocols and give students the opportunity to observe the sequence of messages exchanged between two protocol entities and even to try different parameters in some protocols and watch the effects.
Tutorial: Tutorials are designed to help student understand the materials from the lectures as well as the textbook.
Independent Study: The introductory nature of this UoS means that students will encounter various pieces of knowledge in networking areas. Therefore, independent study is essential for a success completion.
Attributes listed here represent the key course goals (see Course Map tab) designated for this unit. The list below describes how these attributes are developed through practice in the unit. See Learning Outcomes and Assessment tabs for details of how these attributes are assessed.
|Attribute Development Method||Attribute Developed|
|The tutorials and laboratories are prepared to encourage ability of problem formulation and solving. The examinations are also taking design and problem solving as one of the major assessment elements.||Design (Level 3)|
|Specialised skills in data communications will be developed during the T&L process. Key concepts in data communications and networking will be introduced and the state-of-art techniques studied.||Engineering/IT Specialisation (Level 3)|
|Intermediate level of mathematics are involved in the T&L process of this UoS in order to understand different network protocols and algorithms.||Maths/Science Methods and Tools (Level 3)|
|Different network analytical tools will be used in the laboratories and students need to conduct tests and experiments and perform analysis to the observations based on the theory learned from the text.||Information Seeking (Level 2)|
|Laboratory reports are assessed with clarity, conciseness, accuracy and persuasiveness as the main assessment elements. The open questions in the examinations also assess the ability of effective communications.||Communication (Level 2)|
|Team work in pairs in the laboratories.||Project and Team Skills (Level 2)|
For explanation of attributes and levels see Engineering & IT Graduate Outcomes Table.
Learning outcomes are the key abilities and knowledge that will be assessed in this unit. They are listed according to the course goal supported by each. See Assessment Tab for details how each outcome is assessed.Design (Level 3)
Individual Lab Reports – 28% (4 labs * 7 marks each = 28 Marks)
Tutorial Attendance – 7% (attending 7 tutorials (out of 8) * 1 mark each = 7 Marks)
Final Exam - 65%
Late submission for lab reports: 1) There is no penalty for submissions until 11:59pm of the due day; 2) For submissions that are late than 11:59 of the due day, 15% penalty will be applied for each day. Submissions that are late for one week will be given ZERO marks.
The University has authorised and mandated the use of text-based similarity detecting software for all text-based written assignments
|Policies & Procedures:||See the policies page of the faculty website at http://sydney.edu.au/engineering/student-policies/ for information regarding university policies and local provisions and procedures within the Faculty of Engineering and Information Technologies.|
Note: Students are expected to have a personal copy of all books listed.
|Online Course Content:||https://elearning.sydney.edu.au/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp|
Note that the "Weeks" referred to in this Schedule are those of the official university semester calendar https://web.timetable.usyd.edu.au/calendar.jsp
|Week 1||Background and preview: an introduction to the Internet|
|Week 2||Physical layer|
|Week 3||Data link layer|
|Week 4||Media Access Control and Wired LAN Standards|
|Week 5||Network Layer 1|
|Week 6||Network Layer 2|
|Week 7||Transport Layer|
|Week 8||Application Layer|
|Week 9||WAN Technologies|
|Week 10||QoS in IP Networks|
|Week 11||Wireless Networks|
|Week 12||Mobile IP and Network Security|
|Exam Period||Assessment Due: Final Exam|
The following is a list of courses which have added this Unit to their structure.
This unit contributes to the achievement of the following course goals:
|Design (Level 3)||Yes||23.25%|
|Engineering/IT Specialisation (Level 3)||Yes||46.5%|
|Maths/Science Methods and Tools (Level 3)||Yes||17.65%|
|Information Seeking (Level 2)||Yes||0%|
|Communication (Level 2)||Yes||7%|
|Project and Team Skills (Level 2)||Yes||5.6%|
These goals are selected from Engineering & IT Graduate Outcomes Table which defines overall goals for courses where this unit is primarily offered. See Engineering & IT Graduate Outcomes Table for details of the attributes and levels to be developed in the course as a whole. Percentage figures alongside each course goal provide a rough indication of their relative weighting in assessment for this unit. Note that not all goals are necessarily part of assessment. Some may be more about practice activity. See Learning outcomes for details of what is assessed in relation to each goal and Assessment for details of how the outcome is assessed. See Attributes for details of practice provided for each goal.