Unit Guide

General Information

Unit convenor and teaching staff	Unit convenor and teaching staff Unit Convenor & Lecturer Rajan Shankaran rajan.shankaran@mq.edu.au Room 285, 4RPD Unit Convenor & Lecturer Yan Li y.li@mq.edu.au Room 353, 4RPD
Credit points	Credit points 10
Prerequisites	Prerequisites 130cp at 1000 level or above including ((COMP1010 or COMP125) and (COMP2250 or COMP247)) and ((DMTH137 or MATH1007 or MATH2907 or DMTH237 or ELEC2040 or ELEC240))
Corequisites	Corequisites
Co-badged status	Co-badged status
Unit description	Unit description This unit gives an understanding of advanced topics in the design and implementation of computer networks. It provides an in-depth understanding of key protocols of the TCP/IP protocol suite, and its relationship to emerging technologies. This unit allows students to develop knowledge and expertise in key areas such as intra- and inter-domain routing protocols, multicast protocols, different transport protocols, Quality of Service, and multimedia. These concepts are reinforced through lecture and practical sessions. Knowledge gained during the unit builds upon communication protocols; topological designs; wide area and local area networks; wireless/mobile networks; as well as practical hands-on skills on Cisco equipment. It allows students to expand their skill set by exposure to socket programming paradigm enabling them to better understand the design and implementation of protocols. Some of the reasoning tasks that the students complete require focused thinking instead of iteratively modifying and testing a program. It also enhances students' skills in critical thinking and problem solving using challenging assignments.

Important Academic Dates

Information about important academic dates including deadlines for withdrawing from units are available at https://www.mq.edu.au/study/calendar-of-dates

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

ULO1: Demonstrate an understanding of advanced knowledge in networking (especially in Internet technologies) and be able to communicate this knowledge to wider audience
ULO2: Design TCP/IP based networks and protocols and to integrate such networks with other networking technologies
ULO3: Have a working knowledge of practical advanced networking and write professional documentation
ULO4: Demonstrate an understanding of security issues in computer networking.
ULO5: Engage in independent professional work with a high level of autonomy and accountability.

General Assessment Information

General Notes

In this unit, you should do the following:

• Attend lectures, take notes, ask questions.

• Attend your tutorial/practical, seek feedback from your lecturer on your work.

• Prepare for and strive to do well in the quizzes

• Read appropriate sections of the text, add to your notes and prepare questions for your lecturer/tutor.

• Prepare answers to tutorial questions.

• Work on any assignments that have been released.

Please note it is to your benefit to attend most of the classes, prepared to participate in discussions, ask and answer questions, and provide perspectives from your own background and workplaces. Resources to assist your learning Digital recordings of lectures are available as Echo360 through iLearn login. These are provided for review material and in case of missing lectures. Recordings should not be relied upon and copyrighted material may be omitted. iLearn is used for out-of-class communication as well as forums where active discussion of issues is encouraged. iLearn can be found at can be found at http://learn.mq.edu.au. You are encouraged to review iLearn weekly and to do background reading before each class.

Special Consideration

The Special Consideration Policy aims to support students who have been impacted by short-term circumstances or events that are serious, unavoidable and significantly disruptive, and which may affect their performance in assessment. If you experience circumstances or events that affect your ability to complete the assessments in this unit on time, please inform the convenor and submit a Special Consideration request through ask.mq.edu.au.

Written Assessments: If you experience circumstances or events that affect your ability to complete the written assessments in this unit on time, please inform the convenor and submit a Special Consideration request through ask.mq.edu.au.

Note that for workshops, a Special Consideration should only be applied for if you miss three or more than three of the weekly practical classes.

Requirements to Pass this unit

In this unit, the final mark will be calculated by combining the marks for all assessment tasks according to the percentage weightings shown in the assessment summary. There are no hurdles in this unit.

Concretely, in order to pass the unit, you must obtain an overall total mark of 50% or higher. Students obtaining a higher grade than a pass in this unit will (in addition to the above)

• have a total mark of 85% or higher to obtain High Distinction;

◦ have a total mark of 75% or higher to obtain Distinction;

◦ have a total mark of 65% or higher to obtain Credit.

You are encouraged to:

• set your personal deadline earlier than the actual one;

• keep backups of all important assessed tasks;.

• make sure no one else picks up your printouts. All work submitted should be readable and well presented.

You should never commit plagiarism in any of your submitted work, including tutorial and practical answers.

Assignment Submission Guidelines and Late Submission

Your assignment is to be submitted online using Turnitin.

Online quizzes, in-class activities, or scheduled tests and exam must be undertaken at the time indicated in the unit guide. Should these activities be missed due to illness or misadventure, students may apply for Special Consideration.

All other assessments must be submitted by 5:00 pm on their due date.

Should these assessments be missed due to illness or misadventure, students should apply for Special Consideration.

Late Assessment Submission Penalty

From 1 July 2022, Students enrolled in Session based units with written assessments will have the following late penalty applied. Please see https://students.mq.edu.au/study/assessment-exams/assessments for more information.

Unless a Special Consideration request has been submitted and approved, a 5% penalty (of the total possible mark of the task) will be applied for each day a written report or presentation assessment is not submitted, up until the 7th day (including weekends). After the 7th day, a grade of ‘0’ will be awarded even if the assessment is submitted. The submission time for all uploaded assessments is 11:55 pm. A 1-hour grace period will be provided to students who experience a technical concern. For any late submission of time-sensitive tasks, such as scheduled tests/exams, performance assessments/presentations, and/or scheduled practical assessments/labs, please apply for Special Consideration.For example, if the assignment is worth 8 marks (of the entire unit) and your submission is late by 19 hours (or 23 hours 59 minutes 59 seconds), 0.4 marks (5% of 8 marks) will be deducted. If your submission is late by 24 hours (or 47 hours 59 minutes 59 seconds), 0.8 marks (10% of 8 marks) will be deducted, and so on.

In this unit, late submissions will be accepted for the following assessment tasks::

Quiz 1: NO, unless Special Consideration is granted
Quiz 2: NO, unless Special Consideration is granted
Assignment 1: YES, Standard Late Penalty applies
Assignment 2: YES, Standard Late Penalty applies
Final Exam: NO, unless Special Consideration is granted.

Methods of Communication

Our primary means of communication will be through your university email and announcements on iLearn. It is crucial to consistently check your university's email for important updates and information related to the course. The teaching staff will not entertain emails that do not originate from university email IDs.

Additionally, significant announcements will be posted on iLearn, a centralized platform for accessing vital details about the course. Should you have any queries or require assistance from the teaching staff, including the unit convenor, you have two communication channels. Firstly, you can post your queries on the iLearn discussion board, providing an interactive space for instructors and peers to engage in discussions. Alternatively, you may send emails to the corresponding addresses of the teaching staff using your university email address for official communication. Through these communication methods, we aim to ensure effective and timely dissemination of information and provide the necessary support throughout the course.

Assessment Tasks

Name	Weighting	Hurdle	Due
Practicals	10%	No	Weeks 2 - 11, Catchup: weeks 12, 13
Quizzes: On Campus	20%	No	Week 5 & Week 11 in workshops
Assignment 1	15%	No	11:55 pm on Friday ending Week 8
Assignment 2	15%	No	11:55 pm on Friday ending Week 12
Final Examination	40%	No	Exam Period

Practicals

Assessment Type ¹: Practice-based task
Indicative Time on Task ²: 10 hours
Due: Weeks 2 - 11, Catchup: weeks 12, 13
Weighting: 10%

Practical marks are obtained by attendance of practical sessions and making a suitable attempt at the practical work during the session. To receive your marks you must attend the practical section and demonstrate your completion of the section to your practical supervisor. Earning the marks will require not only successful completion of the exercises, but presentation of appropriate documentation, as outlined in the question sheets. You should complete the practical session in the week it is allocated. (and the practical material is structured against the lecture material with this in mind).

Note: We advise you to complete all sections to gain a good understanding of the covered topics.