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 11:55 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 

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 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.

 

COMP8280 is taught via lectures and informal workshop sessions. 

Note:

There are no Hurdles in this unit.

Lectures commence in week 1; workshops commence in week 2.

Methods of Communication 

We will communicate with you via your university email and through announcements on iLearn. Queries to convenors can either be placed on the iLearn discussion board or sent to the unit convenor via the contact email on iLearn

Lectures

Lecture sessions will provide an opportunity for the students to ask questions on the topic of the week and to clarify anything that they might not be sure of. In order for theselectures to be worthwhile, we strongly urge the students to watch the recordings before attending these lectures...

Lecture recordings will be made available through Echo360.

It should be noted that no single text book completely covers the content of this unit. A large portion of the lecture material is drawn from research papers, Industry White Papers and standard documents . Students are encouraged to read the weekly recommended reading list to gain a solid understanding of the topics that are covered.

Quiz

The quiz is an in-class assessment designed as a formative evaluation tool to gauge students’ understanding and comprehension of the unit’s material. It serves to provide both students and instructors with timely feedback on learning progress. The quiz may include various question types such as multiple-choice and true/false questions, allowing for a broad assessment of knowledge.

This quiz accounts for 30% of the total course mark, emphasizing its importance in overall performance. To ensure efficiency and prompt feedback, all quizzes will be automatically graded through the iLearn platform. Students can expect their results to be released on iLearn promptly after completion, facilitating ongoing learning and improvement throughout the course.

Assignments

The assignment is submitted through Turnitin aand students can see Turnitin similarity reports..Results will be released on iLearn in a timely manner, subject to certain acceptable delays such as accommodating special consideration late assessments.

Assignment Release Dates: Both assignments will be released in Week 1.

Assignment 1 (Individual)

This is a Problem solving type assessment task. The purpose of the problem-solving assignment is to help the students to get accustomed to dealing with real world problem situations/issues. It is designed to help students analyse a particular problem and find its best solution.There is no group component to this assignment. This is an individual assignment. Answers will be marked based on technical correctness, completeness, clarity, and relevance..

Assignment 2 (Group)

In this assignment, students will leverage their knowledge of mobile and wireless communication to research and critically analyse relevant literature in the discipline and present conclusions. The assessment also allows students to further develop their team working and professional communication skills.

This assignment has two components: a presentation and a written report. The final mark will be awarded based on two components:

• • In-class presentation (Individual Mark): The presenter(s) should evoke audience participation and lead class discussions with other group members at the end of their presentation.
  • Final Report (Group Mark): Students will receive a group mark for the final report.

The final mark is the sum of the marks obtained in the written and oral (presentation) components. Detailed requirements and the marking criteria for each component are provided next.

Students will form small groups. Each group will prepare a presentation on report content of roughly 10-15 minutes (refer to the assignment specifications for more details). Presentations will be held in weeks 11 and 12.

Report and presentation: Students will be provided with a rubric at the start of the course so that they may work to specified standards.

Late Submission

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.  

In this unit, late submissions will be accepted as follows: 

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

Workshops

Workshops include problem solving and practical hands on sessions. 

The problem solving sessions will be held in the first half  of the unit. These sessions involve informal discussions with your peers and the teaching staff. Each week you will  be given problems to solve prior to the workshop class; preparing solutions is important because it will allow you to discuss the problems effectively with the teaching staff and maximise the feedback you get on your work.

The practical sessions will be held  in the second half of the unit. Theory and practical work reinforce each other. Students through the use of various simulation tools will learn to model various mobile networking technologies and scenarios.

General Notes

In this unit, you should do the following:

• Attend lectures, take notes, ask questions.
• Attend your workshop sessions, seek feedback from the teaching staff on your work.
• Prepare for and strive to do well in the two quizzes
• Read appropriate sections of the text, add to your notes and prepare questions for your lecturer or other teaching staff.
• Work on any assignments that have been released.

 

Required and Recommended Texts

There is no single text book containing material that could address all topics of unit. All necessary reading material and elaborate and detailed notes on lecture topics will be provided by lecturers every week.

Other Useful Books (You need not buy unless you believe you need to own one)

• Aftab Ahmed, Wireless and Mobile Data Networks. John Wiley & Sons 2005. 
• A. Jamalipour, The Wireless Mobile Internet: Protocols, Architectures, and Services, John Wiley & Sons Publishers, Chichester, UK, 2003.
• M.  Grayson, K. Shatzkamer, K. Wierenga Building the Mobile Internet, Cisco Press, 2011

 

Lecture Schedule (Tentative)

Note: We anticipate that there may be some shifting of material depending on class progress during the lecture series.

Week	Topic		Reading
1	Unit Introduction Medium Access Protocols I		Papers
2	Medium Access Protocols II		Papers
3	Wireless LAN  I		Papers
4	Wireless LAN II		Papers
5	Network Layer Mobility	Quiz 1	Papers
6	Introduction to Cellular Networks		Papers
7	LTE and 5G Networks	Assignment 1 Due	Papers
8	Mobile Ad Hoc Networks		Papers
9	Mobile Communications Security		Papers
10	Advanced Topics	Quiz 2	Papers
11	Advanced Topics	Assignment 2 Report due	Papers
12	Presentation
13	Presentation/Guest Lecture

A new simulation tool, NetSim, is being introduced in the workshops.

Grades

At the end of the semester, you will receive a grade that reflects your achievement in the unit

• Fail (F): does not provide evidence of attainment of all learning outcomes. There is missing or partial or superficial or faulty understanding and application of the fundamental concepts in the field of study; and incomplete, confusing or lacking communication of ideas in ways that give little attention to the conventions of the discipline.

• Fail (FH): has obtained a raw mark over 50, yet failed all available attempt of at least one hurdle assessment. 

• Pass (P): provides sufficient evidence of the achievement of learning outcomes. There is demonstration of understanding and application of fundamental concepts of the field of study; and communication of information and ideas adequately in terms of the conventions of the discipline. The learning attainment is considered satisfactory or adequate or competent or capable in relation to the specified outcomes.

• Credit (Cr): provides evidence of learning that goes beyond replication of content knowledge or skills relevant to the learning outcomes. There is demonstration of substantial understanding of fundamental concepts in the field of study and the ability to apply these concepts in a variety of contexts; plus communication of ideas fluently and clearly in terms of the conventions of the discipline.

• Distinction (D): provides evidence of integration and evaluation of critical ideas, principles and theories, distinctive insight and ability in applying relevant skills and concepts in relation to learning outcomes. There is demonstration of frequent originality in defining and analysing issues or problems and providing solutions; and the use of means of communication appropriate to the discipline and the audience.

• High Distinction (HD): provides consistent evidence of deep and critical understanding in relation to the learning outcomes. There is substantial originality and insight in identifying, generating and communicating competing arguments, perspectives or problem solving approaches; critical evaluation of problems, their solutions and their implications; creativity in application.

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 workshop and practical answers.