To introduce the fundamental concepts and theory of communications;

To provide a solid understanding of the technologies that support modern networked computer systems;

To introduce low-level network programming concepts, and give students practice with systems programming in C;

To provide our students with the ability to evaluate and advise industry on the use and deployment of networked systems.

Two one-hour lectures and one one-hour tutorial per week.

None

Systems Programming (H) (required)

Operating Systems (H) (recommended and optional).

Examination 80%, Coursework 20%.

Reassessments are normally available for all courses, except those which contribute to the Honours classification. For non Honours courses, students are offered reassessment in all or any of the components of assessment if the satisfactory (threshold) grade for the overall course is not achieved at the first attempt. This is normally grade D3 for undergraduate students and grade C3 for postgraduate students. Exceptionally it may not be possible to offer reassessment of some coursework items, in which case the mark achieved at the first attempt will be counted towards the final course grade. Any such exceptions for this course are described below. 

The coursework cannot be redone because it is impossible to generate an equivalent piece of coursework which replicates the original one because of the follow-up work which was done subsequent to the original submission. The coursework is done as part of a group. The nature of the coursework is such that it takes a significant number of days to produce it and this effort is infeasible for supporting the re-doing of such coursework over the summer.

■ To introduce the fundamental concepts and theory of communications;

■ To provide a solid understanding of the technologies that support modern networked computer systems;

■ To introduce low-level network programming concepts, and give students practice with systems programming in C;

■ To provide our students with the ability to evaluate and advise industry on the use and deployment of networked systems.

By the end of the course students will be able to:

1. Describe and compare capabilities of various communication technologies and techniques;

2. Point out differences between networks of different scale, and how these affect their design;

3. Describe the issues in connecting heterogeneous networks;

4. Describe importance of layering, and the OSI reference model;

5. Detail demands of different applications on quality of service requirements for the underlying communication network;

6. Demonstrate an understanding of the design and operation of an IP network, such as the Internet, and explain the purpose and function of its various components;

7. Write simple low-level communication software, showing awareness of good practice for correct and secure programming.

Students must submit at least 75% by weight of the component (including examinations) of the course's summative assessment.