COMP SCI 4192 - Mobile and Wireless Systems Hons

North Terrace Campus - Semester 2 - 2023

This course examines the characteristics of mobile and wireless networks and the impact of these characteristics on the development of software and supporting protocols. Topics covered include: mobile and wireless application design and development environments, middleware support, protocol requirements for ad-hoc and sensor networks, wireless & mobile security vulnerabilities and standards, supporting reliable communication in lossy and intermittently connected networks; challenges and architectures for wireless mobility - 4G networks, Wi-Fi, Wi-Max, Bluetooth, Mobile IP, convergence of voice and data networks.

  • General Course Information
    Course Details
    Course Code COMP SCI 4192
    Course Mobile and Wireless Systems Hons
    Coordinating Unit Computer Science
    Term Semester 2
    Level Undergraduate
    Location/s North Terrace Campus
    Units 3
    Contact Up to 2 hours per week
    Available for Study Abroad and Exchange N
    Prerequisites COMP SCI 2201
    Incompatible COMP SCI 4092
    Assumed Knowledge COMP SCI 3001
    Assessment Written exam and/or assignments
    Course Staff

    Course Coordinator: Associate Professor Damith Ranasinghe

    Course Timetable

    The full timetable of all activities for this course can be accessed from Course Planner.

  • Learning Outcomes
    Course Learning Outcomes
    The learning objectives for Mobile and Wireless Networks are:
    1. To develop the concept of systems thinking in the context of mobile and wireless systems
    2. To develop knowledge of the interplay of concepts and multiple sub-disciplines in mobile and wirless systems
    3. To develop knowledge and experience in mobile interface and applications design, and development techniques and methodologies set in the context of a research project addressing a real-world application
    4. To gain knowledge and experience in applying various computation methods and algorithms as a part of software development
    5. To gain experience in evaluating mobile computing applications, computation methods and algorithms through experiments and simulations
    6. To read and understand scientific research papers and present them in a seminar talk.
    University Graduate Attributes

    This course will provide students with an opportunity to develop the Graduate Attribute(s) specified below:

    University Graduate Attribute Course Learning Outcome(s)

    Attribute 1: Deep discipline knowledge and intellectual breadth

    Graduates have comprehensive knowledge and understanding of their subject area, the ability to engage with different traditions of thought, and the ability to apply their knowledge in practice including in multi-disciplinary or multi-professional contexts.

    1,2,3,4

    Attribute 2: Creative and critical thinking, and problem solving

    Graduates are effective problems-solvers, able to apply critical, creative and evidence-based thinking to conceive innovative responses to future challenges.

    3,5,6

    Attribute 3: Teamwork and communication skills

    Graduates convey ideas and information effectively to a range of audiences for a variety of purposes and contribute in a positive and collaborative manner to achieving common goals.

    6

    Attribute 4: Professionalism and leadership readiness

    Graduates engage in professional behaviour and have the potential to be entrepreneurial and take leadership roles in their chosen occupations or careers and communities.

    2,3,5,6

    Attribute 5: Intercultural and ethical competency

    Graduates are responsible and effective global citizens whose personal values and practices are consistent with their roles as responsible members of society.

    3

    Attribute 8: Self-awareness and emotional intelligence

    Graduates are self-aware and reflective; they are flexible and resilient and have the capacity to accept and give constructive feedback; they act with integrity and take responsibility for their actions.

    3
  • Learning Resources
    Required Resources
    During the course, literature (available online) will be provided as study material.

    While not essential, it is useful to have access to your own personal computing platform.
    Recommended Resources
    "Wireless Internet and Mobile Computing: Interoperability and Performance," Kwok & Lau, Wiley 2007, ISBN 97880847186796884
    This reference book is covers some of the concepts you need to master in this course.

    "20 Recipes for Programming PhoneGap: Cross-Platform Mobile Development for Android and iPhone," Jamie Munro, O'Reilly Media, 2012.

    Additional relevant readings will be indicated by the lecturers.
    Online Learning
    All assessments and course materials are located on the Canvas (MyUni) site. All the communications will use Slack (developed for professional and organizational communications). Students are expected to check the Canvas on a regular basis for content, tasks and assessments relating to the course.
  • Learning & Teaching Activities
    Learning & Teaching Modes
    The course aims to introduce students to a range of Mobile and Wireless Network technology, research challenges, real-world application areas and systems thinking. The concepts will be studied through readings followed by discussions in small groups. The concepts will be practiced and reinforced by participation a research project and seminar presentations with a written research paper.

    Workload

    The information below is provided as a guide to assist students in engaging appropriately with the course requirements.

    The information below is provided as a guide to assist students in engaging appropriately with the course requirements.

    Mobile and Wireless Networks is a 3 unit course. The expectation is that students will be spending 12 hours per week working on the course. Two to three of those hours are contact hours; the remainder of the time should be spent working on research and assessment tasks.
    Learning Activities Summary
    A selection of these following topics will be covered in this course based on student project choice:
    1. Mobile and wireless interface and application design and development
    2. Ad-hoc and wireless sensor networks
    3. Security and privacy
    4. Internet of Things
    5. m-health
    6. Tracking and localisation
    Specific Course Requirements
    Students must also obtain at least 50% of the total marks to pass the course.

    The course relies on a body of assumed knowlege obtained through a Computer Science major in an Undergraduate Program.

    • Proficiency in a high level programming lanuage like Java
    • Software testing, ability to debug code and understand the process of finding software bugs fnd fixing them.
    • Completed a course in computer networks with socket programming
    • Completed a course in distributed system
    • Completed a course covering computer and network security fundamentals
  • Assessment

    The University's policy on Assessment for Coursework Programs is based on the following four principles:

    1. Assessment must encourage and reinforce learning.
    2. Assessment must enable robust and fair judgements about student performance.
    3. Assessment practices must be fair and equitable to students and give them the opportunity to demonstrate what they have learned.
    4. Assessment must maintain academic standards.

    Assessment Summary
    Assessment Task Weighting (%) Individual/ Group Formative/ Summative
    Due (week)*
    Hurdle criteria Learning outcomes CBOK Alignment**
    Group project work (background study, methodology, experiments and results, demonstration or simulation)  35 Group Formative Week 3
    Week 12
    1. 2. 3. 4. 5, 6 1.1 1.2 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 3.1 3.2 3.3 4.2 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4
    Seminar presentation of progress, on-going paper reviews, participation and discussions in group meetings 40 Individual Formative Weeks 1-12 2. 3. 4. 5, 6 1.1 1.2 3.1 3.2 3.3 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 
    Written report in the format of a research paper 25 Individual Summative Weeks 13 1. 2. 3. 4. 5 1.1 1.2 2.5 3.1 3.2 3.3 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 
    Total 100
    * The specific due date for each assessment task will be available on MyUni.
     
    This assessment breakdown complies with the University's Assessment for Coursework Programs Policy.

    **CBOK is the Core Body of Knowledge for ICT Professionals defined by the Australian Computer Society. The alignment in the table above corresponds with the following CBOK Areas:

    1. Problem Solving
    1.1 Abstraction
    1.2 Design

    2. Professional Knowledge
    2.1 Ethics
    2.2 Professional expectations
    2.3 Teamwork concepts & issues
    2.4 Interpersonal communications
    2.5 Societal issues
    2.6 Understanding of ICT profession

    3. Technology resources
    3.1 Hardware & Software
    3.2 Data & information
    3.3 Networking

    4. Technology Building
    4.1 Programming
    4.2 Human factors
    4.3 Systems development
    4.4 Systems acquisition

    5.  ICT Management
    5.1 IT governance & organisational
    5.2 IT project management
    5.3 Service management 
    5.4 Security management

    Assessment Related Requirements
    Students will need to attend weekly lecture times as these time slots are used for the presentations and project group meetings with supervisors.
    Assessment Detail
    Project

    A project description and related study material is provided for each project. In general the following apply. Work fulfilling aim of the project and developing a demonstrator or simulation to showcase results should include a single parent directory with the following contents:

    • All source code (and comments)
    • All configuration files
    • Documentation including installation and running instructions which contains a brief description of how the program can be run (including commands to compile and run programs with different parameters where applicable)
    • Students must be able to explain their solutions to the project supervisors
    Any material submitted must either be your own work, or where based on other ideas or work a specific acknowledgment has to be made. For example: “the following code was sourced from…” or “the following function is based on…” unless you are using the methods provided in a third party module or a library. Where sources are not acknowledged you may be deemed guilty of plagiarism. These acknowledgements should be placed in the code that you have submitted.

    The project is a group project but individual group members must identify and be able to explain their individual contributions. These should be annotated clearly in the code and in any documentation.

    Written assessment tasks

    Documents submitted should include as the first page a coversheet or title page containing only the report title and submission date followed by the student’s name (or students' names as appropriate) and university id number. All references should be acknowledged and it is encouraged to refer to many sources; in addition, any material referred to should not be copied word for word unless placed in quotation marks. The format of this document should follow guidelines placed on the course website.

    Provision of feedback to students

    Feedback on your progress will be provided at weekly meetings, assignment marks, feedback and comments during Q&A following presentations and comments on students work for written/presented/demonstrated assignments. Requests for further explanations, or to ask for an assignment to be remarked an email should be sent to your course co-ordinator.

    Extensions for assessment tasks

    In general, extensions will not be given because the tasks are culminations of incremental progress made each week and demonstrated weekly. Students who have suffered illness or been hindered in some other way should still hand in what they have done by the due date. They should then lodge a written request (supported by documentary evidence) for special circumstances to be taken into account.

    Penalty for late submission

    All late submissions except the research report  will receive a mark of zero. The research paper has a 3 day grace period to submit without penalty.
    Submission
    All submissions are made via the course's moodle page (the research report should be in PDF format). Project code are submitted via GitHub.
    Course Grading

    Grades for your performance in this course will be awarded in accordance with the following scheme:

    M11 (Honours Mark Scheme)
    GradeGrade reflects following criteria for allocation of gradeReported on Official Transcript
    Fail A mark between 1-49 F
    Third Class A mark between 50-59 3
    Second Class Div B A mark between 60-69 2B
    Second Class Div A A mark between 70-79 2A
    First Class A mark between 80-100 1
    Result Pending An interim result RP
    Continuing Continuing CN

    Further details of the grades/results can be obtained from Examinations.

    Grade Descriptors are available which provide a general guide to the standard of work that is expected at each grade level. More information at Assessment for Coursework Programs.

    Final results for this course will be made available through Access Adelaide.

  • Student Feedback

    The University places a high priority on approaches to learning and teaching that enhance the student experience. Feedback is sought from students in a variety of ways including on-going engagement with staff, the use of online discussion boards and the use of Student Experience of Learning and Teaching (SELT) surveys as well as GOS surveys and Program reviews.

    SELTs are an important source of information to inform individual teaching practice, decisions about teaching duties, and course and program curriculum design. They enable the University to assess how effectively its learning environments and teaching practices facilitate student engagement and learning outcomes. Under the current SELT Policy (http://www.adelaide.edu.au/policies/101/) course SELTs are mandated and must be conducted at the conclusion of each term/semester/trimester for every course offering. Feedback on issues raised through course SELT surveys is made available to enrolled students through various resources (e.g. MyUni). In addition aggregated course SELT data is available.

  • Student Support
  • Policies & Guidelines
  • Fraud Awareness

    Students are reminded that in order to maintain the academic integrity of all programs and courses, the university has a zero-tolerance approach to students offering money or significant value goods or services to any staff member who is involved in their teaching or assessment. Students offering lecturers or tutors or professional staff anything more than a small token of appreciation is totally unacceptable, in any circumstances. Staff members are obliged to report all such incidents to their supervisor/manager, who will refer them for action under the university's student’s disciplinary procedures.

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