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2022/23 Taught Postgraduate Module Catalogue

ELEC5461M High Speed Internet Architecture

15 creditsClass Size: 60

Module manager: Dr. Lotfi Mhamdi
Email: l.mhamdi@leeds.ac.uk

Taught: Semester 2 (Jan to Jun) View Timetable

Year running 2022/23

This module is not approved as an Elective

Objectives

High performance routers are needed to support the development and delivery of advanced network services over high-speed Internet. Routers and switches are the key building blocks of the Internet, and consequently, the capability of the Internet in all its aspects depends on the capability of its switches and routers. The goal of this module is to provide a basis for understanding, appreciating, and performing practical research and development in networking with a special emphasis on Internet routers and switches. It covers topics on the design, analysis and performance evaluation of a wide range of network architectures, switches and Internet routers. Students will learn the architectural evolution of routers and switches, analyse their performance and hardware cost and gain insights to their limitations.

Learning outcomes
On completion of this module students should be able to:

1. Discuss the architecture, operation and evolution of the Internet infrastructure, switches and routers.
2. Design and analyse a broad range of switching architectures at the software level as well as the hardware level.
3. Explain the advantages and limitations of existing Internet routers and switches architectures.
4. Evaluate the performance (both system level and hardware level) and cost of a broad range of routers architectures and interconnection components.


Syllabus

Topics may include, but are not limited to:

Survey of the state of the art in High-performance Internet routers and switches
Issues involved in designing switches and routers and their architectural trade-offs including protocols, architectures, algorithms, and performance evaluation
Routers' architectures including single and multi-stage switches, input-queued switches, combined input and output queuing, shared memory switches etc
And their scheduling algorithms and hardware design
Performance evaluation of these architectures, how they provide performance guarantees, assessing their hardware cost and feasibility
Refer to some commercial products and relate them to what we cover in the module
Survey of Data centres infrastructure

Teaching methods

Delivery typeNumberLength hoursStudent hours
Laboratory102.0020.00
Lecture51.005.00
Private study hours125.00
Total Contact hours25.00
Total hours (100hr per 10 credits)150.00

Private study

Students are expected to use private study time to consolidate their understanding of course materials, to undertake preparatory work for seminars, workshops, tutorials, examples classes and practical classes, and also to prepare for in-course and summative assessments.


Opportunities for Formative Feedback

Students studying ELEC modules will receive formative feedback in a variety of ways, including the use of self-test quizzes on Minerva, practice questions/worked examples and (where appropriate) through verbal interaction with teaching staff and/or post-graduate demonstrators.

Methods of assessment


Coursework
Assessment typeNotes% of formal assessment
In-course AssessmentProject Report30.00
Total percentage (Assessment Coursework)30.00

Resits for ELEC and XJEL modules are subject to the School's Resit Policy and the Code of Practice on Assessment (CoPA), which are available on Minerva. Students should be aware that, for some modules, a resit may only be conducted on an internal basis (with tuition) in the next academic session.


Exams
Exam typeExam duration% of formal assessment
Standard exam (closed essays, MCQs etc)2 hr 00 mins70.00
Total percentage (Assessment Exams)70.00

Resits for ELEC and XJEL modules are subject to the School's Resit Policy and the Code of Practice on Assessment (CoPA), which are available on Minerva. Students should be aware that, for some modules, a resit may only be conducted on an internal basis (with tuition) in the next academic session.

Reading list

There is no reading list for this module

Last updated: 03/05/2022 14:36:20

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