This MSc (Communication Software and Networks) programme equips graduates with essential software engineering techniques and in-depth understanding of computer networks for design and development of communication software and network systems. It integrates classroom lectures with software development, programming practice, and project management to provide graduates with ready-competencies and skill-sets for careers in the Information Communication industry.

The programme offers 2 distinct study options to match student’s career aspirations. Those opt for the “Coursework with Dissertation” option will benefit from the experience in conducting and writing up a dissertation on a research topic, while those in the “Coursework Only” option will gain the experience in developing and managing a group software project. These options prepare individual students for careers in application and software development, technical and specialist support, top and middle management, consultancy, education, and research in information communication.

Curricular Structure

All students are required to take 4 core subjects and 4 elective subjects. Each subject consists of 39 hours of lectures and is assigned 3 Academic Units (AU). The list of subjects offered in AY2005/2006 is given below.

Subjects
Core Subjects (Compulsory)

EE6108 Computer Networks

Network protocols and services. Transport protocols and services. Local area networks. Wide area networks and internetworking. Broadband and Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) networks.

EE6703 Multimedia Networking

Introduction to multimedia networks. Quality of service and traffic characteristics. Traffic scheduling. Multicasting mechanisms. Resource reservation. Multimedia communication protocols. Networked multimedia applications issues.

EE6701 Software Requirements Analysis and Design

Overview of software engineering. Object-oriented modelling concepts. Object modelling. Dynamic modelling. Functional modelling. System design. Object design. Object-oriented methodology and tools.

EE6711 Object-Oriented Software Development

Software development platform, language and environment. Object-Oriented implementation in C++. Object-Oriented implementation in JAVA. Distributed Object-Oriented programming. Comparative study of Object-Oriented programming languages. Software reuse.

Elective Subjects (Select 4 subjects)

EE6104 Network Performance Analysis

Review of probability theory and graph theory. Queuing theory. Networks of queues. Flow and congestion control. Routing-flow allocation. Controlled and random access techniques in data networks. Performance analysis of circuit switching.

EE6125 Network Planning and Management

Network performance issues. Network simulation and optimisation. Network operations, control and maintenance. Network administration. Network management database and tools. Capacity planning. Network security and integrity.

EE6127 Wireless Networking

Overview of wireless network protocols. Signaling protocols in wireless networks. Mobile access control protocols in wireless networks. Protocol design strategy for wireless networks and case study. Emerging technologies for wireless networks.

EE6205 Real Time and Embedded Systems

Fundamentals of real time and embedded systems. Real time operating systems. Design methodologies. Development, debugging tools and programming languages. Reliability. Case studies and applications.

EE6403 Distributed Multimedia Systems

Media and Media Systems. Multimedia Storage. Media Processing and Application. Media Transmission and Delivery. Quality of Service on Distributed Multimedia Systems. Multimedia Applications.

EE6713 Network Design and Simulation

Introduction to network design. Approaches to network design. Topological network design. Network reliability. Network design simulation. Data analysis.

EE6715 Network Traffic Engineering

Internet architectures, service models and network layer protocols. User services and source traffic models. Traffic measurement, estimation and forecasting. Performance analysis and simulation tools. Traffic control and resource management.

EE6731 Network Programming