Last updated on Sunday, October 2, 2005 9:12 PM

Description
  • Students are to form teams of 4-5 members each. I will choose teams randomly at the beginning of the class. You will be responsible for completing the work if some member drops the class. Team work is one major thing one needs to learn in Computer Science.
  • By the end of the second week, each team discusses with me (in person or via emails) and registers for 1 or 2 research topics. You will choose 1 of them only. A preliminary website for the research project is to be constructed. Be thoughrough in constructing the website. You should put in there relevant links, related papers, 2 to 3 recommended papers on the topic. Later on, all presentations and reports must also be available on the webpage.
  • A list of suggested research topics are provided below. Feel free to choose a topic on your own and discuss it with me. One possible method to select a topic and collect relevant materials is to survey related papers of the last 4 years in top conferences and journals in networking/security. Very often those papers will give you hints on open research directions!
  • The research can take several forms:
    • A comprehensive (and comparative) study of something (e.g. routing protocols, location management, security solutions, etc.). Meaningful conclusions/lessons must be drawn from the study.
    • A new and better solution to a known problem. "Better" may mean experimentally or analytically.
    • Identify a new problem and propose a solution. You must motivate this kind of problem well. The problem and solution could be mathematical/analytical or experimental or a solid combination of the two.
  • By Sep 30, submit a 5-page research proposal. By this time, you have to chose 1 topic. Remember to list 2, 3 representative papers on the topic, preferrably survey-type of papers. The proposal should roughly contain the following items:
    • Problem statement
    • Motivation: Why is the problem interesting? Why is the problem important? Why is the problem difficult?
    • Brief literature review (does not have to be complete, but it has to show how much you've read)
    • Outline of (a few) possible approaches you will take, tools to be used, methodologies, etc. Why/how is your approach new?
    • Your plan of attack: milestones, division of work, etc.
    • Any other resources you might need.
  • By Oct 24, each team makes a 15-minute presentation on the progress of your research project. Submit a 5-page progress report. The progress report will be part of your final report.
  • By week 14 and 15, teams will make 50 minute final presentations on the results of your research.
  • By Dec 12, submit the final research report. It should not exceed 12 pages of 11pt font.
  • All your reports must be done in Latex. [I will provide a sample Latex article later]
Helpful links for the term project
Suggestive topics/readings


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