Data Communication & Network
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Who's teaching you
Dr. Muhammad Ariff Baharudin
Lecturer, Faculty of Electrical Engineering
Room: 05-02-01, Block P19a, FKE
Email: mariff@fke.utm.my
Phone: 019-714 1408
Course coordinator: Dr. Nurul Ashikin Daud
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What this course is about
How data gets from one device to another, and how to design the networks that carry it, taught through a hands-on project.
How data moves
- OSI & TCP/IP layers
- Transmission basics: async vs sync
- Flow & error control (ARQ)
How networks connect
- Transmission media & wireless
- LANs and WANs
- Circuit vs packet switching
How you design one
- Classless IP addressing & subnetting
- A Cisco case study
- Your own design in Packet Tracer
No prerequisite: this is a faculty elective, open to students from different programmes. We also look at network performance and modern ideas such as IoT.
Course learning outcomes
By the end of this course, you will be able to…
Assessed by: Tests · Project
Assessed by: Tests · Project
Assessed by: Assignment · Project
How we'll learn
Active learning
Short activities open and close each session, so you check your understanding as we go.
Reflect
A weekly reflection on e-learning.
Project-based learning
Work on a real network problem, report your progress, write it up and present a working design.
Cisco Packet Tracer
Build and test network designs. Your project lives here.
netacad.com (free account)
15 weeks at a glance
Class: Friday 15:00–17:50, sections 01 & 02 together. Test dates will be announced on e-learning.
How you'll be assessed
There is no final exam. Most of your grade comes from the project.
Tests 30% · Individual assignment 15% · Project 55%
Tests
Test 1 & Test 2, 15% each, 1.5 hours in class
CLO1, CLO2
Individual assignment
A Packet Tracer task you do on your own
CLO3
Project
Progress 20% · Report 20% · Presentation 15%
CLO1, CLO2, CLO3
When in UTM, do as the UTMians do
House rules
Manage your time
Class activities take 5 to 20 minutes.
Reflect every week
Post your weekly reflection on e-learning.
Learn together
Collaborate, ask, and help each other.
Attend at least 80%
Keep your attendance above 80%.
Dress the part
Follow the UTM dress code.
No bonus marks
Every mark comes from the assessments.
Copied work gets zero marks, and may lead to disciplinary action by the Faculty.
- ✓ Work individually, unless a task is explicitly a group activity.
- ✓ Explain what you read in your own words. Short quotes are fine if marked as quotes.
- ✗ Retyping a source and just citing it is not enough.
- ✗ Don't do someone else's work, or lend yours to be copied.
Main references
Kurose & Ross
Computer Networking: A Top-Down Approach
Pearson, 2021
William Stallings
Data and Computer Communications, 10th ed.
Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2013
Behrouz A. Forouzan
Data Communications and Networking
McGraw Hill, 2021