Project 2 - Internet Systems Research
Still subject to change...
Final Submission - Due Wednesday, May 9, 2007
For this project, you will form groups of 2 or 3 and select a
research project in the area of Internet Systems Research. You
may select one of the projects suggested below, or you may design
your own. You are encouraged to pursue your own ideas.
However, you must have your idea approved by the instructor before
beginning work. In addition, your idea must (1) be related to
Internet systems; (2) be something new that has not been
done before; and (3) involve a component of evaluation. If your
project does not meet all three criteria, it will not be approved.
Part 1 - Due 9:00pm, Monday March 5, 2007
Submit, via email, a list of your group members and a brief (1
paragraph should be fine) summary of your project. Please look at
the paragraphs on the Project Ideas page below for an example of
an acceptable summary. You are encouraged to speak with the
instructor prior to your submission to verify that your idea is
within the bounds of Internet Systems Research. You do not need
to know the details of your project at this point. However, your
summary should provide evidence that you have an interesting, new
idea that can be implemented and tested in 7 weeks.
Part 2 - Due 5:30pm, Monday March 26, 2007
Submit a hard copy of your formal project proposal. Your proposal will contain (at minimum) the following items:
- An introduction that provides the motivation for your project.
- A summary of at least two related research papers and a description of how your project will differ from the research presented in those papers.
- A clear description of the research you plan to complete. You will outline the design of your system or algorithm, the implementation you will need to complete, the set up of your experiments, and the parameters and metrics you will use for your experiments.
- A specific timeline detailing the days by which you will complete each piece of your research and the team member responsible for completing each item.
There is no page limit for the proposal, though 5 single-spaced pages would be a good target. Here is an outline for your proposal.
Part 3 - Due 5:30pm, Monday April 9, 2007
You are required to schedule a meeting with the instructor during
or before the class period to discuss your progress. You will
present your completed work, discuss whether you are on-track with
respect to your timeline, and summarize what you will complete by
the end of the semester.
Part 4 - Due 5:30pm, Monday April 30, 2007
You are required to give a presentation detailing your work and
results. All students must present by May 9. Each group will
prepare a 30 minute presentation and each member of the group must
contribute to the presentation. The presentation will (at
minimum) provide an overview of your research, detail the design
of your idea or solution, detail your implementation choices,
outline the set up of your experiments, and present your findings.
Additional detail and tips for preparing presentations will be
provided.
Part 5 - Due 5:30pm, Wednesday May 9,2007
Submit all of your completed code and a hard copy of a final paper
outlining your research and results. Your final paper will look
much like the research papers you have read over the course of the
semester. It will likely contain the following sections:
introduction, related work, design, implementation, results,
conclusion. It should focus on how your idea is new and how you
have proven that your idea works. There is no page limit, though
8 single-spaced pages would be a good target. Additional detail
and tips for preparing the paper will be provided.
You can find several project ideas by following the link above.
Note that many of the ideas are vaguely specified. This is
intentional since one of the goals of this project is to encourage
you to explore new ideas and think creatively. However, you
should always feel free to talk with the instructor to help
brainstorm ideas or narrow your project.
Also note that it is possible for more than one team to select
the same project since there are many possible solutions to each
of the problems proposed. However, please talk with the
instructor early and often to ensure that two teams do not
complete identical projects.
Sami Rollins