| Course Code | COMP9334 |
| Course Title | Capacity Planning of Computer Systems and Networks |
| Units of Credit | 6 |
| Course Website | http://cse.unsw.edu.au/~cs9334 |
| Handbook Entry | http://www.handbook.unsw.edu.au/postgraduate/courses/current/COMP9334.html |
We live in a world that events do not happen instantly. It takes a certain amount of time to download a video from a server to your own mobile device. It takes a certain amount of time for a computer to finish the execution of an algorithm. The time to completion (or response time in performance analysis terminology) is a performance metric that computer scientists and computer engineers should be concerned about because no one wants to wait unnecessarily. If you can understand the factors that determine the response time, then you can influence those factors so that the response time is acceptable. This course will take a mathematical modelling and analytical approach to understand response time in computer systems and networks. The primary goal is to explore how mathematical modelling and mathematical methods can be used to model, analyse and design computer systems and networks so that they have good performance. There are three major topics that will be covered by this course:
The course timetable is available here .
Students will learn about mathematical modelling and analysis of response time in computer systems and networks. These topics will be covered
On completion of this course, the students will have developed:
This course contributes to the development of the following graduate capabilities:
| Graduate Capability | Acquired in |
| scholarship: understanding of their discipline in its interdisciplinary context | lectures, assignment, project |
| scholarship: capable of independent and collaborative enquiry |
lectures, assignment, project
|
| scholarship: rigorous in their analysis, critique, and reflection |
lectures, assignment, project
|
| scholarship: able to apply their knowledge and skills to solving problems |
lectures, assignment, project
|
| scholarship: ethical practitioners | ? |
| scholarship: capable of effective communication | assignment, project |
| scholarship: information literate | ? |
| scholarship: digitally literate |
assignment, project
|
| leadership: enterprising, innovative and creative | project |
| leadership: capable of initiating as well as embracing change | ? |
| leadership: collaborative team workers | ? |
| professionalism: capable of independent, self-directed practice | project |
| professionalism: capable of lifelong learning | project |
| professionalism: capable of operating within an agreed Code of Practice | ? |
| global citizens: capable of applying their discipline in local, national and international contexts | ? |
| global citizens: culturally aware and capable of respecting diversity and acting in socially just/responsible ways | ? |
| global citizens: capable of environmental responsibility | ? |
Before commencing this course, students should:
Learning will be largely facilitated through the delivery of lectures. The sample problems and assignment will help in the development of problem-solving skills. The project will help the students to apply what they have learnt to solve problems.
| Assessments | Details | Weighting |
| Assignment 1 |
Available Week 2
Due 11:59pm Monday 4 April 2016 Submissions accepted up to 3 days late. |
5 |
| Assignment 2 |
Available Week 4
Due 11:59pm Tuesday 26 April 2016 Submissions accepted up to 6 days late. |
10 |
| Project |
Due 11:59pm Sunday 22 May 2016
Submissions accepted up to 6 days late. |
20 |
| Final exam | 65 |
The assessments are organised into 2 assessment components.
The final mark will be computed using the a weighted harmonic mean, according to:
Late submission of assignments : Assignments submitted late are subject to the following penalty: the maximum mark obtainable reduces by 10% per day late. Thus if the assignment is marked out of 10, and students A and B hand in assignments worth 9 and 7, both two days late, then the maximum mark obtainable is 8, so A gets min(9, 8) = 8 and B gets min(7,8) = 7.
Project: You may be asked to demonstrate the work from your project. If this is the case, it will be specified at the time when the project specification document is issued.
Interview: You may be asked to attend interviews for your assignment or project. You will be notified if this is the case.
Supplementary Assessment: CSE policy available here .
Plagiarism is defined as using the words or ideas of others and presenting them as your own . UNSW and CSE treat plagiarism as academic misconduct, which means that it carries penalties as severe as being excluded from further study at UNSW. There are several on-line sources to help you understand what plagiarism is and how it is dealt with at UNSW:
Make sure that you read and understand these. Ignorance is not accepted as an excuse for plagiarism.
The following table lists the tentative schedule. Students will be informed of any changes during the lecture and by announcements on the notice page.
For the three lecture hours, we have two possible format:
The format given in the table below is only a guide. The format may vary from what's stated below.
| Week | Date | Lecture topic |
Format
|
Assessments |
| 1 | 4 Mar | Introduction to capacity planning and queueing Networks | 3 hr | |
| 2 | 11 Mar | Operational analysis and workload characterisation | 3 hr | |
| 3 | 18 Mar | Markov model | 2+1 | |
| 4 | 25 Mar | Good Friday. Public holiday. No lecture. | ||
|
Session
break |
1 Apr | (Make-up lecture). Single server queue | 2+1 | |
| 5 | 8 Apr | Multi-server queue and queueing discipline | 2+1 |
Assignment 1 due
4 April 2016 |
| 6 | 15 Apr | Lecturer away. No lecture. | ||
| 7 | 22 Apr | Discrete event simulation (1) | 2+1 | |
| 8 | 29 Apr | Discrete event simulation (2) | 2+1 |
Assignment 2 due
26 April 2016 |
| 9 | 6 May | Advanced topic in queueing theory and applications | 2+1 | |
| 10 | 13 May | Optimisation and network planning (1) | 3 hr | |
| 11 | 20 May | Optimisation and network planning (2) | 2+1 | |
| 12 | 27 May | Optimisation and network planning (3). Revision. | 2+1 |
Project due
22 May 2016 |
Textbook: There is no single text book. Please refer to lecture notes for references.
A number of lectures are based on
Reference Texts:
Other Resources: Lecture materials may also be drawn from journal papers, conference papers and magazine articles published by professional bodies such as IEEE and ACM.
Software Availability:
This course is evaluated each session using the CATEI system.
Resource created Thursday 25 February 2016, 04:22:53 PM, last modified Friday 26 February 2016, 10:50:27 PM.