University of Florida, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

CNT 6805 -- Network Science and Applications

Class Project Guidelines

General Objectives:

The project is intended to provide the students with an opportunity to take the initiative and develop independent research capability and creativity.  In the project, students are expected to identify problems of their own interest, tackle the problems from their own perspective, gain hand-on experience, and hopefully, have the fun of making their own discoveries.   The project will obviously require a good deal of time and energy, imagination and hard work.

Project Format:

The class project will be done individually (that is, teaming with other students is not allowed), requiring about 30 hours over the entire semester.  A project includes the following phases: choosing a project topic, writing a project proposal, conducting the project, and writing a final project report.

A project usually consists of reading papers on a chosen topic, comparing performances of different approaches, and perhaps proposing your own algorithms/improvements, implementing one or two of them. 

• Your proposal is to describe the problems you want to explore, list references you have read, and specify your research objectives and how to achieve these objectives.    Before you submit the proposal, you can discuss with me about the possible topics, either during my office hours or through email.
• Proposals are limited to 2 pages.
• Proposals must include the following parts:
  • Project title and your name
  • Abstract - A paragraph that briefly describes the research problems and what you plan to achieve.
  • Project plan - It should list tasks that you plan to carry out.  For each task, describe how you plan to approach it, and the deadline for completing it.  In addition to the reading/programming work you plan to do, you should also budget your time for searching the project subject, initial literature search, preparing the final report and presentation.
  • Reference list - List the references that you have read and are relevant to your project topic.  The references could be papers, documents, and web links.  Please include complete citation of each reference: author, title of the article, journal or book name, and the URL if appropriate.
• You must follow the official IEEE publication format. Use the Word or Latex templates provided by IEEE.

  Specifically, you can find

  • Word template
    Click here.

• Submit your proposal (in Word or PDF format) to the E-learning web site before the deadline.    

• The length of a report must be no more than 10 pages.
• Reports must follow the official IEEE publication format. Use the Word or Latex templates provided by IEEE.

  Specifically, you can find

  • Word template
    Click here.

• Reports must include the following parts:
  • Project title and your name
  • Abstract - A paragraph that summarizes the problem and the results.
  • Introduction - Sets the context, describes the problem, and describes your solution.
  • Description - One or more sections that describes the problem and your approach to the solution in detail.
  • Evaluation - A section that quantitatively evaluates your ideas.
  • Related work - Describes representative works related to your work, and summarizes the pros and cons of each work.
  • Summary and Conclusions - Summarize what you did and what interesting things you learned from the project.
  • Reference list
• You also need to submit your computer programs that you develop for your project.
• In addition, you need to prepare a Powerpoint file, which must include the following parts (there is no page limit for the Powerpoint file):
  • The problem under study
  • Existing approaches
  • (Optional) Proposed new approach if there is any
  • Performance evaluation of existing approaches and (if any) the proposed new approach
  • Conclusion

• You need to submit the following items to the E-learning website under the directory of "Project Report".
  • A written report for your project in pdf or WORD format
  • Computer programs that you develop for your project.   Any type of computer program will be acceptable; e.g.,  it can be in the format of Matlab script, Matlab Simulink or C Language or any other type of computer language.  You can put all the source codes/programs in a zip file or a rar file or a pdf file. 7-zip format is not acceptable.
    • If you use the computer programs available on the web, and you don’t change the downloaded programs at all, then just provide a link in the text box under your project report on E-Learning web site.
    • If you use the computer programs available on the web, and you have changed the downloaded programs, then provide a link in the text box under your project report on E-Learning web site, and upload the changed programs only (to E-Learning web site).
    • If you write the computer programs all by yourself, upload all your programs to E-Learning web site.
  • A file of your presentation slides in ppt or pptx or pdf format
  • Post a video on YouTube, which demonstrates your project results.  Your YouTube video is expected to have a length of at least 10 minutes; the content of your video is expected to include a presentation of your Powerpoint slides and a demonstration of your computer programs. You can provide your YouTube video link in the text box under the directory of "Project Report" on the E-learning website.  YouTube web site may only allow you to upload a video of 15 minutes; hence, if your video is longer than 15 minutes, you need to split your video into multiple segments, each of which needs to be less than 15 minutes, and upload each segment individually and provide all the YouTube links in the text box under the directory of "Project Report" on the E-learning website.   
  • You can use MS Powerpoint 2013 to record your ppt presentation.  Refer to http://www.gcflearnfree.org/powerpoint2013/32.2
  • You can download the following free (open source) program to record video with screen capture: http://www.nchsoftware.com/capture/index.html?gclid=CNadwsW6-6wCFSVjTAodbjzTSg
  • Please do not submit your project report to Turnitin web site (turnitin.com) for similarity score of your project report.

    When you upload your project report to the E-learning website, the E-learning website will automatically obtain a similarity score for your project report from Turnitin. You will see the similarity score on the E-learning website within 24 hours after you upload your project report. If you upload the same report to two different courses on the E-learning website, the similarity score of your report will be 100%.  Using the same project report for two different courses is not acceptable.

    You are allowed to upload your files to the E-learning website with an unlimited number of times before the submission deadline.

Hints for Coming Up with a Topic

Please feel free to propose any idea you want for your project.

There are two basic approaches you can use for your project.

• Develop a new idea or a new twist on an existing idea, and then do enough evaluation to serve as a proof of concept.
• Do an extensive evaluation of an existing idea that gives you some insight into the advantages or disadvantages of that idea.

Here are some suggested project topics.

Criteria Used for Grading Your Project Report

1. Quality. The value of a paper is a function of the innate character or degree of excellence of the work described. Was the work performed, or the study made with a high degree of thoroughness? Was high engineering skill demonstrated? Is an experiment described which has a high degree of elegance? Or, on the other hand, is the work described pretty much of a run-of-the-mill nature? 
2. Presentation. The value of the paper is a function of the ease with which the reader can determine what the author is trying to present. Regardless of the other criteria, a paper is not good unless the material is presented clearly and effectively. Is the paper well written? Is the meaning of the author clear? Are the tables, charts and figures clear? Is their meaning readily apparent? Is the information presented in the paper complete? At the same time, is the paper concise?
3. (Bonus) Originality. The value of a paper is a function of the degree to which it presents new or novel technical material. Does the paper present results previously unknown? Does it push forward the frontiers of knowledge? Does it present new methods for solving old problems or new viewpoints on old problems? Or, on the other hand, is it a re-hash of information already known?
4. (Bonus) Contribution. The value of a paper is a function of the degree to which it represents an overall contribution to the advancement of the art. This is different from originality. A paper may be highly original, but may be concerned with a very minor, or even insignificant, matter or problem. On the other hand, a paper may make a great contribution by collecting and analyzing known data and facts and pointing out their significance. Or, a fine exposition of a known, but obscure or complex, phenomenon or theory or system or operating technique may be a very real contribution to the art. Obviously, a paper may well score highly on both originality and contribution. Perhaps a significant question is, will the engineer who reads the paper be able to practice his profession more effectively because of having read it?