CITS4419 Research Essay 2018

Semester 2 2018
Version: 0.1 2018-09-29
Please check the CITS4419 web page to ensure that you have the latest version.

Project Rules

The goal of this project is for students to learn to use the research literature for WSNs, and to gain in-depth knowledge of a topic in current WSN research.

The task for this assignment is to study one recent research paper in a sub-area of wireless sensor networks and to explain the work in your own words. Select ONE paper from the list below and write a report that summarises the paper. The format required for the report is detailed below.

This assignment is worth 20% of the marks for cits4419. At least 15-20 hours of serious work per student is expected to complete the assignment.

Please take time to read these guidelines carefully. Post any requests for clarification about the requirements of this assessment to help4419 so that all students may remain equally informed. Further information may be provided as required during the project. All announcements about the project will be posted on help4419.

You are expected to have read and understood the University Guidelines on Academic Conduct. In accordance with this policy, you may discuss with other students the general principles required to understand this project, but the work you submit must be the result of your own effort.

You must submit your project before the submission deadline above. The University Penalties for Late Submission are 10% per day.

Topics and Papers (select one paper from this list)

The links provided for these papers can be accessed from any computer, but pdf downloads are available only for students using the UWA network.
Towards Zero Energy Sensing
Security and Privacy
Smart Sensor Applications

Project Guidance

How much work is it?

I expect it to be a lot of work, at least 15-20 hours of serious work will be required to complete the report. Please do not try to understand the paper by understanding every sentence. A better strategy is to read the paper again and again, understanding a little more every time. I have found this strategy to be quite useful. Reading and understanding research papers takes a lot of thinking on your part. Research papers are usually concisely written and you need to think and reconstruct a lot of the picture on your own.

You may discuss the paper with others but the submission must be written individually, in your own words. I will carefully check whether your report is in your own words.

Where are the papers from?

I have taken all the papers from recent issues of the leading conferences on wireless sensor networks. You should not have any problem in understanding the papers on sensor networks with the background you have from the lectures. The topic areas are based on the topics of interest identified by students in the first class survey.

Getting Help

You are welcome to come and discuss your report with me. All the Wednesday afternoon lab times are available as consultation times during weeks 9 to 12. However, I haven't read the papers thoroughly, so you will need to explain the paper and explain your difficulties and then I will be able to help you.

Here are two useful guides on how to read a research paper: Guide 1 and Guide 2

Post any requests for clarification about the requirements of this assessment to help4419, so that all students may remain equally informed.

Submission

  1. Submit an electronic copy of your research paper using cssubmit before the deadline. Your submission should be a single pdf file. No other formats please.
  2. Ensure that your name and student number appears on the front page of your submission.
  3. You are encouraged (but not required) to use LaTeX and the ACM paper format detailed in the 2017 ACM Master Article Template to prepare your paper using latex. Overleaf offers an easy to use, online LaTx environment.

Marking Criteria

The project is worth 20% of the marks for CITS4419. The project will be marked out of 25 using the following criteria: Your report (excluding the references) should be around 2000 words long and certainly no longer than 3000 words. It should understandable and well-explained according to the following format and criteria:

  1. Summary: (around 200 words) This part should be a summary of the problem and the solution presented in the paper. This must be in your own words, your own understanding. Please don't repeat material from the paper here. You will lose marks if your summary is longer than 250 words. (7 marks)
  2. Introduction: (around 300 words) You have to explain the setting of the problem here. Most papers cite many references in the introduction. You don't need to read all those papers although it is good if you read some. You should develop your own understanding of the problem and explain it here. (3 marks)
  3. Algorithms and Systems: (around 800 words) You should explain any algorithms or systems presented in the paper here, again in your own words. There is no need to repeat complicated notation from the paper, however, you can use those notations if you wish, but the notation should be well explained in your own words. (6 marks)
  4. Results: (around 700 words) You should explain the evaluation and results of the paper in your own words here. There is no need to reproduce graphs or tables, just a summary of the results will be sufficient. (6 marks)
  5. References: Include a reference list of your sources and ensure that you use citations correctly throughout the paper. Do not include figures from other papers unless absolutely necessary, but if you do so ensure you cite the source of the figure. (3 marks)

Good luck
Rachel Cardell-Oliver (unit co-ordinator)
[email protected]
Project posted on cits4419 web pages on 1 October 2018

UWA Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering