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Project Format
The goal of the project is to encourage students to explore some aspect of dependability in software systems. Some guidelines for choosing a project are: 1) the work should be in an area related to dependability in systems (e.g., look at the topics for each week), 2) the work should be completed in less than three months, and 3) you should talk to the instructor and get agreement about a project before committing to it.
Students have three project options: 1) implementation and evaluation of a system, 2) evaluation of an existing system, or 3) writing a position paper. For the first two options, 2 to 3 students should collaborate on the project and the students should structure the project so that they can evaluate the system quantitatively. The third option is for individuals and described in detail later.
Each project has the three deliverables described below. These deliverables are per-project (not per-student). Note that each future deliverable contains much of the contents of the previous deliverables.
- Project Description: 1 page (Due Feb
9, 2022)
- Title: project name, names of project members
- Introduction: clearly stating purpose of the project, including the problems and challenges that are being addressed, and expected outcome or result of the project
- Key steps: specific intermediate steps that will be undertaken in the project
- Status Report: 3-4 pages (Due Mar 16, 2022)
- Title: project name, names of project members
- Introduction: clearly stating purpose of the project, including the problems and challenges that are being addressed, and expected outcome or result of the project
- Background: related research together with bibliography of relevant research
- Approach: research methodology or approach taken in the project
- Status: current status of implementation
- Evaluation: description of experiments that will be performed
- Final Report: 8-10 pages (Due Apr 20, 2022)
- Title: project name, names of project members
- Introduction: clearly stating purpose of the project, including the problems and challenges that are being addressed, and expected outcome or result of the project
- Background: related research together with bibliography of relevant research
- Approach: details of the research methodology or approach taken in the project
- Status: current status of implementation
- Experiments: results of experiments that were performed
- Conclusion: did your results meet expectations
- Future work
- Code (optional)
Format of Deliverables
All deliverables must be in a format similar to the research papers we are discussing in the course. For example, they should have an introduction, related work, the main body of the paper, evaluation, conclusions, etc. Please use the following formatting guidelines while preparing your report:
- Paper: 8.5"x11"
- Spacing: single
- Font: Times
- Font size: 10 point
- Column: Two column
- Margins: 1" on all sides (text block is 6.5"x9")
Project Presentation
At the end of the term, there will be a presentation for each project or position paper. The date for this presentation will likely be Apr 20, 2022 at regular class hours. Each presentation will be roughly 10-15 minutes long, with 5 additional minutes for discussion.
Position Paper
The third option, the position paper option, is for individuals, and it does not require an implementation. Students should pick an area related to the topics discussed each week. First, they should conduct detailed background research and cover as much literature as possible. Then they should compare the approaches and discuss the benefits or drawbacks of each. Finally they should come up with their "position". Your position should be a novel statement based on solid background research and sound judgement that you articulate clearly. Your position should not be a summary of previous papers or background research. In other words, the position paper option encourages research (and not just a survey of previous work). With this option, it is not essential that a student implement or evaluate a system. However, the grading will be stricter regarding the quality of the final report and the novelty of the idea.
There are three main differences in the deliverables with this option compared with the previous two options: 1) there may be no implementation and evaluation, 2) the background research should be more thorough, and 3) the focus of the paper should be on the details of your approach which should clearly justify your position, i.e. your novel statement. Think of this option as a proposal for your research. If you are already conducting research in an area that is related to dependability in systems, this option is a great way to force yourself to put your thoughts clearly on paper. If you are not conducting research yet, it will help you get started. This option is not available to M.Eng. students.