Written by Pidchayanin Chutipattana 60070175
Edited on 13 November, 2018
Studying at the Faculty of Information Technology of King’s Mongkut Institute of Technology Lardkrabang (KMITL), IT students will select their specialization when they are in the first semester of their second year of studies. There are three options: Network and System Technology (Network), Software Engineering (SoftEn) and Multimedia and Game Development (Multi).
Focusing on the Network and System Technology field, students of this field will study theories and concepts related to networking: how two computers communicate, process of network from the moment you enter a website till when the information displays on the computer screen, etc.
In the third year, IT students will decide either to do a project for their senior year or to join a cooperative work program.
Students can choose the project topic from their own interests. After selecting the topic, they can find a professor to guide them along the way. One of the successful projects last year was completed by Ms. Supawan Keerinnon and Mr. Supasakorn Jirachoke-nukraoh, network students graduating in 2018. The title of their project is “A study on gateway load balancing in Mobile Ad-hoc Network”. The project owners were fascinated by Mobile Ad-hoc Network. After studying about this type of Network, they were aware that this Network, if done properly, people can use it without paying monthly bills for mobile network services.
In general, when one uses mobile network services such as from DTAC, the signal will link to DTAC antenna and it will go through the path DTAC has set up. Basically, the transmission from the source, for example Mr. A’s mobile phone, will physically go to the medium before reaching the destination, Mr. B’s mobile phone, even if Mr. A and Mr. B are sitting next to each other. If the medium does not work, no one can communicate via the Internet with others.
The Ad-hoc Networks is a different system. The network is independent. The transmission from source can be sent to destination directly without any mediums.
However, the Ad-hoc Network is still in the developing process. It needs tons of more research to solve many undesirable disadvantages the Network itself possesses.
Their project solved one of the Ad-hoc disadvantages. The project focused on developing a decision-making process to select the best transmission path to make sure no phone’s battery will be drained out because of being used as a transmission medium. If any particular mobile phone is used to send transmission all the time, that mobile phone’s battery will decrease rapidly. Thus, the security is also low. It is easy to have a sneak peak on sending messages as any nearby phones will be chosen to be a transmission medium. Imagine you send a romantic letter to a guy but he is far away. So you send the letter from friends to friends until the guy gets the letter. In this case, you represent as mobile phone source, the guy is the mobile phone destination, your friends who help you pass the letter to the guy is a transmission medium and the letter is the sending message. When your friends have the love letter in their hand, they are able to steal a glance at the letter. That is exactly what happens in the Ad-hoc network.
Transmission delay is also one of the problems. As the owner of the mobile phone may be walking all the time, it is difficult for the phone source to find the best way to send messages. As a result, it may take more than 10 minutes to send one LINE message. If you are in a public place and even though you have not used the device at all, the battery could be drained out because it keeps transmitting for others.
To say clearly, the Ad-hoc Network at the moment is only good for specific situations but can not be used in daily life. For instance, in disastrous situations where there is no internet network, meaning no communication with others, the Ad-hoc Network could be a key to use in the case.
There are many factors that encourage people to choose to study Network. “I fell in love with the laboratory section in the Network class I took before choosing this field. It was a simulated networking programme called Cisco Packet Tracer. I thought the programme helped me understand Networks more clearly. When I attended lectures with the professors, I had no idea how the network works but I got to understand it with the programme.”, said Mr. Supasakorn Jirachoke-nukraoh.
“Network is challenging. It is a study about things around us and things we are using nowadays. I am always excited when learning about it. Network studies are not about memorizing but understanding.”, said Ms. Supawan Keerinnon.
“Before choosing the field, I was unsure that I could cope with hard work that I would have to do. Many people said Network is hard and not many Network students get good grades because of the difficulties of the field. Some said only clever students study Network so there are so many A students. But It turned out to be opposite. I met many good friends and we supported each other to study. The professors were more than good. I got even better grades than in my previous semesters. The classes were enjoyable. There is only one thing in particular I would like to tell students who are in hesitance. With your strong intention, nothing is too hard to accomplish. JUST GO FOR IT!”, said Ms. Supawan Keerinnon.
In conclusion, Network is an interesting field and there are many projects and classes waiting for students to enjoy. If you decide that Network is right for you, there is nothing you have to wait for.
BIT KMITL 