Objective: The purpose of researching and writing a term paper is for you, the student, to learn more about some topic than is presented in the class. It must be related to the subject matter of the class. You should chose a topic which has particular interest to you, if possible. It should be a topic on which published research information is available; that is, the subject should not be proprietary, unpublished nor trade secret. The subject should not be too complex for adequate coverage in the appropriate length given below.

Term paper topics: Some general areas to consider for Digital Telephony term paper topics are:

Source Coding topics. Consider the various types of digital coding used for digitally coded speech, for pictures in the form of fax or television and teleconference, and for data compression of text or computer data files. Expanding on just one of these areas, what are the advantages and disadvantages of various methods? (Complexity of equipment, processing time and resources, etc.) What are the standards in use or proposed for this purpose? The use of sophisticated digital speech coding methods is a very active current research area because of many innovations in digital cellular radio. Video and picture coding is also commercially important for applications such as graphics and motion pictures via Internet and digital satellite broadcasting.

Modulation and Line Coding: What types of modulation are used for radio transmission? for modem transmission in data communications and digital radio and microwaves? for digital wire or fiber optic transmission? What are the bandwidth efficiency, the advantages and disadvantages of each method with regard to complexity of implementation, sensitivity to dispersion, interference and other kinds of channel degradation? What methods are used to provide high digital bit rates on ordinary telephone wire pairs (ADSL, HDSL) for special data applications?

Optical Fiber transmission: What are the major telecommunications applications of fiber optic transmission for digitized voice, data, video, etc.? (Although there are a number of non-telecommunications applications for fiber as well, they are not suitable topics for this course.) What is the status of the SONET or SDH multiplexing standard with regard to equipment application and utilization? What are the objectives, technological issues and economics of fiber to the home (FTTH) and fiber to the curb (FTTC)?

Digital Channel Characterization: Wire pairs, co-axial cable, fiber optics, microwave links, waveguides and terrestrial and spatial radio channels have different characteristics with regard to several important properties. Some of these are path loss (the ratio of the transmitted to the received signal power), bandwidth or useful frequencies (for example, radio signals in the high frequency and ultra high frequency bands differ considerably in this regard for both legal and technical reasons), uniformity of characteristics at different signal frequencies (such as dispersion, fading, etc.) and susceptibility to interference. A review of the characteristics of one or more channels with an intelligent appraisal of the effect of the channel characteristics on design of a transmission system (such as power levels used, hardware technology, use of error protection codes, etc.) is a good term paper topic.

Adaptive Equalizers, Echo Cancellers, and Related Topics: To combat problems such as dispersion, multipath radio propagation, and other undesired transmission effects which cause a linear combination of the desired signals with various amounts of delay, adaptive equalizers have been widely and successfully used. Today, most implementations involve digital signal processing. There are many interesting topics related to this area for those with a particular interest.

Error Protection Coding: Many digital transmission systems use error detecting codes or error correcting codes. Although this is an extensive topic in itself, you may be interested to write a well focused paper on the use of appropriate error protection codes in various transmission systems. Which codes are used for which applications? How do various codes compare with regard to implementation complexity and efficiency?

Encryption, Privacy and related topics: The technology is one area, and the current governmental desire to have encryption with a "backdoor" entry for law enforcement is also of considerable interest.

Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), also called asynchronous time multiplexing or labeled switching. This is a "borderline" topic which combines aspects of both multiplexing and switching. Labeled switching is embodied in several particular systems called Frame Switching, Frame Relaying, Broadband ISDN (B-ISDN), Basket Switching, etc. Please do not write papers about standard packet switching such as X.25, which is a topic more appropriate for another course. Do not dwell on the topology of networks (star, loop, etc.) for more than 3 pages.

Traffic estimation and control for non-Erlang distributions. Do not write a paper reviewing the standard Erlang formulas for probability of blocking. However, the subject of analyzing behavior of networks with different probability distributions than the classic Poisson exponential distribution used by Erlang in his analysis is of interest. Much of this is done by computer simulation rather than by algebraic methods. Some interesting examples of non-Poisson distributions are: all calls of equal length, or all calls of either one specific length or another, or calls evenly distributed in length between some pre-defined minimum and maximum duration.

Description of a particular electronic transmission (not switching) product. Your focus and subject matter should be very clear in such a paper. Do not merely rephrase the instruction manual. Do not dwell on insignificant detail, such as the number of machine screws in the back panel of the equipment. What are the most outstanding features? What makes this equipment different from, or better than, other similar or competitive equipment? Many people who work for a manufacturer find this an interesting and convenient topic. Beware that a publication approval by your employer may be needed for this topic.

Length: The desired length of the text in the paper should not exceed the equivalent of 20 pages of normal space-and-a-half or double-spaced typing. That is typically in the range of 5000 to 6000 words. (Most word processors will compute and display the actual word count.) Pictures, tables, and other non-text material do not count in this, so the total physical length of the paper, including non-text material, may exceed the 20 page equivalent. Overly long papers indicate that you have not taken the time to edit your paper to proper size.

Treatment: You may approach the subject from a highly analytical mathematical point of view, or a design engineering point of view, or from a business or financial decision point of view. Your approach may be qualitative or quantitative. In a very few cases, students have done a project such as construct a small piece of hardware or written a computer program. This is acceptable if done properly, and described adequately in the term paper. Make your chosen approach to the subject clear at the beginning of your paper.