Master's Degree Program Requirements for MINT at the University of Alberta
The requirements for the two-year MINT Master's degree program consist of the following:
- Six mandatory courses: MINT 700, 702, 704, 706, 708 and 709. (This includes the MINT 709 project course.)
- Three elective courses (see below).
To earn your accredited graduate degree in MINT, you must complete these six core courses...
MINT 700 - The Physical Layer covers communication media, including copper, optical fiber and wireless technology. Topics consider modulation and coding standards, framing, error control technique and MAN and WAN physical layers (such as PDH, SONET/SDH, ATM, cable modems, xDSL, AMPS, GSM, GPRS).
MINT 702 - Data Communication Protocols deals with the structure of communication protocols, with an emphasis on the data link layer. Topics covered include layered protocol design, error detection and ARQ, framing, multiple access, LAN, MAN and WAN protocols, and emerging standards.
MINT 704 - The Internet Protocol Suite encompasses the rationale and organization of Internet protocols: IP; UDP; TCP; ICMP; ARP; RARP; mobile-IP addressing and routing; intra- and inter-domain routing protocols; transport layer congestion control and flow control.
MINT 706 - Internet Applications and Programming covers concepts of Internet applications, such as sockets, client-server programming, proxies and gateways, and application programming. Some specific application protocols (SMTP, SSH) are examined along with their implementation. There may also be source code inspection exercises.
MINT 708 - Internet Laboratory is a demonstration of network principles presented with practical aspects of network design and implementation.
MINT 709 - Internet Project involves the design or analysis of a significant Internetwork or Internetworking component.
And three of the following electives, depending on your education or career goals, or personal interests:
MINT 711 - Network Modeling, Simulation and Analysis covers the theoretical and practical aspects of network performance. Topics include elements of queuing theory; Erlang and Engset models; closed and open queuing systems; introduction to discrete event simulation; experimental design and interpretation; traffic workloads, including self-similar traffic and models for multimedia traffic; equivalent bandwidth; and performance criteria and measures.
MINT 712 - Internet Security covers many different aspects of security to be applied in Internetworking, from the vulnerabilities of Internet protocols and penetration techniques to intrusion detection systems and other defenses. Also covered are cryptography and the use of public and private key cryptography, key negotiation and certificates. An example of E-commerce security standards for both protocols and hosts are used.
MINT 713 - Internetworking Platforms discusses the issues surrounding base hardware and software platforms. Topics include real-time operating systems; resource sharing; interrupts; clocked interrupts and polling; shared memory; shared bus and shared interconnect architectures; bridging; switching and routing; time versus space switching; spanning tree algorithms; and tag switching.
MINT 714 - High Performance Server Programming deals with the performance and optimization of high-speed servers. It starts with server architecture, including multi-threaded and high-performance servers; and continues with distributed databases; transaction consistency; load sharing and balancing; high availability; and RAID. Case studies are examined.
MINT 715 - Advanced Routing and Network Management covers high level network management protocols and architectures. Examples include distance vector; link state and hybrid protocols; intra-domain versus inter-domain protocols; multi-protocol routing and route redistribution; and network management protocols and procedures, such as auto discovery, performance monitoring and fault isolation.
MINT 716 - Traffic Engineering and Network Design includes discussion on traffic optimization from a high-level network perspective. Students configure and dimension networks to design fault-tolerant, cost-effective and secure networks as an optimization challenge. Other topics include iterative, multi-objective optimization and both linear and non-linear programming.
MINT 717 - Internet Project Management covers the management issues surrounding Internetworking, including risk management. Management tools are introduced, including PERT and CPM. Practical considerations include process mapping, implementing a new network and network hardware or software upgrades.
MINT 719 - Special Topics in Internet Technology enables individual students to study specialized topics under the supervision of a faculty member. Approval must be obtained from the Program Director.
There is also a twelve hour ethics component to the program, as there is in all graduate programs at the University of Alberta. Currently, this is composed of a Web-based module and two lecture/discussion sessions. The ethics component must be completed before any degree can be awarded.
All courses of the Master of Science in Internetworking graduate degree program are taught on the University of Alberta campus in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. In addition to classroom lecture and study, the lab components of MINT are delivered in our state-of-the-art MINT lab.
For MINT admission requirements, please visit our application process page.
