The Independent Institute of Education 2017

MODULE NAME: MODULE CODE:

NETWORK ENGINEERING NWEG5111

ASSESSMENT TYPE: EXAMINATION (PAPER ONLY)

TOTAL MARK ALLOCATION: 120 MARKS
TOTAL HOURS: 2 HOUR (+10 minutes reading time)
INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Please adhere to all instructions in the assessment booklet.
2. Independent work is required.
3. Five minutes per hour of the assessment to a maximum of 15 minutes is dedicated to
reading time before the start of the assessment. You may make notes on your question
paper, but not in your answer sheet. Calculators may not be used during reading time.
4. You may not leave the assessment venue during reading time, or during the first hour or
during the last 15 minutes of the assessment.
5. Ensure that your name is on all pieces of paper or books that you will be submitting. Submit
all the pages of this assessment’s question paper as well as your answer script.
6. Answer all the questions on the answer sheets or in answer booklets provided. The phrase
‘END OF PAPER’ will appear after the final set question of this assessment.
7. Remember to work at a steady pace so that you are able to complete the assessment within
the allocated time. Use the mark allocation as a guideline as to how much time to spend on
each section.
Additional instructions:
1. This is a CLOSED BOOK assessment.
2. Calculators are not allowed.
3. Answer all Questions.

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Question 1 (Marks: 35)

Read the extract below, and answer the questions that follow:

Chinese boost for SA's fibre cable skills

Chinese company, Yangtze Optics Africa Cable, is taking South Africans to China
for skills development in fibrecable manufacturing. In May, ITWeb reported that Yangtze invested
R150 million to construct a fibre cable manufacturing plant in SA.

A further R150 million investment is expected in the machinery and other equipment at the
facility located within the Dube TradePort in KwaZulu-Natal. This investment is seen to have the
potential to significantly bolster SA's efforts to grow exports and expand
communications infrastructure.

The Chinese company roped in JSE-listed Mustek as its broad-based black economic
empowerment partner. The plant has manufacturing capacity of more than one million fibre
kilometres, and will supply cable to fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) service providers, private sector
companies, mobile telecommunications providers, and the public sector.

The company has now revealed that eight of the 120 South Africans to be employed by Yangtze
have travelled to China for skills transfer and training on fibre cable manufacturing in preparation
for the launch of the plant in January 2017.

The training programme covers the full spectrum of fibre cable manufacturing, from optic fibre
colouring, secondary coating, stranding and sheathing, to cable testing and quality control. On
completion of their training, the team will come back to South Africa to train the rest of the
teams that will run the South African plant. Yangtze has committed itself to a four-year skills
development plan to expand local skills in specialist roles in optical fibre cable manufacturing.

Speaking about the training experience, Velile Mngonyama, production supervisor at Yangtze
Optics Africa Cable, says although he has training and experience in cable production, the
precision and detail required in optical fibre is on a much larger scale.

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The Independent Institute of Education 2017

"Although the processes for copper cable manufacturing and optical fibre are similar, the
technical specifications and applications for optical fibre are totally different. The experience has
been an eye-opener and we cannot wait to come back home to share what we have learnt with
the rest of the team in South Africa."

"While copper cables have been a reliable medium in the past, optical fibre is the future. With
speeds and capacity of orders of magnitude higher than copper cables, optical fibre will definitely
change the way in which people and businesses connect," says Pieter Viljoen, CEO of Yangtze
Optics Africa Cable.

He notes that, in the next few years, fibre optic network rollout will increase significantly, as
developing countries invest in fibre networks as these are faster, and provide much more reliable
connections than copper.

"With increased demand for fibre optic networks, there will be a need to train local people to set
up fibre optical local manufacturing plants to supply the anticipated huge potential market,"
Viljoen adds. Yangtze is targeting SA's growing fibre market, with many companies jostling to lay
fibre to boost Internet connectivity.

According to BMI-TechKnowledge, FTTH could reach more than 360 000 active subscriptions in
SA by 2019, with the majority of the growth coming from subscribers in residential suburbs,
where much of the recent action has been focused.

Source: http://www.itweb.co.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=155688
(accessed on 12/04/17)

Q.1.1 In the extract above Pieter Viljoen, CEO of Yangtze Optics Africa Cable notes that, (10)
in the next few years, fibre optic network rollout will increase significantly, as
developing countries invest in fibre networks as these are faster, and provide
much more reliable connections than copper, which will improve the overall
communication. Discuss in detail what is meant by data communications.

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The Independent Institute of Education 2017

Q.1.2 The training programme covers the full spectrum of fibre cable manufacturing, (5)
from optic fibre colouring, secondary coating, stranding and sheathing, to cable
testing and quality control. Discuss what happens when you introduce noise into
digital data and digital signals.

Q.1.3 While copper cables have been a reliable medium in the past, optical fibre is the (10)
future. With speeds and capacity of orders of magnitude higher than copper
cables, optical fibre will definitely change the way in which people and
businesses connect," says Pieter Viljoen, CEO of Yangtze Optics Africa Cable.
Discuss how fiber-optic cable transmit data.

Q.1.4 The plant has manufacturing capacity of more than one million fibre kilometres, (10)
and will supply cable to fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) service providers, private
sector companies, mobile telecommunications providers, and the public sector.
This would include companies with very powerful computers that want to
connect to a large number of high-speed disk storage devices through Electronic
Industries Association (EIA) standards such as Fibre Channels. Discuss in detail
the standards that conform the EIA-232F interface standard.

Question 2 (Marks: 45)

Q.2.1 Discuss how T-1 multiplexing works. (8)

Q.2.2 Briefly discuss how cyclic redundancy checksum works. (10)

Q.2.3 Discuss in detail how a star-wired bus topology works. (10)

Q.2.4 Discuss the four steps for creating a good and appropriate tree design. (10)

Q.2.5 Briefly discuss how a virtual circuit packet-switched network works. (7)

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The Independent Institute of Education 2017

Question 3 (Marks: 40)

Q.3.1 Voice over IP has become a popular service that has attracted the interest of (10)
companies and home users alike. It operates by sending voice signals over an IP-
based network such as the internet. However such a powerful service does not
come without its disadvantages, discuss these disadvantages in detail.

Q.3.2 Digital subscriber line (DSL) is a technology that allows twisted pair telephone lines (10)
to transmit multimedia materials and high-speed data. Transfer speeds can range
from hundreds of thousands of bits per second up to several million bits per
second. Various levels of DSL service are offered by most telephone companies.
Discuss in detail what a business or home user needs to establish a DSL
connection?

Q.3.3 Malicious computer users who try to break into a computer system often start (10)
with a standard set of system attacks. They hope that the system administrator has
not properly secured the system and has left it vulnerable to attack. One of the
most common method of attack is known as phishing. Discuss in detail how this
method (phishing) works.

Q.3.4 To properly understand a problem, analyse all possible solutions, select the best (10)
solution, and implement and maintain the solution, you need to follow a well-
defined plan. One of the most popular and successful plans currently used by
businesses today is the systems development life cycle (SDLC).Briefly discuss the
SDLC phases.

END OF PAPER

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