Topics For A Thesis In Computer Networking

Computer networking is an engineering discipline dealing with the relationships between two or more computer systems or devices, whether through the Internet, an intranet, or an extranet. The study of computer networks involves both hardware and software issues, presenting you with several possible thesis topics.

A Robot Arm

The remote control of a robot arm is a common concern in networking literature. This concept has many applications, including military use, where it limits the number of humans put in harm's way on a battlefield, or for civil engineering, where the creation or upkeep of bridges and tunnels often requires the manipulation of inaccessible objects. The term "robot arm," though, has an important ambiguity. As Frank Lewis and two of his colleagues observed in 1999's "Neural Network Control," some tasks are appropriate for rigid-link arms, while others require flexible link systems.

Virtual Living Room

You could also explore the interaction between two human beings a great distance apart. Much of the attraction of chat rooms and other Internet phenomena is that they allow the sense of a "virtual living room," a meeting place for the minds of those who cannot meet in body. Yet room still exists for enhancing the reality of that virtual togetherness.

Sharing Entertainment

Networking may allow two people at a great distance not only to watch the same television program — and comment to one another about it — but also to ensure that their viewing is synchronized, so that Joe in Tulsa hears the character say "Hasta la vista, baby" at just the same moment that Sally in Tucson does. As entertainment becomes three-dimensional, that could go further. Joe might be on the left side of a fictional character saying those words, while Sally is on his right side. Joe may disclose to Sally subtleties in the developing action not yet obvious from her perspective.

Energy Consumption and Efficiency Issues

Your thesis could also address the energy consumption and efficiency issues that arise in computer networking. The contemporary Transmission Control Protocol leaves a lot of room for improvement in this area, especially with the increasingly heterogeneous nature of Internet use (on desktops, laptops, and handheld devices such as smartphones, for instance). Vassilios Tsaoussidis and Hussein Badr, instructors at Northwestern University and at State Universiyt of New York, respectively, said that "standard TCP versions lack the functionality to efficiently adjust their error-control strategies to distinct characteristics of network environments," raising efficiency issues that your thesis could address.