Master of Digital Communications

Course code: 2406 ~ Course abbreviation: MDigComms ~ Total credit points required: 72 ~ 1.5 years full-time, 3 years part-time ~ Managing faculty: Information Technology

Study mode and course location

On-campus (Clayton)

Course description

The Monash digital communications program covers a broad range of courses ranging from the short postgraduate certificate up to the masters degree by coursework in digital communications. The courses have been structured to provide an integrated program of postgraduate education in digital communications.

The initial units introduce underlying principles and technologies, and the later units cover in-depth the theoretical and technological foundations of digital communications systems, and also examines the social and political aspects of communications networking, and the management structures for communications networks. This course is intended for those with a previous qualification in a related discipline, to further extend their information technology knowledge.

Course objectives

The aims of the digital communications program are to provide: a thorough understanding of the central communications and networking technologies: transmission systems, local networks and protocols; practical and theoretical foundations to enable graduates to design, develop, specify, select, install and operate communications facilities in a wide range of applications areas; a foundation of theory from which trends and future technologies can be evaluated.

The course currently draws students from a wide range of employment backgrounds, including programming, systems analysis, engineering, management, consultancy, auditing, marketing and teaching. The program is designed to provide graduates in fields such as computing, computer science or electrical engineering with specialist graduate-level education in topics such as digital communications technologies, communications architectures, protocols and network design.

Credit for prior studies

Credit in the program is available to applicants who hold a suitable postgraduate qualification, or who have a four-year or honours degree with significant emphasis on data communications or telecommunications. Approved units undertaken in the Executive Certificate in Information Technology will be counted as credits towards the Master of Digital Communications.

Course structure

Course requirements

The course consists of coursework units and either a project or a minor thesis, structured as follows:

Structure A

(a) at least eight units (48 points) from the list of approved digital communications graduate units listed below. No more than four of these units may be from group 1 on the list

(b) up to two units (12 points), which may be drawn from any postgraduate program of the university with the approval of the school or nominee

(c) a communications project (12 points), in which the student undertakes an investigation of some aspect of digital communications, leading to a project report, or in some circumstances the development of communications-oriented hardware or software.

Structure B

(a) at least six units (36 points) from the list of approved digital communications graduate units listed below. No more than four of these units may be from group 1 on the list

(b) up to two units (12 points), which may be drawn from any postgraduate program of the university with the approval of the school or nominee

(c) a communications minor thesis (24 points), in which the student undertakes a significant investigation of some aspect of digital communications, leading to a thesis which will be assessed by two examiners (the minor thesis is expected to be at a significantly higher standard than the project in Structure A. Students proceeding to a later PhD program would normally undertake the minor thesis as a demonstration of readiness for a research degree).

Group 1

FIT4014 Digital communications software
FIT4015 Digital communications technology and protocols
FIT4016 Information security
FIT4017 Network management

Group 2

BUS5150 Project management
CPE5002 Network security
CSE5000 Distributed object technology
CSE5020 Distributed computation and simulation
CSE5210 Advances in information security
CSE5303 Advanced digital signal processing
CSE5501 Mobile and distributed computing systems
ECE5012 Applied digital signal processing
ECE5023 RF techniques
ECE5024 Wireless communications
ECE5042 Communications theory
ECE5043 Optical communications
ECE5044 Telecommunications protocols
ECE5045 Network performance
FIT5008 Digital communications project
FIT5009 Software engineering for communication systems
FIT5010 Advanced internet protocols and application
FIT5011 Advanced network design and performance
FIT5012 Digital coding and compression for communications
GCO5805 Multimedia computing and communications
GCO5807 Project management
IMS5007 Electronic commerce

Note: Some units are offered only in alternate years. This list is subject to revision.

Exit awards

Students wishing to exit the Master of Digital Communications early may apply to graduate with the:

Postgraduate Certificate in Digital Communications after successful completion of 24 points of units listed in group 1 or 2 above (with at least 12 points completed from group 1)
Postgraduate Diploma in Digital Communications after successful completion of 48 points of study, of which at least six units must be drawn from are from group 1 or 2 above (with at least 12 points completed from group 1).

Professional recognition

This course is accredited by the Australian Computer Society (ACS) as meeting the standard of knowledge for professional-level membership.

Contact details

Refer to http://ask.monash.edu.au/ or visit http://www.infotech.monash.edu.au/clayton

Course coordinator

Associate Professor Andrew Paplinski