CSA302: January 2001 Assessed Assignment
Deadline
The deadline for submitting this assignment is Monday, January 8th, 2000 at
midday. Submitting the assignment after this time will result in the
deduction of marks.
Submission Procedures
This assessed assignment is worth 40% of the total marks for this credit.
Consequently, you must ensure that your name does not appear on the title
page or anywhere in the assignment.
When you submit the assignment (to Carm Vella, Rm 202, Computer Science Building
in the case of BSc IT students, and to Marlene Debono, Rm 203, Computer
Science Building for all other students) you will be given an official
cover sheet to fill in.
Plagiarism
Plagiarism will not be tolerated, and evidence of plagiarism in the
assigment will result in a failure and possible expulsion from the degree
programme. References must be properly attributed, whether obtained from
paper-based sources or from the Internet. If you are unsure of how to
construct a bibliography and how to reference entries from the body of the
text, please tell me.
Assignment
The assignment is in the form of a 1200 word essay. Please do not exceed
the word limit. The essay may be printed or hand-written. If it is
hand-written, please ensure that it is legible! The pages must be numbered
and must show the total number of pages (e.g., page 1 of 4).
Assignment Question
The number of World-Wide Web sites which deliver live audio over the Internet
is growing on a daily basis. Write an essay which describes the process of
delivering
a live audio broadcast, such as from a radio station, over the Internet.
You should describe a method to convert an analogue audio signal to a digital
signal, to transport the digital signal over the Internet, and to convert the
digital signal back to an analogue signal at the client. What are the major
issues? What are the technical advantages and disadvantages of broadcasting
live multimedia data over the Internet? How can synchronicity within the audio
signal be maintained from audio capture to delivery to the client?
What are the possible effects
of an increase in the number of clients receiving the broadcast, and how can
the effects be counteracted or managed?