lanswitching

Design
The Darmoth Design process is a problem solving cycle. It provides teachers with a framework for bringing problems of the "real world" into the classroom. It involves students working in groups or teams to solve problems, this in return helps students develop skills in critical thinking and more hands-on problem solving, research, leadership and responsability and even oral and written communication..

The following 3 items are important parts of the engineering problem solving process.

1. Cycle - Using a process of steps as follows:
              1. State the Problem: look at the problem carefully
              2. Redefine the Problem: redefine it to eliminate bias
              3. Identify Constraints and Set General Specifications: refine and add specifications.
              4. Identify Alternative Solutions
              5. Analyze the alternatives
              6. Select the Most Viable Alternative
              7. Iterate the cycle until you find a solution
2. Matrix - This process is framed by a series of matrices. The columns are headed by the specifications, the rows by the ideas for alternative solutions.
3. Iteration - Beginning with a new set of specifications.

Ethernet Issues (Also describing the issues related to each topic)
1. Broadcasts are...data packets that will be sent to all nodes on a network
2. Collisions are...when two nodes transmit at one time and packets are damaged or lost when they collide.
3. Congestion is...traffic in excess of network capacity.
4. Bandwidth is ...the difference between the highest and lowest frequencies available for network signals, also used to gauge throughput capacity.
5. Latency (Propagation Delay) is...time required for data to travel over a network to it's destination.
6. Extending LANs with a repeater is an issue because...
they help extend a network, but they also extend collision domains.
7. The difference between Full-Duplex and Fast Ethernet is...Fast Ethernet has the same latency and collision problems as regular ethernet, but is much faster. Full-Duplex uses simultaneous sending and receiving to eliminate collisions and utilize 100% of bandwidth.
8. Full Duplex is...capable of simultaneous data transmission between a sending station and a receiving station.
9. Fast Ethernet is...able to offer speeds10x faster than that of 10baseT applications.