ENG305: A New Provider is Planning to Enter the Cycle Hire Market in a Major City: Computer Communications Assignment, SUSS, Singapore

Tasks

A new provider is planning to enter the cycle hire market in a major city. The service available from the existing provider has become old and dated, and there is an opportunity to compete with them on improved technology and/or price. The new entrant has conducted a user survey and has identified the top four user requirements as

User Requirements:

• Easy to locate the closest available cycle.
• Simple to use.
• Flexible methods for payment.
• Only pay for the actual time the cycle is used.

The new entrant has commissioned you to conduct a feasibility study and propose a specification and design for a network to implement the User Requirements.

Additionally, the new provider has identified four key requirements of their own that your proposed solution must satisfy:

Provider Requirements:

• Ability to unlock and lock remotely.
• Real-time location tracking of all cycles.
• Simple, secure payments.
• Scalable up to 500,000 bicycles.

Task 1: Draw up a Network Requirements Analysis based on the above User and Provider Requirements, using the standard headings:

• Functionality
• Performance
• Cost
• Reliability

Task 2: Using your Network Requirements Analysis, develop a design proposal for the network stating clearly how it satisfies each of the four criteria in Task 1, and meets each of the User and Provider Requirements. Ideally, this should be presented in the form of a table with each of the 8 requirements clearly identified.

Task 3: Produce a reasonably detailed design of your proposed network. You should specify the technology to be used and the main components/suppliers to be used (e.g. hubs, routers, mobile providers), but you do not need to specify actual branded products (e.g. Cisco model xx).