MCA-235
Internet of Things
Connecting physical things to the internet — IoT architecture and protocols, Arduino and Raspberry Pi, sensor interfacing, and Python for devices.
- Semester
- Semester 3
- Credits
- 3
- Scheme
- 3 lectures a week
- Contact hours
- 40 across four units
- Category
- Core Elective - III
What the paper is
Internet of Things is the most hands-on elective in the third semester. It is arranged as two conceptual units followed by two practical ones: architecture and protocols first, then the boards, the sensors and the Python that drives them.
The conceptual half is worth taking seriously even if the hardware is what attracted you. The physical and logical design distinction, the IoT levels, and the messaging protocols — MQTT and CoAP against HTTP — are what the written exam is actually about, and they are what let you reason about a device you have not used.
Unit III is the board unit: Arduino and Raspberry Pi pin diagrams and architecture, then specific sensors by part number — DHT, gas detector, HC-05, ultrasonic, ESP8266. They are examined individually, which makes them a list to learn.
What to concentrate on
- MQTT versus CoAP versus HTTP, compared on transport, message pattern, overhead and where each is appropriate, is the most reliable long question in the paper.
- Be able to draw the IoT architecture and name the IoT levels with an example system at each. That single diagram anchors most of Units I and II.
- For the hardware unit, learn each named sensor by what it measures, how it connects, and which Python package talks to it. The exam asks for interfacing, not for electronics theory.
Syllabus, unit by unit
Summarised from the approved scheme. Hours are the contact hours the scheme allots, which is a fair guide to where the marks sit.
Unit I · IoT fundamentals and enabling technologies
10 hours- Definition, characteristics, history and evolution of IoT
- Physical design: things in IoT and IoT protocols
- Logical design: functional blocks, communication models and APIs, the IoT stack
- Enabling technologies: sensors, cloud computing, big data analytics, embedded computing boards, communication protocols
- IoT challenges and IoT levels; domain-specific applications — smart cities, smart agriculture, industrial IoT
- Comparison with SCADA, M2M and SDN; IoT design methodology and components
Unit II · Protocols and cloud for IoT
10 hours- Internet versus internet of things; IoT layers
- Messaging protocols: MQTT and CoAP
- Transport protocols: BLE and LiFi; the network protocol 6LoWPAN
- Physical design: functional blocks, cloud storage models, communication models
- Communication APIs: REST-based and WebSocket-based
- Cloud for IoT: challenges and fog computing
Unit III · Devices, endpoints and sensors
10 hours- Arduino: pin diagram, architecture and programming
- Raspberry Pi: pin diagram and architecture
- Types of sensor and sensor interfacing
- Integrating sensors: humidity and temperature (DHT), gas detector, HC-05 Bluetooth module, ultrasonic sensor, ESP8266 Wi-Fi module
Unit IV · Python for IoT
10 hours- Revisiting Python for IoT: data types, operators, control structures, lists, tuples, dictionaries
- Functions, modules and file handling
- Python packages for connecting IoT devices: Bluetooth, sockets, time, requests, sys
- Adafruit Python DHT, paho-mqtt, Python JSON, pip
How it is examined
- Question 1 is compulsory, covers the whole syllabus, and is made of objective or short-answer questions. It carries 12 marks.
- The rest of the paper is four units matching the four above. Each unit sets two questions and you attempt one, so there are four more answers at 12 marks each.
- Examiners are asked to map every question to a course outcome using Bloom's taxonomy, which is why questions are phrased as “apply”, “analyse” or “evaluate” rather than only “explain”.
The pass mark is 40 out of 100 in every paper.
Learning objectives
- IoT terminology, technology, architecture and implementation
- The network and communication protocols for IoT
- The role of controllers and sensors in IoT
- Applying programming concepts to IoT
Assumed beforehand
- Basic knowledge of programming and data networking concepts
Paired in the scheme with MCA-267 Lab based on Core Elective III.
Books it is taught from
- TB1S. K. Vasudevan, A. S. Nagarajan and RMD Sundaram, “Internet of Things”, Wiley, 1st edition, 2014
- TB2G. C. Hillar, “Internet of Things with Python”, Packt Publications, 1st edition, 2016
- TB3V. Madisetti and A. Bahga, “Internet of Things: A Hands-on Approach”, 1st edition, 2015
Notes for MCA-235
Lecture notes, question papers and assignments filed against MCA-235 are in the library. Everything there has been checked by a moderator before it appears, and an account is free — new ones are approved by hand, which is what keeps the shelf clean.