A TECHNICAL REPORT ON

STUDENT INDUSTRIAL WORK EXPERIENCE SCHEME (SIWES)

(MARCH 2021-AUGUST 2021)

HELD AT

THE FEDERAL POLYTECHNIC

ADO EKITI

BY

AKADRI OLUWAFEMI KAYODE

168539021

COMPUTER NETWORKING

SUBMITTED TO

THE DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER ENGINEERING

EKITI STATE UNIVERSITY ADO EKITI

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR

THE AWARD OF BACHELOR OF COMPUTER SCIENCE
(B.ENG. COMPUTER ENGINEER)

SEPTEMBER 2021
 DEDICATION
First of all, I dedicate this SIWES report to my Father in heaven, God Almighty for almighty for the
opportunity and grace given to me to undergo this training and resume a new semester peacefully. To my
wonderful Parents MR and MRS AKADRI for their tireless support and investment in my life and to all
those who may consider this thesis relevant in the pursuit of academic excellence, I dedicate this piece of
work.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I thank God who has seen me throughout my SIWES program and also thanks to my Industrial
based supervisor who guided me through My Industrial training. I also send out my appreciation
to my lecturers, friends and Coworkers for their moral support. My special thanks to my
wonderful and lovely parents Mr. and Mrs. AKADRI who were there for me in terms of care,
prayers, financial support and others.
ABSTRACT

This report is a summary of all work experience I have been able to gather during my
SIWES training programme at THE FEDERAL POLYTECHNIC ADO EKITI

The report contains my all my experience in Networking, basics of networking.

Troubleshooting skills.

In conclusion is a summary of what I learnt in my six months SIWES programme.

TABLE OF CONTENT

CHAPTER ONE:
1.0 Introduction
1.1 General Introduction to SIWES
1.2 Aims and Objectives of SIWES
1.3 Description of the establishment of attachment

CHAPTER TWO
2.0 Industrial Experience
2.1 Networking
2.2 Network Topology
2.3 Transmission Media
2.4 Networking Equipment
2.5 IP Addressing
2.6 Troubleshooting skills

CHAPTER THREE
3.0 Challenges
3.1 Recommendations
3.2 Conclusion
CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

General introduction to SIWES

The Student Industrial Work Experience Scheme (SIWES) was established by the Industrial Training

Fund (ITF) in 1973 to enable students of tertiary institutions have technical knowledge of industrial work

based on their course of study before the completion of their program in their respective institutions. The

scheme was design to expose students to industrial environment and enable them develop occupational

competencies so that they can readily contribute their quota to national, economic, and technological

development after graduation. The major benefits accrued to student who participate conscientiously in

Student Industrial Work Experience Scheme (SIWES) are the skills and competencies they acquire. The

relevant production skill remains a part of the recipients of industrial training as life-long assets which

cannot be taken away from them. This is because the knowledge and the skills acquired are internalized

and become relevant when required in jobs or functions.

In the earlier stages of science and technology education in Nigeria, students were graduating from their

respective institutions without any technical knowledge or working experience. It was in this view that

student undergoing science and technology related courses were mandated for SIWES in different

institutions to widen their horizons and to enable them have technical knowledge or working experience

before graduating from their various institutions.

Aims and Objectives of SIWES

The Industrial Training Fund Policy Document No.1 of 1973 which established SIWES outlined

objectives of the scheme. Participation in SIWES has become a necessary pre-condition for the award of

Diploma and Degree certificates in specific discipline in most institutions of higher learning in the

country, in accordance with the educational policy of the government. The objectives are to:

a) Provide an avenue for students in higher institutions of learning to acquire industrial skills and

experiences during their course of study.

b) Prepare students for industrial work situations that they are likely to meet after graduation.

c) Expose student to work methods and techniques in handling equipment and machinery that may not

be available in their institutions.

d) Provide student with the opportunities to apply their educational knowledge in real work situations,

thereby bridging the gap between theory and practical.

e) Enlist and strengthen employers’ involvement in the entire education process and prepare students for

employment in Industry and commerce (Information and guideline for SIWES, 2002).
 CHAPTER TWO

2.1 NETWORKING
Network are component involve in connecting computer and application across
small and large distance.
Each computer on the network has access to the files and peripheral device (such
as printers or modems) on all the other computers on the network.

2.2 NETWORK TOPOLOGY

Common topology found in networking includes mesh topology star topology, bus
topology, ring topology, and others.
Network topology refers to the layout of the transmission medium and devices on a
network. Topologies use either a point to point or multipoint connection scheme.

A connection scheme indicates how many devices are connected to a transmission

media segment or an individual cable.
An example of point-to-point connection scheme is a modem/ printer connected to
computer, direct cable connection between two computers.
An example of a multi point connection scheme is a star or bus topology network.

Star Topology
This is a local area network topology where all the nodes are connected
individually to a central connecting device called a hub or switch. Signals travel
from the nodes to the hub which then sends signals to other nodes on the network.
A star topology network is scale able –i.e. it can be design and redesign easily.
Bus Topology
A LAN topology where each node is connected to a single main bus cable, is
transmits data to all the nodes on the network. The bus is actually a series of cable
segments running from one node to the other. Break or faulty piece of cable
anywhere on the segment prevents all the computers on the segment from being
able to communicate.

Mesh Topology
This is a network topology where every node on the network has a separate wire
connecting it to every other node on the network. It provides each device with a
point-to-point connection to every other device in the network. This type of
network has a high fault tolerance because failure of one node does not affect data
transmission between other nodes.

At NOC the topology adopted is the mesh topology.

2.3 TRANSMISSION MEDIA

• Wired media
• Wireless media

Wired Media
These are media which require the use of wires, lines and cables to transmit
communication signals. During my industrial training at NOC, I encountered
majorly three different types of wired network media namely:
Coaxial cable

A coaxial cable is an alternative for protecting data from noise. Coaxial cables do
not produce external electric and magnetic fields and are not affected by them.
This makes them ideally suited, although more expensive, for transmitting signals.

Twisted pair cable

In a twisted pair there are eight copper wire that are coated with different colours;
the colours are mix/orange, orange, mix/blue, blue, mix/green, green, mix/brown
and brown.

These colours are very important when terminating cables. The two most common
ways of terminating Ethernet cables are:

(i) Straight-through method

 (ii) cross-over method

In straight-through method, in any way you put in your cable, the colour adopted at
both ends must be the same.
In a cross-over method all you need to do is to terminate one end with a straight
rule method and the other end would be that pin ‘1’ goes to pin ‘3’ and vice-versa,
the pin ‘2’ then goes to pin ‘6’ and also vice-versa.
I got to know that a cross-over cable is used to connect two similar devices like a
PC to a PC while a straight through cable is used to connect different devices e.g. a
PC to a router.

Crimping a Network Cable

This is a process of clamping RJ45 adapter and CAT5E or CAT6 network cable

together.
The steps for Crimping Ethernet Network cables

1. Get the required tools: Wire Stripper, Crimping tool, Wire tracker, RJ 45s.

2. Cut your desired length of the cable (CAT5,5E, 6)

3. Strip off small parts of the cable at both ends (about 1 inch)

4. Fold back the braiding over the jacket, (used for grounding the cable- for STP cables)

5. Straighten the copper wires, then arrange the wires according to the required standard.

6. Cut off the extra wire making sure there is about1/4 inch of the left before the insert.

7. Insert the arranged copper wires into the RJ45 adapter maintaining the order.

8. Insert the RJ45 adapter with cable into the Crimper and clip firmly together.

9. Test the crimped cable for continuity using the wire tracker.
Fibre optic cable

At NOC the backbone upon which the network is built is fibre optic.

It is made of glass fibres instead of wire; it consists of a centre glass core

surrounded by several layers of protective material. The outer insulating jacket is
made of Teflon or PVC. The fibre optic cables transmit light rather than electronic
signals, thereby eliminating the problem of electrical interference.

Optical fibres come in two types:

• Single-mode fibres

• Multi-mode fibres
Single-mode fibres have small cores while
Multi-mode fibres have larger cores. Used for short-distance communication links.

Wireless Media

To fully explore the wireless added dimension, Communication system designers

have sought to use wireless media to reduce infrastructure cost and complexity,
when compared to wired communication systems. There is no need to construct
miles of telephone line poles or cable trenches.

During my stay at NOC I was able to interact with the following devices:

2.4 NETWORK EQUIPMENT

Some network equipment:

Ethernet Radio

Is a device that sends and receive packets from one network to the other.
 Router
A router is a device that forwards data packets between computer networks,
creating an overlay internetwork. A router is connected to two or more data
lines from different networks. When a data packet comes in one of the lines,
the router reads the address information in the packet to determine its
ultimate destination. Then, using information in its routing table or routing
policy, it directs the packet to the next network on its journey.

Switch
A network switch is a computer networking device that connects network
segments or network devices. It serves mainly for extension.

Antenna
It’s a device that aid and enhances the signal strength and quality. Antennas are not
used alone; it is always attached to something mostly to an antennas. An antenna is
of two types in terms of direction Directional and Omni-directional. Directional
beams signal in one direction while Omni- directional beams signals in all
direction. Antennas are better propagated horizontally.
 Unidirectional antenna parabolic grid antenna

Twisted pair Cable

Twisted pair is the ordinary copper wire that connects home and many business
computers to the telephone company. To reduce crosstalk or electromagnetic
induction between pairs of wires, two insulated copper wires are twisted around
each other. Each connection on twisted pair requires both wires. Since some
telephone sets or desktop locations require multiple connections, twisted pair is
sometimes installed in two or more pairs, all within a single cable.

Connectors
Rj-45 plug is the common name for an 8P8C modular connector using 8
conductors which pin down wires in a twisted pair cable.
Crimping tool
Is a tool used to terminate category cables such as CAT1-CAT6 using an RJ-45
connector; it can also be used to cut cable to a desired length.

LAN cable tester

This is used to test if a category cable has been well terminated, or develop a fault.

2.5 IP ADDRESSING
An IP address is a unique identifier that is assigned to a host on a network. It is
also a unique identifier for a host or a node on a network. We have IPv4 and IPv6.
The most used being IPv4 (with 32bits).

Functions of IP Addressing
• For location of a device on the network
• It is assigned to allow hosts on one network to communicate to hosts on
another network
• IPv4 address is 32 bits divided in to four octets or bytes using dot ’.’
Classes of IPv4 Addresses
IPv4 which is 32bits has class ranges from class A-E

Class A
This Class address can only be between 0 and 127. All 0’s reserved for default
route and ‘127’ is reserved for trouble shooting –loop back, therefore in reality
Class A valid address range that can be assigned to host on a network is 10-126
Class B
Class B address can only be between 172 – 191

Class C
Class address can only be between 192 – 223
Class A-C is used for uncast.

Class D and E
Class D (224-239) used for multicasting
• Class E (240-255) for research purposes

Broadcast Address
This is the address used to send data to all hosts on a broadcast domain.
When all the host bits are on (‘1’) this is a broadcast address for all hosts
255 are reserved for sending broadcast message.

Subnet ting
The basic function of sub-netting is to define the class boundary.
To create subnets you take bits from the host portion of the IP address and reserve
them to define the subnet address.

Subnet Mask
The subnet mask for class A ranges from 255.0.0.0
The subnet mask for class B ranges from 255.255.0.0
The subnet mask for class C ranges from 255.255.255.0
The first octet determines the class.
The ‘255’ above represent the network portion and the zeros represent the host
portion.

1.1 Private IP address ranges

The ranges and the amount of usable IP's are as follows:

10.0.0.0 - 10.255.255.255
Addresses: 16,777,216

172.16.0.0 - 172.31.255.255
Addresses: 1, 048, 5

2.6 TROUBLESHOOTING SKILLS

Troubleshooting is the process of finding problems and solving them.
Should a client unable to browse or unable to make calls via the IP phone, the
check begins with the cable being used if client is connected via LAN cable, this is
done using the LAN-cable tester, check the face plates to know if it is working,
check the patched panel and switches on the distribution rack where they are kept.
Ping the systems Ethernet port, ping the server etc.

CHAPTER THREE
RECOMMENDATION
I urge the Federal Government to take the SIWES program more seriously especially for I.T
students and Applied Sciences because the world is drifting towards I.T. The Government should
ensure a proper supervision of SIWES students so that the purpose of the program will be
archived. The Federal Government should also make adequate provision in the annual budget for
proper funding of SIWES in view of the potential of the program to contribute to enhancing the
quality of the pool I.T skills available to the country. A comprehensive and detailed directory of
who accepts students for SIWES is urgently required to facilitate placement for SIWES student
in industry. The ITF also should ensure that the payment of the student allowance is paid on time
in other to keep the SIWES students zealous and motivated.
I recommend that the Nigerian educational system should be reviewed as what is taught in the
classroom totally contradicts with what is needed the in the actual work place.

CONCLUSION
My SIWES was a very successful one, I had an insight of the information technology world. I
have now known the power of programming and graphics designing. With this, I will be able set
a goal for myself to build a complete website and write codes for different programs.
SIWES as a course has truly exposed me to the challenges faced in a growing I.T world that is
dependent on computers.