IS485 IS Project Experience (Research)- Fintech project examples

Project deliverable:

1. A research report covering 2-3 research questions
2. A working prototype
3. Presentation slides

Research Problems:

• Approach the faculty advisor
• Project selection should be mutually agreed

Item	Research Problem	Research Questions	Research Method
1	Microservices Architecture in Banking - In recent years, there is much written about microservices architecture. Even so, there is very little written about how microservices are used in the banking industry. A study is needed to understand microservices implementation in banking. Faculty Advisor: Prof Alan Megargel	Research Question 1: How do banks decide on the boundary context and granularity of microservices? Research Question 2: What kind of tool sets do banks use for building, testing, and deploying microservices? Research Question 3: What strategies to banks employ for migrating from monolithic systems to microservices?	Research Method: Data collection through surveys and interviews of bank staff, and existing case studies. Analysis of qualitative and quantitative data collected. Results and Conclusions. Integrated Report: Write up an integrated report covering all 3 research questions. Integrated Demo: Demonstrate a fully functional microservice for a banking context, using the techniques and tools discovered.
2	Data Replication Across Microservice Instances - In a microservices architecture, as the demand (# of invocations) for a microservice increases, management tools elastically create replicate instances of the microservice. A study is needed to understand mechanisms for replicating the data underlying multiple instances of a microservice. Faculty Advisor: Prof Alan Megargel	Research Question 1: Can an in-memory-data-grid be used instead of a relational database, underlying replicated instances of a microservice? What is the feasibility of each, in a banking context? Research Question 2: What are the performance characteristics (eg; response time, replication time) of an in-memory-data-grid as compare to a relational database, as invoked across microservice instances? Research Question 3: How is transaction management done using an in-memory-data-grid as compared to a relational database, in order to avoid concurrency issues across microservice instances?	Research Method: Develop a microservice (banking context) which requires transaction management. Configure a microservice management tool to replicate instances of the microservice. Load test instances of the microservice across heavy loads, to generate data. Do the load testing for; a) in-memory-data-grid, and b) relational database. Analyse the data generated from load testing. Results and Conclusions. Integrated Report: Write up an integrated report covering all 3 research questions. Relate each question within a banking context. Integrated Demo: Demonstrate a fully functional microservice for a banking context, using the techniques and tools discovered. Run the demo using; a) in-memory-data-grid, and b) relational database.
3	Maintaining Data Privacy Across Connected Blockchains - With an increasing number of commercial private blockchains being used on different platforms there is a problem on how to connect the blockchains and maintain data privacy. Faculty Advisor: Prof Paul Griffen	Research Question 1: How can current homogeneous blockchain interoperability platforms such as PolkaDot maintain data privacy be expanded for heterogeneous blockchain interoperability? Research Question 2: What are the key features for designing a heterogeneous blockchain interoperability platform? Research Question 3: What is the most efficient and effective protocol for a heterogeneous blockchain interoperability platform? A good starting point is zero-knowledge proofs such as zk-SNARKS and zkSTARKS?	Research Method: Review current homogeneous blockchain interoperability platforms such as PolkaDot. Interview industry partners (OneConnect) for the key features necessary for a heterogeneous blockchain interoperability platform. Analyze the gaps in the homogeneous blockchain interoperability platforms for the business needs for heterogeneous blockchain interoperability platform and propose a data exchange protocol. Results and Conclusions. Integrated Report: Write up an integrated report covering all 3 research questions. Integrated Demo: Demonstrate a proof-of-concept of the new heterogeneous interoperability protocol.
4	Comparing Decentralized Exchange (DEX) Protocols - With an increasing complexity in crypto-token exchanges as well as continuing security issues in centralised exchanges, there is a need to robustly compare decentralised exchange (DEX) protocols. Continuing on from a previous IS470 project (final report available on request) comparing 0x and Khyber, these and other DEX protocols can be investigated according to the DEX comparison framework in collaboration with the industry partner ICHX. Faculty Advisor: Prof Paul Griffen	Research Question 1: Which DEX protocol is the best fit for the business requirements of ICHX and why? Research Question 2: What are the shortcoming of the DEX protocols? Research Question 3: What are the best tools to compare DEX protocols?	Research Method: Interview and review the business requirements of ICHX. Analysis the pros and cons of the DEX protocols against the business requirements using the comparison framework. Results and Conclusions. Integrated Report: Write up an integrated report covering all 3 research questions. Integrated Demo: Demonstrate the test suite for the DEX comparison.