Electrical and Electronic Engineering MSc
16 Months, Full-Time | September or January Start

In this module you will cover the broad topic of Microprocessors and Microcontrollers and how they are used in Embedded Systems. This will involve investigating processor architectures, operating modes and interfacing to peripherals. Examples of structures from current industrial vendors such as ATMEL, ARM, and Microchip will be explored and examined. You will consider the hardware design and development of embedded microcontroller systems, including implementations for controlling both internal and external interfaces and peripherals. Careful examination of Real-Time control issues, interrupts and microcontroller interactions will be analysed. This will allow you to be able to design the necessary hardware for microcontroller-based systems to meet a client’s specification.

To support the implementation of hardware designs software development of Embedded Microcontroller Systems will be employed looking at both low level assembly language/machine code programming through to C programming. The techniques employed will cover code generation procedures, structured programming techniques, reusable library functions and top down/bottom up programming methods.
All these techniques will be applied case studies based upon industrial research activities. Typical applications include:

These will cover areas such as temperature monitoring, algorithmic techniques; message passing systems and communication protocols.

Microcontroller technology has a broad range of applications within industry and research environments. Employing the use of a sophisticated ARM module exposes students to the diverse implementations, of such modules, and provides the key technical skills required by industry essential to modern digital and communication systems.

This module aims to further develop your capabilities in the areas of digital systems by means of synthesizable register-transfer level (RTL) coding.

The module starts by introducing digital system design and an overview of Verilog language. You will learn the implementation of both sequential and combinational circuits using Verilog as well as the concept of testbench and will learn how to apply the concept of testbench to real-world problems and how to simulate the real devices and digital components in your testbench. Through examples, you also will learn about FSM and design hierarchy and the benefit of clean code in a project. Further sections continue with the common design techniques, such as synchronisation reset, ping-pong operation, and cross clock domain design.
You will also learn techniques and tools that help you with developing your RTL codes including:
1- Simulation
2- Debugging
3- FSM design tools
4- Available standard library
This part of the module comes with a set of workshops specifically arranged to teach you how to use designated tools for simulation and programming a FPGA device.

Another section of the module is devoted to programming FPGA using modern programming languages. You will start by understanding SoC architectures and available modern programming languages for FPGA. Then you will learn the fundamental requirements of using a modern programming language for FPGA programming such as commonly used keywords, libraries, packages, etc. The structure of the modern programming language is covered and its implementing is then explained through several examples and you learn how to apply your acquired knowledge to real world problems. You then will be briefly introduced to topics including digital signal processing (DSP), software defined radio (SDR), and their common and cutting-edge applications in daily life and industry.

This module aims to introduce you to the concepts, structure and organisation of wireless communications from a system point of view, thus illustrating the theoretical concepts and their application in practical scenarios. Wireless communication systems including the old analogue as well all digital technologies based on the optical and radio frequencies will be introduced. In addition, you will learn about the fundamental theoretical concepts for both radio and optical based wireless communications.

The module syllabus:

• Communication Regulation: Regulating authorities; standards organisation; frequency spectrum, and power usage.

• Radio Communication: System and subsystem specifications for radio based communication including antennas and propagation mechanisms; cellular wireless systems, traffic engineering; noise and interference; noise factor and cascaded systems; wireless channel; link budget calculations; frequency re-use; GSM; multi-path propagation.

• Optical Wireless Communications: Including the concept of indoor optical wireless systems; diffused and line of sight links; optical channel characteristics; noise sources; and optical path link budgets.

• Digital Communication: M-ary modulation and demodulation; coherent and non-coherent systems; signalling space and constellation diagrams; BER performance of different modulation formats; matched filter detection.

• Multiplexing and Multiple Access: TDM, FDM, TDMLA, FDMA and CDMA.

The syllabus will allow you to understand and pursue careers of communication system design and deployment within the telecommunications industry. This module together with other modules such as the high level system design and high level digital / analogue circuit design will give you the skills and expertise required within the telecommunications and computer network industries, as well as preparing you to do further studies in the this and relevant fields.

Within this module you will learn some of the key design and development skills needed for analogue electronics. The module will run through a number of fundamental building blocks of circuit design to enable you to design and develop from a high level abstraction in circuit design. The module supports this learning though the use of specific tools mixed in with key design theory along with practical lab based skills for the development and design of analogue circuitry using optimisation techniques.

Computer Aided Design (CAD)
Experimentation based on the use and application of an industry standard CAD package (for example, OrCAD or Mentor Graphics). Use of CAD tools to experiment with a number of circuit structures to derive their function and application inside of an abstract CAD environment.
Components, Bipolar device operation and modelling in association with passive components. The design needs for the layout of components, including some of the key parameters needed for modelling inside a CAD environment.

Analogue Design
Design of fundamental analogue cell structures, including switches, active resistors, current sources and current sinks. The design of current mirrors from basic to more advanced supply voltage independent mirrors, and voltage and current references. Integrated circuit level design of the building blocks of communications, for example, low noise amplifiers, mixers, phase locked loops and oscillators.

This module aims to provide you with thorough understanding and knowledge of existing and new concepts and technologies in electrical power engineering, and apply the knowledges on design and industrial applications of power electronics and electric motor drives. You will cover the principles of advanced control techniques as applied to these systems. The module is specifically concerned with the following subjects: power electronics devices and conventional converter topologies; pulse-width-modulation (PWM) techniques; state of the art practical switching power converters; power quality and harmonic analysis of various power conversion systems; power electronics control of renewable energy sources including solar, wind, and fuel-cell energy systems as well as electric and hybrid vehicles; electric machines and drives fundamentals; space-vector theory, control and applications of DC and AC drives; vector and field-oriented control of high performance induction and synchronous motor drives; applications and efficiency of electric drives; regulations, standards and other professional issues.

This module aims to deepen your understanding, knowledge and ability to study the existing electrical power distribution networks and to consider new concepts and technologies for future ‘smart grid’ power networks. Emphasis will be given on the integration of renewable energy resources, electric vehicles, enabling technologies and the quality of supply. The module also covers advanced power electronics controllers and ICT techniques as applied to the smart grid.

This module also gives you the opportunity to critically analyse and develop an understanding of practical design and implementation issues, such as, quality of supply, cost considerations, regulations and standards. It explores the role of the built environment in the whole energy system, with a focus on the integration of renewables, demand response and static/mobile energy storage. You will develop skills in modelling, evaluation, and qualitative discussions of results, by applying your knowledge to develop techno-economic models of realistic case studies.
Topics covered will be reinforced by using real-world examples, case studies, and laboratory experiments. Published papers and simulations will be uploaded on eLearning portal to provide a good experience for students to see where the proposed algorithms/methods can be effectively applied.

Academic skills when studying away from your home institution can differ due to cultural and language differences in teaching and assessment practices. This module is designed to support your transition in the use and practice of technical language and subject specific skills around assessments and teaching provision in your chosen subject area in the Department of Architecture and Built Environment. The overall aim of this module is to develop your abilities to read and study effectively for academic purposes; to develop your skills in analysing and using source material in seminars and academic writing and to develop your use and application of language and communications skills to a higher level.

The topics you will cover on the module include:

• Understanding assignment briefs and exam questions.
• Developing academic writing skills, including citation, paraphrasing, and summarising.
• Practising ‘critical reading’ and ‘critical writing’.
• Planning and structuring academic assignments (e.g. essays, reports and presentations).
• Avoiding academic misconduct and gaining credit by using academic sources and referencing effectively.
• Listening skills for lectures.
• Speaking in seminar presentations.
• Giving discipline-related academic presentations, experiencing peer observation, and receiving formative feedback.
• Speed reading techniques.
• Discussing ethical issues in research, and analysing results.
• Describing bias and limitations of research.
• Developing self-reflection skills.

This module will provide you the fundamentals and theoretical underpinnings of the theory of networks, machine learning and their applications, create a solid background to support professional work in relation to a rapidly evolving field of research such as machine learning and artificial intelligence.
You will learn fundamental concepts of graphs theory, representation and quantitative characterisation of networks, statistical mechanics of random networks and their deployment for the realisation of systems which can process information and learn. You will achieve proficiency in relevant computer programming (Python) and suitable packages for network analysis and machine learning.
Topics in the syllabus will include fundamentals of graph theory and elements of neural networks (degree distributions, clustering, shortest paths, portioning, modularity), probability and statistical mechanics of networks, supervised/unsupervised machine learning.

In this module students will learn about Strategic Management, Project Management including Project Definition and its links to Project Success through the Management of Risk as well as Planning and Control of projects. Students will learn about management techniques and professional issues associated with relevant industry and society. They will enhance their critical reflection, analysis and other transferable skills which will aid their studies and support their career progression after graduating.

In addition, students will consider the role of ethics in delivering a Business Strategy and in their role as a manager. The Learning and Teaching strategy will engage students with lectures and online resources, much guided and independent reading about theory and practice as well as seminars where they will develop and improve their abilities and skills through reflection, discussion, and argument. The assessment will seek to move students from passive gatherers of knowledge to active participants in management decision making. Through the process they will refine and improve their own approaches to solving management problems in the subject disciplines. Students are required to critically analyse the management environment and to propose solution based on the module theory.