Advanced Electrical and Electronic Engineering with Extended Research MSc

The Holistic Engineering Design module is vital for future engineers as it equips them with the skills and mindset needed to address the complex and multifaceted challenges of the modern engineering landscape. It encourages students to consider ethical, environmental, and societal aspects of engineering design, making them well-prepared to create sustainable and innovative solutions in their future careers. This course fosters creativity, critical thinking, and effective communication, which are essential skills for successful engineers.

The Project Design and Development module equips students with the skills and knowledge needed to design, plan, and implement research projects – the module is essential for MSc students in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering that will commence their individual project in the summer. Students will learn about the importance of developing proposals, time plans and project management, as well as the necessity to adequately explain the context and backgrounds of projects through critiquing literature. Students will engage with their assigned project supervisors to aid in this module.

This module covers the development of advanced engineering software projects, spanning a range of application areas. Generic Topics to be discussed include: Large-scale software management, robust design and coding techniques, accurate and efficient numerical computing for technological simulations, parallel computing techniques applicable to several classes of parallel computer e.g. multicore, distributed and graphics processing unit (GPU) based systems, database design and implementation; distributed network based computing; hardware interfacing.

This module covers a range of advanced control techniques used in a wide range of engineering applications. Typical topics include multivariable state space modelling, linear and nonlinear systems, continuous and discrete domains and observer theory.

This module covers a range of advanced power electronic techniques and implementations for a variety of applications.

The principles, major algorithms, methods of implementation and applications of digital signal processing.

This module is an introduction to the principles and practice of instrumentation and measurement systems in an engineering context. The module will cover the generally applicable basic principles and then look at specific classes of instrument and associated electronics and signal processing methods. Topics covered include:

• Basic principles and instrument characteristics
• Measurement errors, basic statistics, noise and its control
• Dynamic characteristics of instruments
• Amplifiers, filters, ADCs and DACs
• Position, strain, pressure and motion sensors (resistive, capacitive, inductive, optical)
• Electronic and optical measurement instrumentation

This module covers the control of AC drives, covering drives for a variety of machine types and control strategies, for example, vector control.

This module introduces advanced electrical machine concepts and applications in the area of more electric transport, renewable generation and industrial automation.

Selected topics from the field of artificial intelligence with particular focus on the interface with electronic systems.

The module introduces both the syntax and application of HDL for the design of modern electronics. That would typically cover Xilinx, Mentor Graphics, and combinational and sequential circuits design.

Optics and photonics technology is used widely in modern life, this module starts with the basics of light and how we can manipulate it with optical components, building up to a practical understanding of optical systems. It covers the design of optical systems and the types of sources and detectors that can be used. Applications cover material processing, bio-photonics and optical imaging.

This module considers the design and operation of Power Systems in a range or transport related applications.

This module introduces typical analytical, computational and experimental tools used in the study of Radio Frequency (RF) and high frequency devices and systems. This module will detail the fundamentals of electromagnetic wave propagation and typical RF devices such as antennas, antenna arrays, amplifiers, mixers and metal wave guides.

This module covers the operation of modern power systems, including deregulated power systems, distributed generation, microgrids, the energy storage as well as technologies for producing clean energy.

In this module you will be assigned to an individual supervisor and will carry out a practical or theoretical industrially relevant project. You’ll conduct a literature survey, undertake initial practical or theoretical research and/or development work which could be undertaken within industry and write a report on this work. The module aims to give experience of starting a major research investigation with an industrial context within the topic area of their MSc course, including planning the work to meet a final deadline and reporting on the work both in a report and by an informal oral presentation.

The student will continue the project work started in Part 1 through the spring semester of the second year with the same project supervisor. The student will be expected to complete the research or development project by achieving the research goals and write a draft research paper.  The final output will be in the form of a research paper and the student is expected to defend their work in a viva voce examination attended by supervisor, moderator and (where appropriate) the industrial mentor. This module concentrates on the final delivery of the project objectives and communication of these results.