Electronic and Communication Engineering (with Placement) MSc drafted drafted

Program Overview

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About the course

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Reasons to study

Knowledge – Learn the latest knowledge and skills from our team of professional engineers and technicians with experience in the electronic and communication systems industry.

Boosted Career Prospects – 88.2% of our postgraduate students go on to work and/or further study within fifteen months of graduating.*

Practical Experience – Our team will support you in securing a six-month placement to practice the skills and techniques developed throughout the course.

*HESA Graduate Outcomes 19/20, UK domiciled graduates, other activities excluded.

This course is specifically aimed at International students, supporting those wishing to gain practical work based experiential learning. Together with studying your chosen course we are offering you the opportunity to secure a placement* for an additional 6 months, making the course 18 months in length. This allows students with limited experience to put into practice the skills and techniques developed throughout the Master’s degree.

Electronic and communication systems are used to produce, transmit, receive and process signals for information transfer in communications systems. Optical fibre, radio frequency and wireless technologies are investigated alongside optimal coding systems and protocols, in addition to the principle aspects of electronic engineering.

This course aims to cover a range of design and development areas relevant to electronic systems and communication projects. You should gain the knowledge and skills required of a professional engineer to design and develop systems for applications such as: wireless communications, mobile-cellular communications, electronics design, broadcasting, remote control, instrumentation, diagnostics, and monitoring.

Graduate destinations are in electronic and communication engineering research, design and development in mobile telecommunications, satellite and aerospace industries.

*Please see the placement section for more details.

Program Outline

Course detail

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Modules

Core modules

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Digital Design

The module investigates the design, interfacing and performance enhancement of digital synchronous systems. In this module, you will study the circuit level design of arithmetic signal processing blocks as well as sequential systems and implement these designs using Hardware Description Language (HDL) tools. You will develop an understanding of computer architecture and electronic testing and Design For Testability (DFT). This module will enable you to design and implement digital systems on industry standard HDL tools.

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Communication Systems

This module aims to provide you with an increased understanding of various digital communications systems as well as their design and performance. It begins with a basic discussion of communications techniques and noise. It then develops an understanding of several systems drawing from coaxial cable, radio, TV, satellite, RF links, etc. You will learn about different types of modulations including Binary Phase Shift Keying (BPSK), QPSK (Quadrature PSK), and QAM (Quadrature Ampitude Modulation), Pulse Code Modulation (PCM) and about Additive White Gaussian Noise (AWGN), Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR), antennas (dipoles, antenna arrays, omnidirectional antennas, directive antennas), electromagnetic wave propagation (free-space, plane earth approximation, diffraction attenuation), digital radio/TV, mobile and satellite communications.

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Advanced Technical Project

"The project provides the opportunity required within an MSc to undertake and manage a major programme of advanced independent work. The aim of this module is to give you the ability to apply your knowledge and skills to conceive and deliver a creative solution to a technical challenge at the forefront of your discipline. Where possible the project is carried out in collaboration with an industrial company and takes place at the company. Your academic supervisor will be based within one of the research centres or institutes within the Department of Engineering and Technology. The project is the opportunity for you to show your ability to deal with complex issues both systematically and creatively and to show originality in tackling and solving problems. You will be allocated a project supervisor(s) who will help guide you through this process. The project will allow you to display the qualities needed for employment in circumstances requiring sound judgement, personal responsibility and initiative in complex and unpredictable professional environments.

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Professional Development and Research Methods

professional development, you will develop professional skills such as team working, organisation and leadership. You will also get the opportunity to explore a range of research methods and understand how they can be used in your own area of interest. There will be the opportunity to learn about professional registration in Engineering and how you can begin on that journey. You will learn through self directed study of online material supported by interactive seminars and workshops, this will give you ownership of your own learning and help you develop skills for life long learning and continued professional development. The assessment for this module will enable you to put these skills into practice in coursework which challenges your professional development and research skills whilst focussing on broadening your understanding of contemporary challenges in the sector.

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Wireless Communications for LANs, PANs and the IoT

The module is concerned with the principles of modern communication systems and their application in wireless communication networks, in particular the Internet of Things. You will begin with a basic overview of communications techniques as used in wireless applications. Then you will review existing wireless sensor, and related, technologies such as Bluetooth, ZigBee, WirelessHart and LoRaWAN comparing their performance metrics and application areas. The role of wireless communication technologies in the Internet of Things and similar application areas will be discussed.

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Project and Finance Management

This module aims to develop your understanding of the strategic aspects of programme and project management and its role in adding competitive advantage to an organisation. The module enables you to gain a firm grounding in the principles, processes, tools and techniques that underpin programme and project management. It also aids you to develop a systematic understanding of the purposes and uses of financial information, together with the ability to use quantitative skills to improve performance management and decision making within an organisation. Emphasis is placed upon the need for competence in project planning and control. Team-working, communication and risk management skills are developed by means of group activity. Extensive use is made of project management and simulation software.

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Professional Development and Practice

This module provides you with the opportunity to reflect on your professional practice during your Masters degree by undertaking a period of development through study or by working with a company, research group or within a teaching environment in the UK or overseas. This module encourages you to reflect on your technical, personal and professional development experiences, and to identify your learning from these experiences.

Optional modules

Choose from a list that may include

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Modern Vehicle Systems

The module is structured to give you an appreciation of the issues encompassing the move to lower emission road transportation, an understanding of the technical and economic aspects of new vehicle drive-train technologies and the ability to make informed design decisions associated with the integration of more-electric systems for road vehicle traction and control. You will also learn about the major elements that make up a vehicle power-train and consider the interconnection and operational interaction of the components.

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Virtual Instrumentation

This module will provide you with knowledge of hardware and software aspects of virtual instrumentation (VI). You will acquire skills in modelling, designing, processing and simulating a range of analogue and digital systems. The practical elements of this module will equip you with an ability to implement a virtual instrument on a PC using graphical programming. You will deploy industry standard LabVIEW software tools in designing and simulating real systems.

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Cyber-crime and Forensics Awareness

Upon successful completion of this module, you will have a systematic understanding of knowledge, and critical awareness of current cyber security challenges and how they are exploited through cybercrime. This includes gaining practical knowledge of how to perform and critically evaluate a crime scene from a digital perspective. You will also be enabled to critically evaluate and engage in scholarship in the discipline, including proposing and testing both research and investigative hypotheses. You will explore many different aspects of cybercrime and how they are fundamentally possible, often through exploiting weaknesses in computer and network security.

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Computers in Control

This module provides a critical review of the hardware and software aspects of microcontroller interfacing. You will develop an understanding of embedded systems concepts through the use of various peripherals. You will explore various aspects of microcontroller based systems such as support programs, design environment, memory utilization, compilation, and modularization. This module will extend your design skills in both software and hardware in implementing microcontrollers in embedded systems.

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Teaching and Assessment

You will be taught via lectures, tutorials and laboratory practical sessions and demonstrations. Recordings of sessions (e.g. lectures) will be made available through our Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), Brightspace. Computational, practical and tutorial work is carried out on one of the school's equipped laboratories. Project work is usually carried out using the same equipment and test rigs that are used for advanced research at the university.

A variety of assessment strategies are used depending on the type and nature of the module. These include examinations, reports on laboratory experiments, laboratory-based assignments and projects.

Your module specification/course handbook will provide full details of the assessment criteria applying to your course. Assessment will include coursework and peer review and reflect the emphasis of the course on the ability to apply knowledge and skills.

Feedback (either written and/or verbal) is normally provided on all coursework submissions within three term time weeks – unless the submission was made towards the end of the session in which case feedback would be available on request after the formal publication of results. Feedback on final coursework is available on request after the publication of results

Further information

The teaching year normally starts in September with breaks at Christmas and Easter, finishing with a main examination/assessment period around May/June. Timetables are normally available one month before registration.

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Teaching excellence

1. Triple proof of teaching excellence: our staff rank in the top three in England for the proportion who hold doctorates, who have higher degrees, and hold teaching qualifications (HESA 2022). So, you’ll learn from some of the best, helping you to be the best.

2. We are joint first in the country for National Teaching Fellowships, which mark the UK’s best lecturers in Higher Education, winning a total of 20 since 2008 (2022 data).

3. We won the first Global Teaching Excellence Award, recognising the University’s commitment to world-class teaching and its success in developing students as independent learners and critical thinkers (Higher Education Academy, 2017).

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Enhance your career

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We would expect to see graduates progress to careers in electronic and electrical engineering, research and development in the electronics and communications industry. You could also go on to further study and the University has many options available for postgraduate research which may interest you.**

*  Percentage of graduates from the School of Computing and Engineering who are in work and/or further study fifteen months after graduating (HESA Graduate Outcomes 19/20, UK domiciled graduates)

** Source: LinkedIn

88.2%*

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Placements

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This course provides you with the chance to undertake a 6 month placement at the end of the taught element. This may be by working in a company, a research group or within a teaching environment. A placement can help you build on the knowledge and skills developed on the course.

The placement is a valuable tool that can enhance your employability and help you to develop as an individual. It is acknowledged that graduates with work experience are generally much more attractive to employers.

Our Placement Unit will be on hand to support you in finding a suitable placement opportunity. Students will have access to online learning materials to pick up advice on CVs, cover letters, speculative applications, online applications, and interviews. In addition, students will have access to the placement drop-in sessions for one-to-one advice and have a mock interview.