Program Overview

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Computer Engineering Program Overview

The Master of Science in Computer Engineering may be earned with thesis option or through the non-thesis option. Either option may be used as preparation for further graduate study or employment in industrial research, development or design. Also, a strong Ph.D. program is available for those who wish to pursue a research and/or teaching career in Industry, Government or Academia.

Master's Degree Requirements

• Thirty-one (31) credit hours; a thesis is optional.
• Students must have at least 21 hours of ECE courses that cover at least three specialty areas and have at least three credit hours of advanced-level (700-level) ECE courses.
• Students electing the Option B non-thesis option must meet core course requirements; have ECE courses that cover at least three specialty areas' and have at least three credit hours of 700-level ECE courses.

Doctoral Degree Requirements

• Approximately 54 credit hours are required beyond the M.S. degree or 72 credit hours beyond the B.S. degree.
• For those with an NC State MS degree in our department, no additional courses are required.
• For those with an NC State MS degree in another department, 6 credit hours are required in our department.
• For those with a non NC State MS degree, 12 credit hours of coursework are required.
• For those with only a Bachelors degree 30 credit hours of coursework are required.
• The remaining credit hours are research.

Student Financial Support

The department offers financial support to qualified students in the form of teaching assistantships, research assistantships, and fellowships. These sources of support generally include coverage of tuition and fees.

Admissions Requirements

• Admission to the M.S. program requires a B.S. in electrical engineering, computer engineering or computer science, and an overall undergraduate GPA of at least 3.0.
• For non-native English speakers, the minimum acceptable TOEFL score for admission to the M.S. program is 90 (minimum 18 in each area, with minimum of 19 on Speaking).
• Admission is further limited by available room in the elected program of study. Meeting the above minimum requirements alone does not guarantee admission.

Applicant Information

Computer Engineering (MS)

• Delivery Method: On Campus, Distance
• Entrance Exam: None
• Interview Required: None

Computer Engineering (PhD)

• Delivery Method: On-Campus
• Entrance Exam: None
• Interview Required: None

Application Deadlines

• Fall: January 9 (US and Intl)
• Spring: July 1 (US and Intl)

Degrees

• Computer Engineering (MS)
• Computer Engineering (MS): Internship Concentration
• Computer Engineering (PhD)
• Computer Engineering (Minor)
• Computer Engineering (Certificate)

Faculty

• List of faculty members:
  • Harald Ade
  • B. Jayant Baliga
  • Mesut E. Baran
  • Salah M. A. Bedair
  • Subhashish Bhattacharya
  • Alper Yusuf Bozkurt
  • Gregory T. Byrd
  • Stanley Cheung
  • Rada Yuryevna Chirkova
  • Mo-Yuen Chow
  • Max Cohen
  • Mihail Cutitaru
  • Huaiyu Dai
  • William Rhett Davis
  • Alexandra Duel-Hallen
  • Michael James Escuti
  • Do Young Eun
  • Demitry Farfurnik
  • Brian Allan Floyd
  • Paul D. Franzon
  • John Gajda
  • John J. Grainger
  • Edward Grant
  • Ali Gurbuz
  • Sevgi Gurbuz
  • Kook Han
  • Robert Wendell Heath
  • Brian L Hughes
  • Iqbal Husain
  • Ki Wook Kim
  • Frederick Anthony Kish Jr.
  • Robert Michael Kolbas
  • Hamid Krim
  • Yuan Liu
  • Frederick J. Livingston
  • Ning Lu
  • Srdjan Miodrag Lukic
  • Leda Lunardi
  • Thomas Kenan Miller III
  • Veena Misra
  • Rainer Frank Mueller
  • John F. Muth
  • H. Troy Nagle Jr.
  • Arne Nilsson
  • Omer Oralkan
  • Mehmet Cevdet Ozturk
  • Harilaos George Perros
  • Anderson Rodrigo de Queiroz
  • Douglas Stephen Reeves
  • James Lee Reynolds
  • Eric Rotenberg
  • Mihail Lorin Sichitiu
  • Avraham Silverman
  • Daniel D. Stancil
  • Michael B. Steer
  • J K Townsend
  • James Tuck
  • Daryoosh Vashaee
  • John Victor Veliadis
  • Ioannis Viniotis
  • Wenye Wang
  • Jonathan Wierer
  • Chenhan Xu
  • Huiyang Zhou
  • Jacob James Adams
  • Dror Zeev Baron
  • Michela Becchi
  • Aranya Chakrabortty
  • Alexander G. Dean
  • Qing Gu
  • Ismail Guvenc
  • Khaled Abdel Hamid Harfoush
  • Michael W. Kudenov
  • Edgar Lobaton
  • Zeljko Pantic
  • Nuria Gonzalez Prelcic
  • David Ricketts
  • Nitin Sharma
  • Cranos M. Williams
  • Chengying Xu
  • Aydin Aysu
  • Amay Jairaj Bandodkar
  • Michael Daniele
  • Yaoyao Jia
  • Shih-Chun Lin
  • Spyridon Pavlidis
  • Bradley Galloway Reaves
  • Muhammad Shahzad
  • Wenyuan Tang
  • Chau-Wai Wong
  • Tianfu Wu
  • Gregory Edward Bottomley
  • Laura J. Bottomley
  • James Paul Dieffenderfer
  • Robert Joseph Evans
  • Rachana Ashok Gupta
  • Douglas C. Hopkins
  • Steven Wade Hunter
  • Steven D. Jackson
  • Bongmook Lee
  • David Lee Lubkeman
  • Robert Dwight Oden Jr.
  • Hatice Orun Ozturk
  • Veety,Elena Nicolescu
  • Tania Milkova Paskova
  • Andrew J. Rindos III
  • Elena Nicolescu Veety
  • Leonard Wilson White
  • Donna G. Yu
  • Wensong Yu
  • Winser E. Alexander
  • George F. Bland
  • David H. Covington
  • Tildon H. Glisson Jr.
  • John R. Hauser
  • Michael A. Littlejohn
  • David Franklin McAllister
  • Carlton M. Osburn
  • Wilbur Carroll Peterson
  • Sarah Ann Rajala
  • Wesley E. Snyder

Courses

ECE 505: Neural Interface Engineering

• This course investigates the engineering techniques to understand, repair, replace, or enhance neural systems.
• Topics include: the history of bioelectricity phenomena, the basics of modern neuroscience in electrical engineering terms and models, design of functional electrical interfaces with the nervous system for stimulating and recording purposes, basics of electrochemistry development of various systems for neuroprosthetics and neurorobotics applications such as pacemakers, cochlear implants and neuroprosthetic limbs.
• Prerequisite: Senior or graduate standing.

ECE 506/ECE 406/CSC 406/CSC 506: Architecture Of Parallel Computers

• The need for parallel and massively parallel computers.
• Taxonomy of parallel computer architecture, and programming models for parallel architectures.
• Example parallel algorithms.
• Shared-memory vs. distributed-memory architectures.
• Correctness and performance issues.
• Cache coherence and memory consistency.
• Bus-based and scalable directory-based multiprocessors.
• Interconnection-network topologies and switch design.
• Brief overview of advanced topics such as multiprocessor prefetching and speculative parallel execution.
• Credit is not allowed for more than one course in this set: ECE 406, ECE 506, CSC 406.

ECE 510/ECE 410: Introduction to Signal Processing

• Concepts of digital signal processing: Discrete-Time Signals and Systems, Z-Transform, Frequency Analysis of Signals and Systems, Digital Filter Design, Analog-to-Digital and Digital-to-Analog Conversion, and the Discrete Fourier Transform.
• Prerequisite: ECE 301

ECE 511: Analog Electronics

• Analog integrated circuits and analog integrated circuit design techniques.
• Review of basic device and technology issues Comprehensive coverage of MOS and Bipolar operational amplifiers.
• Brief coverage of analog-to-digital conversion techniques and switched-capacitor filters.
• Strong emphasis on use of computer modeling and simulation as design tool.
• Students required to complete an independent design project.
• Prerequisite: ECE403

ECE 512: Data Science from a Signal Processing Perspective

• Topics covered will include modeling by minimum description length, scientific programming, optimization, machine learning basics, sparse signal processing, and dimensionality reduction.
• P: ECE 301 or equivalent (Fourier transforms), ECE 410 or 510 (analog to digital conversion, filters), probability, linear algebra, calculus.

ECE 514: Random Processes

• Probabilistic descriptions of signals and noise, including joint, marginal and conditional densities, autocorrelation, cross-correlation and power spectral density.
• Linear and nonlinear transformations.
• Linear least-squares estimation.
• Signal detection.
• Prerequisite: Statistics 371; Signals and Linear Systems; Linear Algebra; Calculus

ECE 515: Digital Communications

• This course is a first graduate-level course in digital communications.
• Functions and interdependence of various components of digital communication systems will be discussed.
• Statistical channel modeling, modulation and demodulation techniques, optimal receiver design, performance analysis methods, source coding, quantization, and fundamentals of information theory will be covered in this course.
• Prerequisite: ECE 514, ST 371, Signals and Linear Systems; Linear Algebra

ECE 516/ECE 406: System Control Engineering

• Introduction to analysis and design of continuous and discrete-time dynamical control systems.
• Emphasis on linear, single-input, single-output systems using state variable and transfer function methods.
• Open and closed-loop representation; analog and digital simulation; time and frequency response; stability by Routh-Hurwitz, Nyquist and Liapunov methods; performance specifications; cascade and state variable compensation.
• Assignments utilize computer-aided analysis and design programs.
• Prerequisite: ECE 435 or ECE 301

ECE 517/CSC 517: Object-Oriented Design and Development

• The design of object-oriented systems, using principles such as the GRASP principles, and methodologies such as CRC cards and the Unified Modeling Language (ULM).
• Requirements analysis.
• Design patterns Agile Methods.
• Static vs. dynamic typing.
• Metaprogramming.
• Open-source development practices and tools.
• Test-first development.
• Project required, involving contributions to an open-source software project.
• Prerequisite: CSC 326 or ECE 309

ECE 518/ECE 418/BME 418/BME 518: Wearable Biosensors and Microsystems

• This course surveys the methods and application of wearable electronics and microsystems to monitor human biometrics, physiology, and environmental conditions.
• Topics covered include wearable electrocardiograms, blood-glucose monitors, electronic tattoos, wearable energy harvesting, "smart" clothing, body area networks, and distributed population networks.
• Critical comparison of different sensor modalities, quantitative metrics, and how their limitations in realistic applications define the selection, design, and operation criteria of one type of sensor over another will be considered.
• Prerequisite: Senior standing

ECE 522/BME 522: Medical Instrumentation

• Fundamentals of medical instrumentation systems, sensors, and biomedical signal processing.
• Example instruments for cardiovascular and respiratory assessment.
• Clinical laboratory measurements, theraputic and prosthetic devices, and electrical safety requirements.
• Students should have background in electronics design using operational amplifiers.
• Prerequisite: ECE 302

ECE 523: Photonics and Optical Communications

• This course investigates photonic devices at the component level and examines the generation, propagation and detection of light in the context of optical communication systems.
• Topics include planar and cylindrical optical waveguides, LEDs, lasers, optical amplifiers, integrated optical and photodetectors, design tradeoffs for optical systems, passive optical networks, and wavelength division multiplexed systems.
• Prerequisite: Graduate standing or Senior standing; Engineering Majors or Physics Majors

ECE 524/ECE 424: Radio System Design

• Introduction to communication theory and radio system design.
• Design and analysis of radio systems, such as heterodyne transceivers, and effects of noise and nonlinearity.
• Design and analysis of radio circuits: amplifiers, filters, mixers, baluns and other transmission line and discrete circuits.
• Prerequisite: ECE 302

ECE 529: Semiconductor Optoelectronic Devices

• This course explores the theory and operational characteristics of semiconductor optoelectronic devices.
• It broadly covers the fundamentals of the propagation, modulation, generation, and absorption of light in semiconductors.
• Topics include the energy transfer between photons and electrons/holes, light emission and absorption, radiative and non-radiative processes, electrical and optical characteristics, semiconductor materials, heterojunctions, and light extraction and trapping.
• Specific devices that are discussed include laser diodes, light-emitting diodes, electroabsorption modulators, photodetectors, and solar cells.
• Prerequisite: ECE 302 and ECE 404 or equivalent; knowledge of programming and plotting software such as MATLAB, Python, or Excel

ECE 530: Physical Electronics

• Properties of charged particles under influence of fields and in solid materials.
• Quantum mechanics, particle statistics, semi-conductor properties, fundamental particle transport properties, p-n junctions.
• Prerequisite: ECE 303, B average in ECE and MA

ECE 533: Power Electronics Design & Packaging

• This course introduces design of high-performance power electronic circuits where the integrated physical topology must be considered as part of the circuit, and provides an understanding of the multitude of parasitic elements created by circuit layout, materials and fabrication techniques.
• This prepares the student for high-density, high-frequency design of converters, gate drive circuits and resonant topologies.
• The student is also introduced to a power-electronics packaging lab and primary fabrication processes, such as Direct Bonded Copper (DBC) module construction with heavy-wire bonding, two-sided and 3D power modules in layered polymers, and high-voltage isolation of circuits with encapsulate in modules.
• Prerequisite: ECE 434 or with permission of instructor

ECE 534: Power Electronics

• DC and AC analysis of isolated and non-isolated switch mode power supply.
• Basic converter topologies covered include: buck, boost and buck/boost and their transformer-couples derivatives.
• Design of close loop of these DC/DC converters.
• Power devices and their applications in DC/DC converters.
• Inductor and transformer design.
• Prerequisite: ECE 302

ECE 535/MAE 535: Design of Electromechanical Systems

• A practical introduction to electromechanical systems with emphasis on modeling, analysis, design, and control techniques.
• Provides theory and practical tools for the design of electric machines (standard motors, linear actuators, magnetic bearings, etc).
• Involves some self-directed laboratory work and culuminates in an industrial design project.
• Topics include Maxwell's equations, electromechanical energy conversion, finite element analysis, design and control techniques.
• Prerequisite: MA 341

ECE 536: Digital Control System Projects

• Discrete system dynamics, sampled-data systems, mathematical representations of analog/digital and digital/analog conversions, open- and -closed-loop systems, input-output relationships, state-space and stability analyses, time and frequency domain analysis with emphasis on time domain.
• Design and implementation of digital controllers.
• Case studies.
• Design project including hardware implementation.
• Prerequisite: Graduate standing & ECE 436 or similar or consent of instructor

ECE 538: Integrated Circuits Technology and Fabrication

• Processes used in fabrication of modern integrated circuits.
• Process steps for crystal growth, oxidation, diffusion, ion implantation, lithography, chemical vapor deposition, etching, metallization, layout and packaging.
• Process integration for MOS and biopolar processes.
• Characterization techniques, simulation, yield and reliability.
• Prerequisite: ECE 404

ECE 540: Electromagnetic Fields

• Brief review of Maxwell's Equations, constitutive relations and boundary conditions.
• Reflection and refraction of plane waves; power and energy relations in isotropic media.
• Potential functions, Green's functions and their applications to radiation and scattering.
• Antenna fundamentals: linear antennas, uniform linear arrays and aperture antennas, microstrip antennas.
• Fundamentals of numerical methods for electromagnetic simulation and antenna design.
• Prerequisite: ECE 422

ECE 541: Antennas and Arrays

• This course introduces theoretical and practical concepts for antennas and arrays.
• Students will learn antenna fundamentals and basic parameters, the relationships between radiation and vector potentials, and apply key electromagnetic theorems such as image theory and equivalence principle.
• The theory and design of linear antennas, aperture antennas, microstrip antennas are discussed.
• Radiation pattern control via phased arrays, reflectarrays, and periodic structures are studied.
• Students will learn CAD tools for electromagnetic design.
• This course assumes familiarity with Maxwell's equations, electromagnetic waves, electromagnetic theorems, and transmission line theory.
• Prerequisite: ECE 422 or equivalent

ECE 542/CSC 542: Neural Networks

• Techniques for the design of neural networks for machine learning.
• An introduction to deep learning.
• Emphasis on theoretical and practical aspects including implementations using state-of-the-art software libraries.
• Requirement: Programming experience (an object-oriented language such as Python), linear algebra (MA 405 or equivalent), and basic probability and statistics.

ECE 544: Design Of Electronic Packaging and Interconnects

• A study of the design of digital and mixed signal interconnect and packaging.
• Topics covered include: Single chip (surface mount and through-hole) and multi-chip module packaging thecnology; packaging techology selection; thermal design; electricaldesign of printed circuit board, backplane and multi-chip module interconnect; receiver and driver selection; EMI control; CAD tools; and measurement issues.
• Prerequisite: ECE 302

ECE 546: VLSI Systems Design

• Digital systems design in CMOS VLSI technology: CMOS devise physics, fabrication, primitive components, design and layout methodology, integrated system architectures, timing, testing future trends of VLSI technology.
• Prerequisite: ECE 302

ECE 547/CSC 547: Cloud Computing Technology

• Study of cloud computing principles, architectures, and actual implementations.
• Students will learn how to critically evaluate cloud solutions, how to construct and secure a private cloud computing environment based on open source solutions, and how to federate it with external clouds.
• Performance, security, cost, usability, and utility of cloud computing solutions will be studied both theoretically and in hands-on exercises.
• Hardware-, infrastructure-, platform-, software-, security-, - "as-a-service".
• Prerequisites: CSC 501 and either ECE/CSC 570 or ECE/CSC 573

ECE 548/ECE 448: Python in ECE

• The course provides broad exposure to Python programming to solve ECE-related problems.
• Course topics include basic mathematical operations, string /array operations, lists, functions, standard libraries in Python, files/folder operations, extracting and parsing data, data visualization techniques (graphs, tables, charts), and interfacing basic hardware such as sensors and microcontrollers for data collection and storage.
• The course will also have an introduction to the Python OpenCV library for computer vision, networking socket libraries, and machine learning libraries.
• Thus, the course is mainly designed for Electrical and Computer Engineering students at an advanced level of programming knowledge, not an introductory level of programming, and will differ from other programming and Python classes due to topics in hardware interfacing and Computer Vision.
• Please see a detailed list of topics and learning outcomes to know more about the course.
• Prerequisite: (ECE 209 and ECE 211 and ECE 212 and ECE 220) Or their equivalent.

ECE 549: RF Design for Wireless

• Design of the hardware aspects of wireless systems with principle emphasis on design of radio frequency (RF) and microwave circuitry.
• Introduction of system concepts then functional block design of a wireless system.
• RF and microwave transistors, noise, power ampliefiers, CAE, linearization and antennas.
• Prerequisite: ECE 303, ECE 302

ECE 550: Power System Operation and Control

• Fundamental concepts of economic operation and control of power systems.
• Real and reactive power balance.
• System components, characteristics and operation.
• Steady state and dynamic analysis of interconnected systems.
• Tieline power and load-frequency control with integrated economic dispatch.
• Prerequisite: ECE 305, ECE 435

ECE 551: Smart Electric Power Distribution Systems

• Features and components of electric power distribution systems, power flow, short circuit and reliability analysis, basic control and protection, communications and SCADA, new "smart" functionality such as integrated volt/var control, automated fault location isolation and restoration, demand response and advanced metering infrastructure, integration of distributed generation and energy storage.
• Prerequisite: ECE 451

ECE 552/ECE 452: Renewable Electric Energy Systems

• Principles and characteristics of renewable energy based electric power generation technologies such as photovoltaic systems, wind turbines, and fuel cells.
• Main system design issues.
• Integration of these energy sources into the power grid.
• Economics of distributed generation.
• Credit is not allowed for both ECE 452 and ECE 552.
• Prerequisite: ECE 305 or ECE 331

ECE 553: Semiconductor Power Devices

• The operational physics and design concepts for power semiconductor devices.
• Relevant transport properties of semiconductors.
• Design of breakdown voltage and edge terminations.
• Analysis of Schottky rectifiers, P-i-N rectifiers, Power MOSFETs, Bipolar Transistors, Thyristors and Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistors.
• Prerequisite: ECE 404

ECE 554: Electric Motor Drives

• Topics covered in this course: Principles of Electromechanical energy conversion; analysis, modeling and control of electric machinery; steady state performance characteristics of direct current, induction, synchronous and reluctance machines; scalar control of induction machines; introduction to direct and quadrature axis theory; dynamic models of induction and synchronous machines; vector control of induction and synchronous machines.
• Prerequisite: ECE 305 or equivalent

ECE 555: Computer Control of Robots

• An introduction to robotics: history and background, design, industrial applications and usage.
• Manipulator sensors, actuators and control, linear, non-linear, and force control.
• Manipulator kinematics: position and orientation, frame assignment, transformations, forward and inverse kinematics.
• Jacobian: velocities and static forces.
• Manipulator Kinetics: velocity, acceleration, force.
• Trajectory generation.
• Programming languages: manipulator level, task level, and object level.
• Introduction to advanced robotics.
• Credit will not be awarded for both ECE 455 and 555.
• Prerequisite: ECE 435; ECE 436; ECE 456

ECE 556/ECE 456: Mechatronics

• The study of electro-mechanical systems controlled by microcomputer technology.
• The theory, design and construction of smart systems; closely coupled and fully integrated products and systems.
• The synergistic integration of mechanisms, materials, sensors, interfaces, actuators, microcomputers, controllers, and information technology.
• Prerequisite: ECE 308

ECE 557: Principles Of MOS Transistors

• MOS capacitor and transistor regions of operation.
• Depletion and enhancement mode MOSFETs.
• MOSFET scaling, short and narrow channel effects.
• MOSFETs with ion-implanted channels.
• High field effects in MOSFETs with emphasis on recent advances in design of hit carrier suppressed structures.
• Small and large signal MOSFET models.
• State of the art in MOS process integration.
• Prerequisite: ECE 404

ECE 558: Digital Imaging Systems

• Foundation for designing and using digital devices to accurately capture and display color images, spatial sampling, frequency analysis, quantization and noise characterization of images.
• Basics of color science are presented and applied to image capture and output devices.
• Prerequisites: ECE 301 and ST 372

ECE 560/ECE 460: Embedded System Architectures

• Concepts of architectures for embedded computing systems.
• Emphasis on hands-on implementation.
• CPU scheduling approaches to support multithreaded programs, including interrupts, cooperative schedulers, state machines, and preemptive scheduler (real-time kernel).
• Communication and synchronization between threads.
• Basic real-time analysis.
• Using hardware peripherals to replace software.
• Architectures and design patterns for digital control, streaming data, message parsing, user interfaces, low power, low energy, and dependability.
• Software engineering concepts for embedded systems.
• Students may not receive credit for both ECE 460 and ECE 560.
• Prerequisite: C- or better in ECE 306

ECE 561/ECE 461: Embedded System Design

• Design and implementation of software for embedded computer systems.
• The students will learn to design systems using microcontrollers, C and assembly programming, real-time methods, computer architecture, interfacing system development and communication networks.
• System performance is measured in terms of power consumption, speed and reliability.
• Efficient methods for project development and testing are emphasized.
• Credit will not be awarded for both ECE 461 and ECE 561.
• Restricted to CPE and EE Majors.
• Prerequisite: Grade of C- or better in ECE 460

ECE 563/ECE 463: Microprocessor Architecture

• Architecture of microprocessors.
• Measuring performance.
• Instruction-set architectures.
• Memory hierarchies, including caches, prefetching, program transformations for optimizing caches, and virtual memory.
• Processor architecture, including pipelining, hazards, branch prediction, static and dynamic scheduling, instruction-level parallelism, superscalar, and VLIW.
• Major projects.
• Prerequisite: ECE 209 and ECE 212

ECE 564/ECE 464: ASIC and FPGA Design with Verilog

• Design of digital application specific integrated circuits (ASICs) and Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) based on hardware description languages (Verilog) and CAD tools.
• Emphasis on design practices and underlying methods.
• Introduction to ASIC specific design issues including verification, design for test, low power design and interfacing with memories.
• Required design project.
• Expected Prior Experience or Background: ECE 310 is useful but not assumed.
• Functionally, I assume that students are familiar with logic design, including combinational logic gates, sequential logic gates, timing design, Finite State Machines, etc.
• P: Grade of C or better in ECE 212 or equivalent.

ECE 565/ECE 465: Operating Systems Design

• The course explores basic concepts and mechanisms related to the design of modern operating systems, including: process scheduling and coordination, memory management, synchronization, storage, file systems, security and protection, and their application to multi-core and many-core processors.
• The course involves coding projects requiring strong C programming skills.
• Prerequisite: ECE306 or CSC246; ECE309; Restrictions: ECE465, ECE565 and CSC501 are mutually exclusive: students may not receive credit for both ECE465 and ECE565, or both ECE465 and CSC501, or both ECE565 and CSC501

ECE 566/ECE 466: Compiler Optimization and Scheduling

• Provide insight into current compiler designs dealing with present and future generations of high performance processors and embedded systems.
• Introduce basic concepts in scanning and parsing.
• Investigate in depth program representation, dataflow analysis, scalar optimization, memory disambiguation, and interprocedural optimizations.
• Examine hardware/software trade-offs in the design of high performance processors, in particular VLIW versus dynamically scheduled architectures.
• Investigate back-end code generation techniques related to instruction selection, instruction scheduling for local, cyclic and global acyclic code, and register allocation and its interactions with scheduling and optimization.
• Prerequisites: ECE 209 or competency in any machine language programming and ECE 309 or CSC 316 or proficiency in either C or C++ programming using advanced data structures, like hash tables and linked lists.

ECE 568/ECE 468/CHE 468/CHE 568: Conventional and Emerging Nanomanufacturing Techniques and Their Applications in Nanosystems

• Conventional and emerging nano-manufacturing techniques and their applications in the fabrication of various structures and devices.
• Review of techniques for patterning, deposition, and etching of thin films including emerging techniques such as an imprint and soft lithography and other unconventional techniques.
• Electronic and mechanical properties of 0 to 3-D nanostructures and their applications in nano-electronics, MEMS/NEMS devices, sensing, energy harvesting, storage, flexible electronics and nano-medicine.
• Credit for both ECE/CHE 468 and ECE/CHE 568 is not allowed.
• Prerequisite: E 304

ECE 569/CSC 569: Quantum Computing

• This course provides an introduction to quantum computing.
• It will feature the three pillars, quantum system architectures, algorithms, and programming of quantum computing.
• Its focus is on the applicability of problems to quantum computing from a practical point of view, with only the necessary foundational coverage of the physics and theoretical aspects to understand quantum computing.
• Both simulation software and actual quantum computers will be utilized to prototype problem solutions.
• This should develop a better understanding of how problems are transformed into quantum algorithms and what programming language support is best suited for a given application area.
• The course will require significant background reading plus presentations, projects, and exercises per participant.
• Prerequisite: Knowledge of Python programming and linear algebra

ECE 570/CSC 570: Computer Networks

• General introduction to computer networks.
• Discussion of protocol principles, local area and wide area networking, OSI stack, TCP/IP and quality of service principles.
• Detailed discussion of topics in medium access control, error control coding, and flow control mechanisms.
• Introduction to networking simulation, security, wireless and optical networking.
• Prerequisite: ECE 206 or CSC 312, ST 371, CSC 258 and Senior standing or Graduate standing

ECE 572/CSC 572: Optimizations and Algorithms

• This course introduces advanced optimization theory and algorithms with rapidly growing applications in machine learning, systems, and control.
• Methods are given to obtain a non-dynamic system's extremum (minimum or maximum) and use these methods in various engineering applications.
• This course aims to prepare graduate students with a solid theoretical and mathematical foundation and applied techniques at the intersection of optimization, algorithms, and machine learning to conduct advanced research in related fields.
• Students will gain expertise in designing algorithms based on common techniques, dealing with intractable problems, and implementing algorithms given the description.
• Students must undertake a semester-long project (at Google Colab) that practices the optimization theory and algorithms in their areas of interest.
• These projects can replicate or improve a known solving strategy for a given optimization problem to assess and compare the performance.
• Restriction: Introductory courses in probability and linear algebra and Graduate Student Standing

ECE 573/CSC 573: Internet Protocols

• Principles and issues underlying provision of wide area connectivity through interconnection of autonomous networks.
• Internet architecture and protocols today and likely evolution in future.
• Case studies of particular protocols to demonstrate how fundamental principles applied in practice.
• Selected examples of networked clinet/server applications to motivate the functional requirements of internetworking.
• Project required.
• Prerequisite: CSC/ECE 570

ECE 574/CSC 574: Computer and Network Security

• This course presents foundational concepts of computer and network security and privacy.
• It covers a wide breadth of concepts, including; Fundamentals of computer security and privacy, including security models, policies, and mechanisms; Cryptography for secure systems, including symmetric and asymmetric ciphers, hash functions, and integrity mechanisms; Authentication of users and computers; Network attacks and defenses at the network and application layers; Common software vulnerabilities and mitigation strategies; Secure operating systems and seminal access control models and policies; Principles of intrusion detection; Privacy, including considerations of end-user technologies.
• Prerequisite: (CSC 316 or ECE309) and (CSC 401 or ECE407) or equivalent

ECE 575/CSC 575: Introduction to Wireless Networking

• Introduction to cellular communications, wireless local area networks, ad-hoc and IP infrastructures.
• Topics include: cellular networks, mobility management, connection admission control algorithms, mobility models, wireless IP networks, ad-hoc routing, sensor networks, quality of service, and wireless security.
• Prerequisite: ECE/CSC 570

ECE 576/CSC 576: Networking Services: QoS, Signaling, Processes

• Topics related to networking services, signaling for setting up networking services, such as SIP and IMS, networking architectures for providing QoS for networking services, such as MPLS, DiffServ and RAC, signaling protocols for setting up QoS connections in the transport stratum, such as LDP and RSVP-TE, video-based communications, and capacity planning models for dimensioning services.
• Prerequisite: CSC/ECE 570

ECE 577/CSC 577: Switched Network Management

• Topics related to design and management of campus enterprise networks, including VLAN design; virtualization and automation methodologies for management; laboratory use of open space source and commercial tools for managing such networks.

ECE 578/CSC 578: LTE and 5G Communications

• The course provides an introduction to the theoretical fundamentals and practical/experimental aspects of Long Term Evolution (LTE) and 5G systems.
• A basic understanding of digital communications and radio access networks is required.
• Following topics will be studied: 1) User and control plane protocols, 2) physical layer for downlink, 3) physical layer for uplink, 4) practical deployment aspects, 5) LTE-Advanced, 6) 5G communications.
• Fundamental concepts to be covered in the context of LTE/5G systems include OFDMA/SC-FDMA, synchronization, channel estimation, link adaptation, MIMO, scheduling, and millimeter wave systems.
• Students are recommended to have the prior knowledge gained from ECE 570 or ECE 582 before taking this course.
• The course will also require using Matlab software for homeworks, including its LTE and 5G toolboxes.

ECE 579/OR 579/CSC 579: Introduction to Computer Performance Modeling

• Workload characterization, collection and analysis of performance data, instrumentation, tuning, analytic models including queuing network models and operational analysis, economic considerations.
• Prerequisite: CSC 312 or ECE 206 and MA 421

ECE 581: Electric Power System Protection

• Protection systems used to protect the equipment in an electric power system against faults, fault analysis methods, basic switchgear used for protection, basic protection schemes, such as overcurrent, differential, and distance protection and their application.
• Prerequisite: ECE 451

ECE 583: Electric Power Engineering Practicum I

• This course introduces fundamentals of project management and system engineering principles in a wide range of electric power applications from concept through termination.
• The course also provides opportunities for students to adapt technical content to both expert and novice audiences in project management reports and presentations.
• Restricted to Master of Science in Electric Power Systems Engineering.
• Prerequisite: ECE 451

ECE 584: Electric Power Engineering Practicum II

• In this capstone course students will apply electric engineering and science knowledge to an electrical power engineering project.
• Consideration of the design process including feasibility study, preliminary design detail, cost effectiveness, along with development and evaluation of a prototype accomplished through design-team project activity.
• Complete written and oral engineering report required.
• Restricted to Master of Science in Electric Power Systems Engineering.
• Prerequisite: ECE 583

ECE 585: The Business of the Electric Utility Industry

• Evolution of the electric utility industry, the structure and business models of the industry, the regulatory factors within which the utilities operate, the operations of the utility industry and the current policy and emerging technology issues facing the business.
• The course includes significant interaction with industry officials and utility business operations.
• Prerequisite: ECE 451

ECE 586: Communication and SCADA Systems for Smart Grid

• This is an introductory course on communication technologies and SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) systems for smart electric power applications.
• The fundamental concepts, principles, and practice of how communication systems operate are introduced and the function