MSc - Electronics Engineering with Extended Professional Practice

University of Hertfordshire

Undertaking a placement year provides you with the opportunity to place your academic studies in a broader professional context, gain practical experience in an engineering or STEM environment, and strengthen key employability skills. You will develop confidence, industry awareness and a clearer understanding of workplace expectations. The MSc Professional Work Placement module supports you in reflecting on the learning gained during your placement and helps you articulate your experiences, responsibilities, and enhanced skills clearly and effectively when applying for future employment or progressing your career.

This module presents the architecture of the field programmable gate array (FPGA) and introduces applications that are efficient for implementation on reconfigurable platforms. As part of a group, individuals have the responsibility for workstreams towards designing and applying digital signal processing algorithms for specific applications, and evaluates the performance of the system, and of the team. Specialist software and hardware tools are used to simulate and evaluate applications of FPGA-based systems.

This module enables students to gain advanced knowledge and understanding of digital modulation and error control techniques. Propagation topics such as fading models and multipath effects with an emphasis on mobile communications, transmission and communications protocols such as 5G cellular radio systems and MIMO transmission are also studied.

This module enables students to gain an advanced understanding of microwave engineering, including the behaviour of microwave signals, transmission lines, and passive components. Students learn about microwave devices and circuits and their applications. The module also covers RF theory. Lab sessions focus on design and analysis of microwave circuits and transmission lines.

This module is designed to provide students with advanced knowledge of applied artificial intelligence in specific subject areas through dedicated lectures, and practical work. Topics covered include machine learning, neural networks, and deep learning and their application to the solution of complex engineering problems.

This module enables students to gain systematic understanding of digital signal processing and its applications. The material included in the module ranges from techniques and design methods used in digital signal processing to the architecture of digital signal processors. Students have the opportunity to gain a comprehensive understanding of fixed-point and floating-point implementations on digital signal processors and how to make appropriate implementation choices. Software tools will be used to simulate some of the applications on digital signal processors.

The Masters Project serves as a pivotal integrating component of the programme, aimed at challenging and enhancing critical thinking skills. It offers students the opportunity to synthesise and apply the knowledge and skills gained throughout their postgraduate studies under the mentorship of an academic supervisor. The project typically requires 600 hours of self-driven scholarly work. This effort predominantly involves self-directed independent study, which may encompass a variety of activities such as scheduled sessions, supervisory meetings, literature review, software analysis, and preparation for assessments.

This module supports students in their search and application for a placement via a series of online seminars and material in topics like CV writing, applying for placement, preparing for psychometric test, and developing interview techniques. The module aims to assist students in their placement search, application and to provide a general preparation for successful participation in the workforce.

This module enables students to design and implement embedded software and hardware to control mechatronic systems. The module is supported through lectures, seminars and practical laboratory sessions.

The module covers practical electronic design issues and sustainability aspects encountered by designers of smart embedded systems for real-world applications. The module provides a system level design framework that can be rapidly adapted to the requirements and constraints relevant to a particular application. The module also enables to gain an understanding of sustainability principles in electronic system design process and its enabling technologies and applications, including smart buildings, smart cities and environmental monitoring and preservation.

This module aims to extend students' knowledge of analogue, digital and mixed-signal electronics into the area of chip design for VLSI. Material is biased toward advanced IC techniques including current mode and transconductance design concepts for high speed and low power operation. Typical system building blocks such as filters, data converters and PLL are included. Also covered, is the way in which these concepts are used in the design of integrated filters. Learning is supported by the use of relevant software simulation tools.