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Core modules:

MSc Investigative Research Project

The aim of this module is to provide a structured individual project to enable you to carry out practical and/or theoretical work that underpins your academic studies and allows for the acquisition and demonstration of a wide range of research skills.

60 credits

Engineering Research and Design Project

The aim of this module is to equip students with skills, knowledge and experience needed to carry out research independently and as a team for solving engineering problems set in a range of globally applicable contexts.  As members of a team, students will develop and demonstrate a range of skills that will enhance their ability to tackle research projects and add value to their employability.  Specifically, students will develop skills in the areas of critical literature review, engineering design, project management, team working, and communication.

15 credits

Optional modules - seven from:

AC Machines

This unit will introduce students to AC, Synchronous, Induction, and Synchronous/Switched Reluctance machines. It will consider operation, performance, characteristics and modelling.

15 credits

Advanced Control of Electric Drives

This module explores advanced modelling and modern control strategies of electric drive systems with a focus on induction (IM) and permanent magnet synchronous machines (PMSM).

15 credits

Energy Storage Management

This module looks at the storage and management of energy in electrical systems. It will consider:

(a) Fuel cells: the basic principles of hydrogen fuel cells, reaction
rate, cell interconnection, the bipolar plate, fuel cell types, ancillary components of a fuel cell system, advantages and disadvantages of fuel cell technologies.

(b) Batteries and supercapacitors: battery chemistries, energy/power densities of different batteries. Differences between electrochemical energy storage and electrical energy storage in supercapacitors, performance characteristics, charging, modelling, thermal effects, and measurement.

(c) Mechanical: Principles of mechanical energy storage, flywheels / compressed air. Mechanics of energy storage, precession torques and counter-rotating systems for vehicles. Energy management will include the ancillaries required to connect energy storage to the grid, including dc-dc and dc-ac inverters in addition to battery modelling approaches commonly used for state of charge and state of health monitoring.

15 credits

Motion Control and Servo Drives

This module investigates, in detail, the performance and operational characteristic of both modern a.c. and d.c. variable speed drives and actuation systems, as well as their applications in electric/hybrid vehicle traction.

15 credits

Permanent Magnet Machines and Actuators

This module looks at the topologies for, design of, and characteristics of permanent magnet electrical machines. It will look at these machines from the types of magnets employed, electromagnetic torque, thermal behaviour and modelling through the winding of such machines to the design of a range of machines; for example brushless AC/DC, fractional slot, switched/transverse flux.

15 credits

Power Electronics Converters

This module introduces power conversion principles, defines the terminology and analyses operational principles, modulation methods and control of selected power converters topologies for industrial applications.

15 credits

Power Semiconductor Devices

This module will look at power semiconductor devices: physics, technology, characteristics, packaging and application.

15 credits

Advanced Computer Systems

This module looks at modern computer systems from operating systems down to the underlying computer architectures to provide a coherent view of how such systems work and how their performance can be improved, looking, in particular, at parallelism.

15 credits

Advanced Integrated Electronics

This module will advance your understanding of analogue and digital VLSI design. It concentrates on issues such as power consumption, the effect of interconnect, non-CMOS logic, circuit layout, analog amplifiers, data converters, and using Spice.

15 credits

Advanced Signal Processing

This module focuses on introducing advanced signal processing methods and technologies and their applications. Topics include multi-rate filtering and filter banks; signal transforms; random signals; adaptive filtering and array signal processing.

15 credits

Semiconductor Materials

This module describes the basic physical properties (structural, optical, electrical) of semiconductor materials used in the electronic and opto-electronic industries, and in semiconductor based research. The aim is to equip you with a comprehensive background understanding of the physical, structural, optical, electronic properties of semiconductor materials used in modern electronic and opto-electronic devices. There is a laboratory assignment where characterisation of epitaxially-grown material will be performed.

15 credits

Principles of Semiconductor Device Technology

The unit describes the basic structure of materials and their relationship to the requirements of semiconductor devices for future applications, leading to methods of crystal growth, fabrication, modelling and characterization. The focus is on devices that underpin CMOS and its future evolution in AI: starting with the MOSFET, and leading on to future devices such as TunnelFET, Negative Capacitance FET and the Resistive Random Access Memory (RERAM).

15 credits

Nanoscale Electronic Devices

The course aims to provide students with an understanding of the science and technology which underpins modern electronic device technology, with an emphasis on integrated electronic devices at the nanoscale.

15 credits

Energy Efficient Semiconductor Devices

The efficient use of energy is of critical importance to future growth and well-being, providing a mechanism to reduce global emissions and to offset the impact of increasing fuel costs. Semiconductor devices can play can crucial role in this key global challenge, providing options which can both improve energy efficiency and also means for renewable energy generation. The course describes four key sectors where semiconductor devices are making considerable impact on energy efficiency.

15 credits

Optical Communication Devices and Systems

The course examines the behaviour of the components in a communications system and the way in which their design and individual performance is determined by that of the system requirements.

15 credits

Electronic Communication Technologies

This module aims to provide you with a range of skills that are required when designing circuits and systems at high frequencies. Topics covered will include: electromagnetic interference mechanisms, circuit design techniques, filtering, screening, transmission lines, S-parameters, Smith charts, equivalent circuits for passive and active devices, radio frequency (RF) amplifier design, noise performance and nonlinearities of RF circuits and systems.

15 credits

Data Coding Techniques for Communication and Storage

Processing techniques to enable transmission and storage of data, in a reliable and secure fashion, are a key element in nearly all modern communication systems. This module deals with data-coding techniques required for reliable and secure data transmission and storage. It covers various aspects of digital communication combining elementary communication theory with practical solutions to problems encountered.

15 credits

Principles of Communications

This course considers the mathematical foundations and the derived theories and techniques used by a wide range of communication systems, particularly the more recent digital systems. The aim is to provide the very mathematical foundation for understanding modern communication systems, present the structure of modern communication systems and the basic issues at each stage in the system, and create a theoretical background that applies to all communication systems and is not affected by any particular technology.

15 credits

Antennas, Propagation and Satellite Systems

Review and application of electromagnetic theory for antenna analysis. Radiation pattern, gain, input impedance. Half wave, full wave dipole antennas, monopole antennas. Image theory. Antenna arrays. Polarization: linear, elliptical, axial ratio. Aperture theory: Fourier analysis, Huygens-Kirchhoff formula, rectangular and circular aperture, effective aperture. Microstrip antennas. Propagation in a plasma: critical frequency, refractive index. Ionospheric/tropospheric propagation of HF/VHF radio waves: MUF, ionosonde. Satellite communications systems. Earth stations - types and performance. Satellite transponders - amplifiers, redundancy, transmitters, frequency translation. Multiple access systems. 

15 credits

Mobile Networks and Physical Layer Protocols

This module aims to provide an overview of how mobile communications networks operate and descriptions of the radio technology used over the air interface and the physical layer protocols used in GSM, 3G, 4G and 5G mobile networks. More specifically, the syllabus will cover: the description and demonstration of current UK cellular mobile networks with a historical perspective; antenna design for the radio-frequency interface, including handset, vehicle and base station antennas; multiple antenna arrays; health related issues of mobile handsets; radio propagation issues, diversity gain, Rake reception; link budgets; cellular network design and deployment strategies; modulation schemes; and GSM/3G/4G/5G physical layer protocols.

15 credits

System Design

This module is concerned with the management of complexity in system design. To learn the basics of structured approach to design of complex systems, you will undertake a design project that requires the application of state of the art design tools that help to achieve appropriate error free design structures.

15 credits

Broadband Wireless Techniques

This module will give an understanding of the most up-to-date communication techniques used in the design and operation of broadband wireless systems based on OFDM technology such as WiFi, WiMAX and LTE. The module will explore the physical (PHY) layer, medium access control (MAC) and radio resource management functionalities of broadband wireless systems. It will also include an introduction to broadband wireless systems; the principles of OFDM, OFDMA and TDD/FDD multiple access; bit interleaved convolutional and turbo channel coding/decoding for OFDM systems; adaptive coding and modulation; frequency selective fading, channel estimation and equalisation; MIMO techniques; and network architectures.

15 credits

Wireless Packet Data Networks and Protocols

The aim of this module is to give an understanding of the functionality of packet switching protocols at different layers of a wireless system and to appreciate how these protocols achieve reliable data delivery in wireless communication systems. The module also includes an introduction to packet switching in wireless networks; radio link protocols, CRC, ARQ and hybrid-ARQ; MAC protocols; packet scheduling and differentiated quality of service; routing, IP protocol, mobile IP, wireless TCP and end-to-end quality of service; radio resource management, network planning and optimisation; network examples - WiFi, HSPA or LTE.

15 credits

Packaging and Reliability of Microsystems

The module describes the methods used to fabricate microsystems. It also introduces and develops an understanding of the reliability and failure mechanisms in the devices and resulting microsystems.

15 credits