Electroacoustic transducers, such as microphones and loudspeakers, are commonplace in the fields of acoustics and audio and it is important that acoustical engineers have an understanding of the theory and mechanisms of electroacoustic transduction. This module provides the knowledge to understand and predict the behaviour of a wide range of electroacoustic devices, and to relate this to real-world transducer technology.
Electromagnetism is one of the brilliant successes of nineteenth century physics and the equations formulated by Maxwell are believed to account exactly for all classical electromagnetic phenomena. The aim of this course is to present the laws of electromagnetism, their experimental justification, and their application to physical phenomena.
This module provides a comprehensive understanding of how modern computer systems are built, starting from fundamental transistor-level design and extending to full operating systems. Students will first learn the fundamentals of electronic circuits, including logic gates, memory elements (DRAM, SRAM), and amplifiers. They will then examine how these components integrate into larger digital systems, such as microprocessors and memory hierarchies. The course covers the inner workings of a computer at various levels, from transistors to processors, peripherals, compilers, and operating systems.
Semiconductor device technology has evolved beyond computation applications and is now increasingly being used in quantum electronics, data centres, lighting, lasers, high speed communications, photovoltaic energy harvesters, smart electronics for the Internet of Things, and sensing for healthcare and the environment. Semiconductor devices are not solely confined to silicon technology but include Group III-V compounds, such as gallium arsenide and indium gallium arsenide as well as other materials such silicon-germanium alloys, zinc oxide, molybdenum selenide and graphene. The next generation of semiconductor technologies will demand the knowledge and understanding to explore device platforms for new integrated circuit concepts and fabrication methods. This module covers the physical principles and applications of a range of important semiconductor electronic and optoelectronic (photonic) devices including field effect and bipolar junction transistors (MOSFET, BJTs, IGBTs), solar cells, photodetectors, lasers and light emitting diodes (LEDs). Throughout the course, students are encouraged to read beyond the lecture materials provided and the core text books.
To introduce the physical and electronic properties of materials that underpin semiconductors and semiconductor devices that underpin modern electronic technology. To develop and understanding of electronic devices in circuits, to provide a range of circuit theory techniques for the analysis of resistive and active circuits and to introduce the analysis and design of active electronic circuits.
Digital electronics under-pins all current computation and networked systems. This module introduces some of the fundamental analogue electronic principles and ideas that digital logic is built on, then moves on to digital abstractions for designing circuits. This includes aspects of digital performance, styles of circuit, functional and non-functional correctness, and includes hands-one experience in the design and deployment of digital circuits in FPGAs.
Modern mechanical and acoustic systems contain numerous electronic and control components. For example, an electric vehicle may have speed, traction and active noise control systems. Practicing Mechanical and Acoustical Engineers therefore require a working knowledge of electronics and control systems. This module provides students with the necessary understanding of the design and analysis of these systems in the time and frequency domain. The skills and mathematical techniques developed in this module are applicable across a wide range of engineering domains including mechatronics, automotive, system dynamics and biomedical engineering.
This module will be first offered in the 2020/21 academic year. This module looks at the specific and somewhat unique requirements for electronics on spacecraft such as, radiation effects, other environmental hazards, e.g. space debris, atomic oxygen, low energy and high energy plasma (spacecraft charging and arcing). It will also address some of the key issues involved in using electronic parts in space including the design for the thermal environment (e.g. no convection), mass and volume constraints and the use of COTS. Future developments like miniaturisation (cubesats, microsats) and the use of MEMS in the space environment will be presented as well. The overall objective will be to introduce the students to the peculiarities of using electronics in space and how these drive the designs and influence the choice of the components selected.
In this module you will further develop your understanding of the key elements of graphic communication practice. A critical engagement with core skills across design, type, motion and illustration will reinforce the emphasis on interdisciplinarity within the Graphic Communication programme. You will continue to develop your craft skills through an engagement with traditional production processes and specialist technical skills. The essential theories, practices and principles of graphic communication that were explored in semester one will be integrated and applied alongside these key elements to further develop your relationship with interdisciplinary design practice.
This module provides an introduction to linguistic approaches to sound, structure and meaning in the branches of linguistics known as phonetics and phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics and pragmatics.
The aim of this module is to provide a foundation for the more advanced modules in the programme. The first part of the module will provide a revision of the basic elements of statistics that will be relevant to the programme, such as expectation and variance, as well as the theory of estimation and hypothesis testing. The second part of the module will introduce a range of data science concepts such as crossvalidation and the bootstrap. It will discuss the specific issues of dealing with unstructured data and provide a contrast between the data modelling and the algorithmic modelling approaches to inference. The module will close with a closer look to the data sources widely used in official statistics, with special focus on administrative data.
With rapid popularity and advancements in technologies like the internet-of-things (IoT) and network-on-chip (NoC), the ability to connect and network embedded devices is becoming ever more commonplace, and a feature of most electronic devices. This module is concerned with how electronic and computing devices can network with one-another. The module is not deeply concerned with physical layer communications, e.g. modulating signals onto carriers, as students already have a solid background in this from modules in previous years. The module explores the structure and purpose of layers in protocol stacks, through to example protocols and security implications of networking approaches and appropriate countermeasures. A key part of the module is the coursework, in which students design and implement their own network protocol(s).
This module gives a broad introduction to application-specific processor system design and illustrates the use of such processors in the broader context of complex digital systems. A significant portion of the module assessment is coursework where students will design a complete, practical processor system and demonstrate it on an FPGA platform. An introduction to modern embedded architectures such as ARM Cortex, OpenRISC, Altera NIOS and Xilinx picoBlaze will be given. The module will use the hardware description language SystemVerilog (and also SystemC), introduced in ELEC6236 Digital System Design.
Through this module you will experience embedding the fundamentals of research, analysis and reflective practices in the creation of your own critically informed garments. By examining garments as cultural artifacts within broader socio-historical contexts, you will be equipped with a critical lens through which to understand the significance of design choices and the narratives embedded within clothing. You will participate in lectures, design workshops and independent research aimed at applying theoretical concepts and material studies to the creation of your own original garment.
