Areas of Specialisation

Telecommunications is about transmitting „information“ (pictures, sound, generic files) by means of a physical medium such as wires, optical fibres or electromagnetic waves in free space. The challenge is to do this efficiently and reliably despite the many imperfections of the medium.
The courses and projects in this area cover fundamentals and applications in communication systems, information theory, electromagnetic wave propagation, and signal processing.

Nowadays, computers are essential components in every complex system. Very often, they are embedded into much larger systems and they are very often networked for the purpose of realizing geographically distributed functionality. The study course on Computers and Networks covers methods and processes for the analysis, design, realization and operation of systems in information technology.

The area of Electronics and Photonics is dealing with the realization of system concepts in the fields of communications, computing, signal processing, sensing, imaging, etc. with electronic or optoelectronic devices, circuits and higher level hardware platforms. The study covers semiconductor and materials technologies, circuit and IC-design by CAD, system architecture, as well as high frequency techniques and photonics.

Efficient and sustainable energy supply together with an effective and appropriate energy infrastructure are of utmost importance for the modern society and its further development. We teach the fundamentals in Electric Power Systems and Distribution. We introduce Mechatronics as a new means of electromechanical energy conversion that has become an indispensable technology enabling extensive automation of processes on the industrial scale and in various application classes. We educate our students in the use of IT equipment in power monitoring and control and we expose them to new techniques in the design of highly compact, efficient and reliable power converters. In addition, we discuss new methods of distributed and clean power generation to satisfy environmental needs.

Signal processing is about the analysis and synthesis of sound, images, and other physical quantities, and about extracting "information" from almost any sort of data. 

Modern signal processing substantially overlaps with machine learning, which is a collection of ideas and mathematical techniques (with origins in statistics, physics, electrical engineering, and computer science) to "learn" from data. The related disciplines of communications, control, and signal processing together provide most of the "intelligence" of "intelligent" devices present and future.

The courses offered in this area provide solid foundations and ample options for specialisation.

Systems theory aims to understand the laws that govern dynamical evolution of systems and provide engineers with the necessary tools to improve system performance. Automatic control is the branch of systems theory that deals with regulating the system dynamics using on-line measurements to ensure that the resulting evolution is stable, safe, and efficient. Course coverage ranges from the theoretical foundations of systems theory, to algorithms and computer tools for solving practical control problems, to applications of systems theory in industrial processes, robotics, embedded systems, automotive systems, and biology.