The Professions…

Our electronics engineers concern themselves with the manufacture, design and management of the electronic circuits and systems that contribute to almost all areas of human civilisation. From popular examples of technology, such as the personal computer, communication satellites and the mobile telephone, to less well known examples, such as semiconductors, nano-technology and bio-electronics, engineers in this profession seek the invention, enhancement and improvement of electronically-based items useful to our race.

On the other hand, our electrical engineers are responsible for designing systems that are able to generate and move relatively large amounts of power between points with separations from miles to a few millimetres. One key area of their knowledge is how to use the laws governing electromagnetics to convert energy into motion and back.

Examples of their products include machines such as rotary electric motors, power transformers, heaters and lights, as well as the less common fault tolerant actuators used in aeroplanes, electrically powered transport and natural energy converters.

There are significant overlaps between the two professions, particularly in the areas of computing, modelling techniques, measurement and instrumentation. There are also areas of significant difference, such as radio frequency science and power conditioning and control.

However, in general, a good electronics graduate from our Department will be a competent electrical engineer and vice-versa. This is because both sets of engineers will have been taught by us to use the same theories and tools, namely mathematics, physics, electromagnetics, circuit theory, digital signal processing, control theory and computing science.