Course overview

Digital Systems Engineering is the core technology that underpins the very fabric of modern-day living. It is a discipline at the forefront of advances that have shaped the way we live today and continues to push forward technological frontiers.

This course is designed to respond to a growing skills shortage of people with core knowledge in advanced digital systems engineering. It provides relevant, up-to-date skills that will enhance your engineering competencies. You will broaden your knowledge of digital electronic systems engineering and ability to apply new technologies in the design and implementation of modern systems.

Professional links

The School of Engineering has an Industrial Advisory Board which consists of a number of senior staff from industry and senior academic staff. The Board advises the School on all aspects of its research and teaching from curricula, course developments, industrial requirements to priorities and any other matters where an industrial and commercial input will be of benefit.

The School of Engineering

The School of Engineering has a long tradition of providing industrially relevant education. We have a distinguished record of running very successful degree courses and pride ourselves on working at the leading edge of technology and learning methods. Our academic staff maintain close links with the world of work, both in Portsmouth and further afield, ensuring that our courses reflect the current and future needs of commerce and industry.

We provide a supportive and friendly atmosphere in which our students can quickly settle and enjoy their studies. By coming to the University of Portsmouth you will experience a lively and modern learning environment with lectures, tutorials and web-based learning sessions.

Is this the right course for me?

If your interest lies in the design and implementation of digital electronic and communication systems, and in helping to meet customers’ needs and aspirations, then this course will provide a firm basis. You probably have a background in some aspect of digital systems, electronics or communications and an interest in their overall design and implementation.

What are we looking for?

The course is designed for motivated graduates of programmes in engineering or numerate science. It is also aimed at newly qualified and practising engineers who would like to develop their academic and professional excellence and wish to extend their knowledge and skills in this exciting field.

Course content

You will study six units on this course plus complete an individual project. Currently, the units are:

• VHDL and Digital Systems Design 
• Advanced DSP Techniques
• Mixed Signal Processors
• Real‐Time Embedded Systems
• GPU Architecture and Programming
• Communication System Analysis

The course concludes with a four-month individual project in which you apply your knowledge to a significant, in-depth piece of analysis or design. Your projects will be tailored to your individual interests and may take place in our own laboratories or, by agreement, in industry.

Teaching and assessment

You will be taught using a mixture of lectures, tutorials, laboratory sessions and project work. Each unit typically has about 30 hours scheduled for lectures and supervised activities. In addition, you will need to spend significant time in our electronic, communications and computer laboratories, as well as in private study as directed by lecturers.

Lecturers generally spend part of the scheduled time in tutorial sessions to help you with any technical aspects of the course of which you are unsure. You will also have a personal tutor who can help with any other personal or academic problems should they arise.

Assessment is geared towards the subject matter in a way that encourages a deeper understanding and allows you to develop your skills. It includes examinations, assessed coursework, laboratory work and a dissertation that can often be linked with industry.

Career prospects

On successful completion of the course, you will have gained the skills and knowledge that will make you attractive to a wide variety of employers with interests ranging from overall system design to the more detailed development of subsystems. It is an excellent preparation for a successful career in this expanding and dynamic field.

Facilities and features

The School provides a range of facilities to support your learning experience. Lectures, tutorials and seminars take place in the well equipped multimedia lecture theatres and classrooms.

You will have access to a wide range of state-of-the-art laboratory facilities to familiarise you with industry-standard equipment and software packages:

• The telecommunications and signal processing laboratory is equipped with instruments for generating, receiving and analysing high-frequency signals. Signal generators and spectrum analysers cover the communication bands up to 22 GHz.
• We also have an anechoic chamber for the measurement of antennas, as well as a range of electronic circuit boards that can be interconnected to form a number of typical communication systems.
• The School's teaching of Digital Signal Processing (DSP) is supported by both hardware and software laboratory facilities. Our DSP kits will allow you to implement your knowledge of signal processing techniques.
• Our digital electronics and microprocessor laboratory has 45 fully equipped benches including scopes, network analysers, PCs and other standard electronic equipment for measurement purposes.
• We have hardware/software development tools for design, development and implementation of microcontroller systems.
• There are professional hardware/software programming/testing VHDL environments for CPLD and FPGAs devices.
• The analogue electronics laboratory has 24 fully equipped benches for testing and measurements of a wide range of electronic systems. All benches have PCs with relevant software suites such as circuit simulations (Gesseca, Spice Age, Microcap and Eagle) and Matlab.
• The School has its own autonomous computer network, consisting of about 200 PCs running Linux and Windows. We run our own servers for anything that the network needs (DNS, DHCP, Kerberos, NIS etc). The network is a multiplatform transparent network; all computers can be accessed remotely for greater flexibility and use from home. Great care is given to security, with sophisticated Firewalls and VPNs in place.

You will also get the chance to learn and experiment with different networking technologies, as well as learning programming languages such as Java, HTML and C, and use a wide range of application packages such as OPNET and Wireshark to enable learning in all areas of computer networks and communication systems.

Entry requirements

The entry requirements for MSc Digital Systems Engineering are shown above, for more detailed information please contact:

Department: School of Engineering (ENG)
Tel: +44 (0)23 9284 2555
Email: technology.admissions@port.ac.uk