Computer Systems Engineering with an Industrial Placement Year BEng

Program Overview

The University of Sheffield's BEng in Computer Systems Engineering with Industrial Placement equips students with a comprehensive understanding of systems design, programming, and robotics through a holistic approach and hands-on experience. The four-year program features a year-long industrial placement, enhancing employability and providing practical industry knowledge. Graduates are highly sought after in industries such as manufacturing, power generation, and software development.

Program Outline

Degree Overview:

This four-year BEng in Computer Systems Engineering with an Industrial Placement Year is designed to equip students with the knowledge and skills necessary to launch a career as a systems engineer. The program combines design, robotics, and programming with a year-long industrial placement.

Objectives:

• Provide students with a strong foundation in computer software and hardware.
• Develop a deep understanding of systems design.
• Equip students with practical experience using industry-standard equipment.
• Enhance employability prospects through a year-long industrial placement.
• Prepare students for advanced project work and specialization in areas like intelligent systems and cybersecurity.

Description:

The program is informed by world-leading research and designed in collaboration with industry partners. It offers a holistic approach to systems engineering, covering topics from programming, robotics, and automation to advanced concepts like deep learning and multi-agent systems. Students will gain hands-on experience with industry-standard facilities, including 3D CAD tools, 3D printers, and advanced manufacturing technologies.

• High Employability: 92% of graduates from the department are in work or further education 15 months after completing their course.
• Expert Academic Staff: Students learn from researchers with experience in the robotics industry and specialization in programming, intelligent systems, and cybersecurity.
• Advanced, Hands-on Experience: The program offers practical experience through industrial placements and access to industry-standard facilities.
• Industry Relevance: Modules are designed with input from industry partners, covering topics like embedded systems, artificial intelligence, industrial control, and advanced manufacturing.

Outline:

Year 1:

• Core Modules:
• Digital and Embedded Systems: Introduces embedded systems, number systems, Boolean algebra, logic gates, combinational logic, A/D and D/A converters, computer systems, and architectures.
• Group Control Project and Professional Skills: Integrates core content from various modules in a group design project involving controlling a mobile robot.
Also covers project management, teamwork, and other employability skills.
• Introduction to Systems Engineering & Software: Develops analytical problem-solving skills and introduces systems engineering methodology.
Includes a group project and C programming exercises.
• Systems Engineering Mathematics I: Covers basic algebra, functions, calculus, differential equations, matrix algebra, vectors, and complex numbers.
• Modelling, Analysis and Control: Introduces principles of modelling continuous dynamical systems, analysis of linear models, and feedback control.
• Physical Systems: Covers modelling and analysis of dynamic systems, including mechanical, electrical-mechanical, rotational, thermodynamic, and flow systems.
• Introduction to Electric and Electronic Circuits: Introduces concepts and analytical tools for predicting the behavior of combinations of passive circuit elements.
• Global Engineering Challenge Week: A faculty-wide project designed to develop academic, transferable, and employability skills, as well as global citizenship.

Year 2:

• Core Modules:
• Control Systems Design and Analysis: Provides a theoretical foundation for understanding feedback control system analysis, design, and application.
• Mechatronics: Covers methods to represent, analyze, and design mechanical, electrical, and computational systems integrated into mechatronics systems.
• Signals, Systems, and Communications: Introduces fundamentals of signals, systems, and communication systems, including signal theory, systems theory, and communication theory.
• Systems Engineering and Object Oriented Programming: Builds on first-year learning objectives, focusing on the systems engineering lifecycle, project management, UML/SysML modeling, and C++ programming.
• Systems Engineering Mathematics II: Introduces analytical mathematical techniques and numerical methods for solving engineering problems.
• Computer Problem Solving and Object Oriented Design: Introduces basic concepts of computer programming using Python and Java, emphasizing good programming style and object-oriented design.
• Engineering - You're Hired: A faculty-wide project designed to develop employability skills through real-world problem-solving in multidisciplinary teams.

Year 3:

• Core Module:
• Year in Industry: Students gain work experience and improve their employability prospects through a year-long placement with an industry partner.

Year 4:

• Core Modules:
• State-Space Control Design: Introduces state-space methods for analyzing and designing controllers for multivariable systems.
• Digital Signal Processing: Introduces digital processing techniques, including sampling and analysis of digital signals, design of digital filters, and digital image processing.
• Individual Project: Students undertake a major individual project to enhance their knowledge and skills in a specific technical area.
• Intelligent Systems: Introduces intelligent systems, focusing on Fuzzy Systems and their synergies with Artificial Neural Networks.
• Systems Design and Security: Provides a grounding in software systems design, highlighting security issues.
• Accounting and Law for Engineers: Introduces key areas of accounting and legal risk relevant to engineering practice.
• Optional Modules:
• System Identification: Introduces methods for inferring dynamical models from observations of inputs and outputs.
• Space Systems Engineering: Covers mission types, orbital motion, spacecraft sub-systems, propulsion systems, and space environment.
• Robotics: Explores robotic systems, including types, applications, modelling, simulation, sensing, actuation, and control.
• Hardware-in-the-Loop & Rapid Control Prototyping: Provides hands-on experience designing and implementing advanced controllers on real-world control problems.
• Biomechatronics: Covers the integration of the human body with engineered devices for emulating, replacing, or augmenting natural human function.
• Machine Learning: Introduces key foundational elements of machine learning, including regression, classification, and reinforcement learning.
• Design of Medical Devices and Implants: Covers designing medical and assistive devices and implants, focusing on design parameters, specifications, and clinical performance.
• Computer Security and Forensics: Introduces computer security and forensics, focusing on building secure systems and responding to system compromises.
• The Internet of Things: Covers the context, hardware, communications protocols, security systems, and cloud-side analytics of the Internet of Things.
• Antennas, Radar and Navigation: Covers fundamentals and applications of antennas and radar systems, including antenna characteristics, radar concepts, and navigation systems.
• Reinforcement Learning: Teaches the theory and implementation of reinforcement learning, including supervised learning, temporal difference learning, deep reinforcement learning, and advanced topics.

Assessment:

Students are assessed through a combination of exams, tests, coursework, and practical work. The proportions for each assessment method vary depending on the modules chosen.

Teaching:

• Methods: Learning takes place through a combination of lectures, practical labs, tutorials, and independent study.
• Faculty: The academic and research staff are world leaders in robotics, signal processing, and intelligent systems.
• Unique Approaches: Teaching is based on a systematic and structured approach, with a strong emphasis on laboratory and professional skills development.

Careers:

Graduates from this program are highly employable and work in various industries, including manufacturing, power generation, sustainable energy, and software development.

• The department is the only one in the UK dedicated to Control and Systems Engineering.
• The department has research contracts with major institutions like the European Space Agency and industry partners.
• The department offers extracurricular projects, research opportunities, and study abroad programs.
• The department has state-of-the-art facilities, including a robotics and automation lab, a control and power systems laboratory, and an electronics and control lab.

• £9,250Home students 2024 annual tuition fee
• £29,110Overseas students 2024 annual tuition fee