Topic 1-IntroToECE.pdf

CEN 200 Abu Dhabi University College of Engineering Introduction to Electrical Spring 2017/2018 Eng. Yasmina Al Khalil and Computer Engineering [email protected]  Why Study Engineering? ❖ Look around: ❖ Everything you see and experien...

CEN 200 Abu Dhabi University College of Engineering Introduction to Electrical Spring 2017/2018 Eng. Yasmina Al Khalil and Computer Engineering [email protected]  Why Study Engineering? ❖ Look around: ❖ Everything you see and experience in daily life has been built and designed to work. ❖ Somebody needs to do this work. ❖ It can be YOU.  Why Study Engineering? ❖ Because (to borrow from Hobbes) our lives would be poor, miserable, pathetic, short, brutish, undemocratic, and sad without the contributions that engineers have made to the world. Why Study Engineering?  What is Engineering? Engineering is the discipline and profession of applying technical and scien3fic knowledge and u3lizing natural laws and physical resources in order to design and implement materials, structures, machines, devices, systems, and processes that realize a desired objec3ve and meet specified criteria.  What is Engineering? Engineering is the profession in which a knowledge of the mathema3cal and natural sciences gained by study, experience, and prac3ce is applied with judgment to develop ways to u3lize, economically, the materials and forces of nature for the benefit of mankind.  What Makes an Engineer? ❖ Curiosity about how things work ❖ The desire to solve interesting problems ❖ Interest in design and experimentation ❖ Some affinity for using maths and science ❖ Good teamwork and communication skills ❖ Creative and adaptable You don’t have to be a ❖ Eager to keep learning new things genius to be an engineer…  Engineering Jobs ❖ Research ❖ Development ❖ Testing ❖ Design ❖ Analysis ❖ Manufacturing ❖ Operations ❖ Tech Support ❖ Sales ❖ Consulting ❖ Management Engineering Jobs  Science vs Engineering What is science? “Systematized knowledge derived from observation, study, and experimentation carried on in order to determine the nature or principles of what is being studied” How can you tell an engineer from a scientist? A scientist's goal is to learn fundamental truths. An engineer's goal is to use those truths to solve practical problems.  Science vs Engineering What is an engineer? A person skilled or occupied in some branches of engineering. Where does the word “engineer” come from? From the Latin word “ingenium” meaning something like “ingenuity”, which means someone's ability to think of clever new ways of doing something. Engineering Design Process But Why Study Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE)? ❖ Other engineering fields contribute to the basic “quality of life” infrastructure --- roads, bridges, etc. ❖ Electrical and computer engineering bring modernity to these classical structures. ❖ Because it is cool, fun, interesting, challenging, and in high demand.  Before and After… The following slides offer a view of life before modern engineering (and in particular, electrical or computer engineering), and after engineering stepped in. A modern vehicle may have dozens of microprocessors (computers), and hundreds of sensors.  Before and After… Modern transportation systems use sensors and communications ubiquitously.  Before and After… Housing automation increasingly uses sensor and computation systems for comfort and efficiency.  Before and After… Medical imaging system use acoustics, electromagnetics, signal processing, and a lot of computation to do their job of saving lives.  Before and After… Prosthetics are increasingly robotic. Current prosthetic research aims to connect neural impulses to provide hand and gait motion --- sensors, signal processing, controls.  Before and After… Everything on the web owes its existence to computer engineers and electrical engineers: routers, switches, computers, cloud storage, routing algorithms, etc., etc  Before and After… Every modern appliance has its own computer, and its own sensors.  Before and After… All the communications we have enjoyed for decades come from electrical and computer engineers: electromagnetics, digital design, signal processing, switching, antennas, …  Before and After… Computers obviously fall in the realm of ECEs. So do programming: industry tells us that they love to have our engineers as coders --- great problem solvers with solid technical skills.  Before and After… Would you get in an airplane if the avionics wasn’t working?  Before and After… Image processing; communications; error correction coding; electromagnetics, SOC, embedded systems, etc.  Before and After… Radio, TV, records, stereo, tape, iPod: every entertainment technology, every technical area.  Before and After… Manufacturing generally relies on electrical systems for automation, sensing, control, information systems, etc.  Before and After… Time keeping has driven technology, and been driven by technology. Embedded systems, communications, sensors, algorithms…  Before and After… Electric vehicles and other alternative fuel systems make extensive use of ECE.  Before and After… Satellites, navigation, handheld capability!  Before and After… Electrical and Computer Engineering provide the brains behind all the robotic systems now and forthcoming.  Before and After… The entertainment industry employs many EEs and CompEs – special effects, animation, etc. ECE-Overview ECE-Overview  Why Study ECE? ❖ To be a member of an excited, motivated professional team working to find solutions to real, hard problems. ❖ To Dare Mighty Things --- to overcome difficult challenges through work and intellect. ❖ Because not everything has been invented! ❖ To create new things! ❖ Because you can be part of the solutions the world needs.