{page 151}

MSc
Embedded and Distributed Systems

Location
Southwark

Duration
1 year (full-time)
2 years (part-time, 1 day per week)

Start date
September

Number of places
30

How to apply
Direct to LSBU

Course contact
Perry Xiao
xiaop@lsbu.ac.uk – 020 7815 7569

Non-standard entry requirements
Honours degree, electrical, computing or scientific

Course units

Semester 1

– Computer Networks

– Microcontroller-based Systems
– Object Oriented Programming for Networking

– SCADA Systems

Semester 2

– Distributed Systems and Internetworking

– System Design on FPGAs

– Real-time and Embedded Systems
– Research, Planning and Management

Summer Period
– Major project

Course description

This course focuses on the state of art embedded and distributed systems, which have been increasingly used by engineering and commercial companies for distributed control and management of their operations. Many large companies now rely on sophisticated real-time network to distribute all kinds of things (water, electricity, retail goods, web retailing). This real-time network builds on modern embedded and distributed systems. All this is quite recent and is possible because of the availability of computer networks which are now fast and reliable enough to cope with this kind of traffic. This course deals with the real-time, interaction and control of networked systems such as these.

The course is a technically specialist MSc aiming to provide graduates with the particular skill set to support these kinds of distributed embedded systems. The skill set includes: engineering the computer networks (hardware and software), electronic, instrumentation and measurement skills, and embedded system skills theoretical knowledge of and practical experience with realtime (including distributed) applications. This course is built on our extensive research in Telecommunications, Robotics and Nondestructive Evaluation, Bio-Engineering Instruments, and Applied Electromagnetics. It also contains the latest technologies such as VDHL and FPGAs.

Career opportunities

Employment prospects for graduates of the MSc Embedded and Distributed Systems are excellent, with demand outstripping supply. Successful graduates would either enter telecommunication companies or companies such as the major water, electricity and transport utilities, as members of technical teams designing and maintaining modern real-time distributed systems.

Typical background of applicant

Entrants to the course would already have a technically oriented undergraduate degree in electrical, computer related or other area with a strong scientific background.