MSc Telecommunications Technology

Key information & fees

Duration of programme: Full-time:12 months (six months taught element on campus and a six individual research month project, which may be carried out in industry or on campus).

Part-time: Two or three year part-time on-line distance learning (with obligatory summer schools and examinations on campus) followed by a one to two year project preferably carried out in industry.

CPD: Individual modules may be studied by distance learning for continual professional development purposes.

Start date: October
Intake: Approximately 24 per year

Fees:
UK/EU students  - £5,000 (2013 fee)
International students  - £14,450 (2013 fee)

Distance Learning is available for UK-based students only - for further information please contact the School.

A limited number of scholarships are available for this programme, subject to the fulfilment of academic and other eligibility criteria. For up-to-date information please visit EAS Fees & Scholarships page

Application details:
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Information on visas for international students

Aston’s long-established MSc in Telecommunications Technology programme is organised by the Electronic Engineering subject group in cooperation with the telecommunications industry via an industrial steering committee. The programme is designed to develop or update a wide range of technical understanding, engineering “know-how” and professional skills that are needed to contribute effectively to the design and development of telecommunications systems for national and international networks, or to enter telecommunications research. The programme is involved in the ERASMUS exchange scheme with a well established link with ENST Brest. Graduates of this programme are highly regarded; many of our past students have risen to senior posts within the telecommunications sector.

Taught modules and examinations/assessments are completed during the six months October to March. After successful completion students may then progress to the six month individual research project during April to October.
We endeavour to place students with industrial sponsors for the duration of their projects, with all other projects being undertaken at the University.

Modules

• Information Theory and Coding and Traffic Theory
• Digital Transmission
• Optical Communications
• Radio Systems and Personal Communications Networks
• Internetworking
• Software Engineering
• Introductory Programming
• Mobile Data Networks
• Realtime Communication Networks
• Project Preparation
• MSc Project

Past Project Titles

• Advanced WDM hybrid transmission based on CWDM plus DWDM - Aston University
• PROTAGON Research Project
• Assesment & Development of Embedded Control for Standardised Converged Network Elements - Ericsson, Coventry
• Personal Response System (PRS) - Aston University
• An Improved Outdoor MIMO Channel Model with Real Data Analysis - BT, Ipswich

Entry requirements

• A good first or second class Honours Degree from a UK academic organisation in a relevant engineering field, science or closely related discipline.
• Qualifications from outside the UK or a combination of qualifications and/or experience will also be considered. The course administration office can provide advice on whether these qualifications are the equivalent of the level of Honours Degree required.
• We will consider that completion of 2 years (full time equivalent) of relevant postgraduate work experience will enhance a first degree by one step (five years experience by two steps, etc).
• Employment is considered relevant either to the first degree or to the proposed course of postgraduate study. For example, a graduate in computer studies who has been employed as a computer programmer will have relevant employment experience. (Employment undertaken before the commencement of undergraduate study will not normally count for the purposes of enhancement).
• International students whose native language is not English will also need to demonstrate English Language ability: A TOEFL score of at least 100 (internet-based) with a minimum score of 23 in Speaking, 22 in Reading and 21 in Writing and Listening; OR an IELTS score of 6.5 overall with no less than 6.0 in each band.

The taught section of the programme is assessed by formal examinations, course work and case studies. The project is assessed through a dissertation, an oral presentation (viva) and an assessment by the project supervisor. Further details are available on the individual module specifications.

The MSc in Telecommunications Technology is fully accredited by The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET).

The programme will be of interest to students in technical careers related to the design and development of telecommunications systems for national and international networks, or to those wishing to enter telecommunications research. The programme provides a means whereby graduates from non-telecommunications technical degrees can move into this high demand area. Many of our past students are now senior managers in telecommunications companies in the UK and around the world.

Our programmes provide a means where graduates from non-telecommunications technical degrees can move into this high demand area. The programme is an “Advanced Vocational Course” postgraduate degree in Telecommunications Technology; its theory, practice and applications.

Some of the subjects make full recourse to a range of mathematical topics that should be familiar to the honours graduate of an accredited Undergraduate Degree in Electronic Engineering. Any student who may not possess this familiarity, will be expected to achieve it by private study.

In addition to the usual wide range of facilities expected in a University we have the following local facilities available for to our Masters programmes.

Telecommunications Computing Laboratory:
This has 32 specialist GNU/Linux workstations (Debian distribution) specifically for use by undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. It is the main computing teaching laboratory used in the programmes and supports flexible dynamic networking as may be required for some projects.

Telecommunications laboratory:
The laboratory also supports practical classes in Optoelectronics and investigations intoWireless LAN networks and digital transmission systems.

Photonics Research laboratories:
The word “photonics” describes the engineering and science underlying the manipulation of photons of light rather in the way that the word “electronics” applies to electrons. It embraces the modern application of optical techniques to communications, signal processing, sensors, and data storage. The broad aims of the Photonics Research Group are to research new phenomena and devices, and their applications in future fibre optic systems.

The Aston Photonics Research Group has a well-established international track record of innovation in grating devices for applications in telecommunications, signal processing, optical sensing, and many other grating applications including many first demonstrations. The main areas of research are: ultrafast non-linear phenomena in fibres and fibre devices; high-speed communication concentrating on solitons and soliton transmission, processing, generation and control; all-optical switching and processing; ultrafast all-optical networks; fibre gratings fabrication, design and fundamental studies; fibre grating devices and their application in
communication and sensors; and microwave photonics.

The extensive facilities of the group are available for use on Masters projects.

Adaptive Communications Research Laboratories:
This research group focuses on a range of networking architectures from mobile systems to ad-hoc sensor networks. Techniques involve the design of advanced digital systems for application-specific embedded systems and advanced algorithms for improving network efficiency. The group uses state of the art dynamic field programmable gate array hardware to examine physical implementations of these principles.

The future impact of pervasive computing is an area of very active research. We are interested in the applications of dynamic hardware in this area to improve system performance. We are also looking at the applications of advanced coding techniques in the area of mobile third generation networks. The group has links with both the Photonics Research Group and the Neural Computing Research Group. A range of theoretical, experimental and CAD design techniques are used to investigate novel architectures and protocols.

Research interests: Ad-hoc networks, Sensor networks, Mobile networks, Adaptive algorithms, Applications of FPGAs, Dynamic hardware in Internet routers, Concurrent systems design, Coding theory, Cellular architectures for flexible processing, and Architectures for handling high-speed serial data.

The facilities are available for use on Masters projects.

Course director

Dr John Williams
John Williams received his BSc in Physics and PhD on the development, characterisation and optimisation of various new modelocked laser sources from Imperial College of Science and Technology, London.

He has been working in the Photonics Research group, Aston University since 1992 and has been a Reader there since 2000. He has authored and co-authored over 100 journal and conference papers in photonics related fields.

Dr Williams is a member of the Institute of Physics (MInstP), the Optical Society of America and the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (MIEEE) and the Institution of Engineering and Technology (MIET).

John's current research interests include the design and fabrication of in-fibre Bragg Gratings and their application as sensors, for the control of short pulses and for the processing and control of sub-carrier multiplexed microwave signals.

Teaching staff

Prof. Keith Blow
I studied at Cambridge University and then joined the Theory of Condensed Matter Group of the Cavendish Laboratory and received a Ph.D. for studies on Deep Impurities in Semiconductors.

I joined the optics division of BT Labs in 1981 and worked on the theory of non-linear optical propagation effects in fibres, principally solitons . This work developed into optical switching and the first demonstration of soliton switching in non-linear optical loop mirrors. In 1990 I set up a group working on quantum optical properties and non-linear spatial optics as well as continuing work on all-optical processing which is currently concerned with ways of using and manipulating the information that can be sent over the enormous bandwidth of optical fibres.

In 1999 I moved here to the Photonics Research Group at Aston to continue working on optical networks and optical computation. My areas of research interest are: optical communication systems and networks; optical solitons; all-optical signal processing and switching.

Dr. Marc Eberhard
I'm working in the Photonics Research Group  on simulations of optical communication systems. The main focus is on long haul optical transmission systems with particular interest in polarisation mode dispersion (PMD) in single and coarse or dense wavelength division multiplexing (CWDM or DWDM) transmission mode; stability of solitons under PMD.

Prof. Sergei Turitsyn
My experience and research interests are: Nonlinear science; Fibre optic communications; Fibre lasers.

Mrs. Elena G. Turitsyna 

My areas of researcg interest are: Numerical modelling of fibre Bragg gratings for telecom applications; design of advanced FBG for WDM systems; numerical modelling of signal transmission in optical fiber systems; modelling of advanced signal formats and optical data processing.