Undergraduate Teaching 2025-26

2025-26

2025-26

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Engineering Tripos Part IIA, 3B2: Integrated Digital Electronics, 2025-26

Module Leader

Prof OB Akan

Lecturers

Prof OB Akan and Dr M Tang

Lab Leader

Prof OB Akan

Timing and Structure

Lent term. 16 lectures.

Aims

The aims of the course are to:

  • Introduce key aspects of integrated digital electronics and its applications as logic devices.
  • Introduce design and optimization techniques for combinational and sequential digital logic circuits.
  • Introduce programmable logic design and hardware description language (Verilog) concepts.
  • Introduce the principles of design and operation of the major digital integrated circuit technologies.
  • Discuss the importance of miniaturising digital circuits and their key role in microprocessors, memories and programmable logic devices.

Objectives

As specific objectives, by the end of the course students should be able to:

  • Understand the technologies that serve as building blocks to modern digital circuits and know their main applications.
  • Analyse and synthesise how LSI circuits are used in logic; Multiplexers, Memory blocks, FPGAs.
  • Design sequential logic circuits and finite state machines, and know about the Moore and Mealy models.
  • Be familiar with Verilog hardware description language and be able to write code for basic circuits.
  • Be familiar with the architecture and programming of modern FPGA devices and the design flow involved.
  • Design synchronous circuits and use FPGAs for design of sequential networks.
  • Appreciate the drive to miniaturise digital circuits and understand how this has improved performance and reduced cost.
  • Know the definitions for noise margins, rise times, fall times and transfer characteristics for digital circuits.
  • Be aware of the two operating regions (saturation and non-saturation) of the Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor (MOSFET) and understand how the equations for the two regions are used to design and estimate the performance of digital circuit
  • Be familiar with CMOS IC fabrication, layout and simulation fundamentals
  • Appreciate the evolution of MOSFET inverters from the resistive load inverter through the enhancement and depletion transistor load inverters to the CMOS inverter.
  • Plot the transfer characteristics and calculate the rise times for NMOS and CMOS inverters.
  • Know the basic gate circuits for NMOS and CMOS logic and be able to compare their performance.
  • Understand CMOS combinational logic gates such as NAND, NOR, XOR, and their delay and power analysis
  • Understand CMOS designs of bistable circuit, SR latch, JK flip-flops, D flip-flops and latches and clocking strategies
  • Understand the operating principles and design challenges of semiconductor memory circuits
  • Be familiar with emerging topics in integrated digital electronics such as FinFETs, GAAFETs, 3D ICs, chiplets

Content

Part I: Logic Circuits & System-Level Digital Design (Lectures 1–8)

Lecture 1 — Introduction to Logic Circuits and Digital Systems

  • Boolean algebra revision
  • Logic gate synthesis using NAND/NOR
  • Overview of logic minimization and combinational networks

Lecture 2 — Verilog Basics and Design Tools

  • Verilog syntax, simulation vs. synthesis
  • Design units: entities and architectures
  • Introduction to FPGA synthesis flow

Lecture 3 — Combinational Circuit Design

  • Multiplexers, decoders, priority encoders
  • Boolean function implementation
  • Lookup tables and hardware mapping in FPGA logic blocks

Lecture 4 — Sequential Logic Fundamentals

  • Flip-flops: D, T, JK, SR
  • Counters and registers
  • Clocking, timing diagrams, basic FSMs

Lecture 5 — FSM Design in Verilog

  • State diagram → Verilog implementation
  • Hierarchical design and testbenches
  • Case study: traffic light controller or vending machine

Lecture 6 — Programmable Logic Devices

  • PLDs, CPLDs, FPGAs
  • FPGA architecture overview
  • Internal LUT, flip-flop, and routing structure

Lecture 7 — Datapath Elements and Control Logic

  • Adders, multiplexers, ALUs, accumulators
  • Memory blocks and register files
  • Control unit design

Lecture 8 — Digital Signal Processing Case Study

  • FFT pipeline overview
  • Signal flow and parallelism
  • Lab/demo using FPGA FFT IP core in Verilog FPGA design

Part II: Digital Integrated Circuits & CMOS Design (Lectures 9–16)

Lecture 9 — Introduction to CMOS-based Digital Design

  • CMOS vs. other logic families
  • Structure of digital ICs: cell libraries, standard cells
  • Definitions of noise margins, definitions of transient characteristics (rise/fall times, delay), power estimation.

Lecture 10 —  MOS Transistors

  • MOSFET structures and operation modes
  • Threshold voltage, current-voltage characteristics, velocity saturation

Lecture 11 —  Fabrication, Layout and Simulation

  • IC photolithography, patterning of transistors and wires, layout basics.
  • SPICE simulation of MOS devices
  • Interconnect and IC design metrics: RC modelling, delay estimation, scaling effects, Power, Performance, and Area (PPA) metrics, signal integrity: crosstalk, ground bounce

Lecture 12 — CMOS Inverter Design and Analysis

  • Voltage transfer characteristics (VTC), noise margins and layout
  • Power consumption: dynamic vs. static
  • Delay analysis of CMOS inverters

Lecture 13 —  CMOS Combinational Logic Gates

  • NAND, NOR, XOR using CMOS
  • Transistor sizing and fan-in/fan-out effects
  • Delay and power analysis of CMOS gates

Lecture 14 —  CMOS Sequential Circuits

  • CMOS designs of bistable circuit, SR latch, JK flip-flops, D flip-flops and latches
  • Clocking strategies: edge-triggering, pipelining

Lecture 15 —  Semiconductor Memory Circuits

  • Memory organisation
  • Static ROM and RAM cell designs and operation
  • Peripheral circuits (CMOS tri-state buffers, Schmitt triggers)

Lecture 16 — Emerging Topics in Digital Electronics

  • FinFET structure and motivation: short-channel effects, gate control, scaling
  • Comparison of planar CMOS vs. FinFET and impact on digital ICs
  • Gate-all-around FETs (GAAFETs), 3D ICs, chiplets

Coursework

FPGA Experiment

Students are provided with a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) board and are asked to design a basic logic circuit, described by Verilog code, and use it to configure the FPGA chip. The circuit implementation is used to test the FPGA board functionality and understand the versatility of programmable logic technology. The boards are DE1-SoC by Terasic using Altera SoC FPGAs and donated by Terasic under Intel FPGA University Programme. 

Learning objectives: 

  • Gain experience with FPGA devices
  • Analyze and design logic circuits using Verilog
  • Learn a design-flow for FPGAs
  • Configure designed circuits into FPGAs
  • Test configured FPGA devices

Practical information:

  • Sessions will take place in EIETL, during weeks 1-8 Lent term.
  • This activity involves preliminary work (~2h). You are required to read the lab handouts before lab sessions, and perform any activity required by the Lab Leader as a preparation for the lab.

Full Technical Report:

Students will have the option to submit a Full Technical Report.

 

Booklists

Please refer to the Booklist for Part IIA Courses for references to this module, this can be found on the associated Moodle course.

Examination Guidelines

Please refer to Form & conduct of the examinations.

 
Last modified: 07/02/2026 08:38

Engineering Tripos Part IIA, 3B1: Radio Frequency Electronics, 2025-26

Leader

Dr I Tavakkolnia

Lecturers

Dr I Tavakolnia, Prof H Joyce

Lab Leader

Dr I Tavakkolnia

Timing and Structure

Michaelmas term. 16 lectures, delivered in person. Lecture recordings will also be available via Panopto.

Aims

The aims of the course are to:

  • Give an introduction to circuit architecture, operation and design techniques used for signals ranging from the audio range up to microwave frequencies ie. kHz – GHz.
  • Introduce some material on antenna operation and design, which form a key part of radio systems.

Objectives

As specific objectives, by the end of the course students should be able to:

  • Understand the various characteristics of transistors including high frequency effects and circuit techniques which exploit them.
  • Explain the Miller effect and how it influences the frequency response.
  • Design basic multiple transistor circuits and to calculate their output and input impedances.
  • Know the disadvantages and advantages of positive feedback.
  • Explain how to make single and variable frequency oscillators.
  • Design simple RF impedance matching circuits including the use of Smith charts.
  • Understand the architecture and circuits used in radio applications and be able to design simple functional blocks.

Content

Modern communication products such as radios, mobile ‘phones and GPS receivers utilise circuitry which operates at very high frequencies; this module will introduce circuit architecture, operation and design techniques used for signals ranging from the audio range up to microwave frequencies ie. kHz – GHz.

  • Transistor characteristics and circuit design: JFET, MOSFET and Bipolar devices.  High frequency performance and the Miller Effect, input and output impedances.
  • Multiple transistor circuits: cascaded amplifiers, current sources and differential amplifiers.
  • Filters: operational amplifier VCVS filters, resonant circuits, gyrators, ceramic.
  • Oscillators: relaxation, Wein Bridge, resonant – negative impedance, Colpitts, quartz crystal, voltage controlled oscillators, phase locked loop.
  • Impedance matching: LC circuits, transformers, transmission line.
  • Radio architecture: ‘crystal set’, Superhet, digital radio.
  • Mixer circuits: simple diode, Gilbert cell, diode ring, dual gate MOSFET.
  • Modulation and demodulation schemes: AM, FM, PSK, FSK and circuits: F-V, V-F, diodes, multipliers, PLL.
  • Microwave circuit techniques: microstrip and stripline, characteristic impedance, s & z parameters, Smith chart.
  • Directional couplers and cirulators.
  • Antenna principles and design: dipole, microstrip patch, helical, array antennas.

Coursework

The module is accompanied by the lab experiment: ‘Superhet radio’ situated in the Electrical and Information Engineering Teaching Laboratory (EIETL).

Superhet Radio Experiment

Learning objectives: 

  • To how key elements of the superheterodyne radio architeture operate by characterising them individually
  • Appreciate how the circuit blocks are connected and how the radio operates
  • To gain further experience of using laboratory equipment and instruments
  • See how the performance of a superhet architecture compares to that of a tuned RF circuit, as made in the IEP

Practical information:

  • Sessions will take place in the EIETL, during week(s) 1-8.
  • This activity involves a little bit of preliminary work (15 mins.) reading through the lab. sheet before the session.
  • Bring a digitial camera / phone along to the lab. to record oscilloscope traces etc. for your report.

Full Technical Report:

Students will have the option to submit a Full Technical Report.

 

Booklists

Please refer to the Booklist for Part IIA Courses for references to this module, this can be found on the associated Moodle course.

Examination Guidelines

Please refer to Form & conduct of the examinations.

 
Last modified: 04/06/2025 13:16

Engineering Tripos Part IIA, 3A6: Heat and Mass Transfer, 2025-26

Module Leader

Dr M Onn

Lecturers

Dr M Onn, Dr N Kateris

Lab Leader

Prof S Hochgreb

Timing and Structure

Lent term. Conduction and radiation (Prof A Boies), convection and mass transfer (Prof. S Hochgreb); 16 lectures total.

Aims

The aims of the course are to:

  • Provide an understanding of the fundamentals of heat and mass transfer processes in engineering systems.
  • Provide methods for analysis and solution of problems involving heat and mass transfer using fundamental differential analysis.
  • Guide the process of scaling analysis and finding solutions by analogy.

Objectives

As specific objectives, by the end of the course students should be able to:

  • Understand the principles of conduction, radiation and convection and apply them to the design and analysis of engineering systems and problems
  • Understand the analogy between heat, mass and momentum transfer
  • Understand the origin and use of non-dimensional groups and their analogues in heat, mass and momentum transfer
  • Understand the principles of evaporation and phase change
  • Understand the process of mass diffusion in gases, liquids and solids
  • Develop an intuition for scaling and magnitudes in heat transfer
  • Develop an understanding of numerical and experimental methods for solving practical problems

Content

Multidimensional conduction (3L)

  • Heat equation
  • Multi-dimensional steady-state conduction in solids
  • Transient conduction: Biot and Fourier numbers, lumped capacitance
  • Numerical methods

Radiation heat transfer (3L)

  • Spectral radiation
  • Spectral absorptivity, emissivity, transmissivity
  • Form factor calculations and approximations
  • Numerical methods

Convective Heat Transfer (7L)

  • Principles of convection
  • Forced convection
  • Free convection
  • Heat exchangers
  • Numerical methods and examples

Mass transfer (3L)

  • Conservation laws and constitutive relations
  • Diffusive and convective fluxes 
  • Mass and heat transfer analogies

Coursework

Laboratory experiment: short or full report

Temperature measurements using infrared (IR) camera

Learning objectives: 

  • Understand the principles of infrared radiation detection and temperature measurement
  • Acquire temperature information from a surface using IR 
  • Calculate the expected temperature distribution in a physical conduction situation
  • Compare experiments to theory
  • Understand the effects of convection on heat transfer

Practical information:

  • Sessions will take place in Hopkinson Laboratory during week(s) [TBA]
  • This activity does not involve preliminary work

Full Technical Report:

Students will have the option to submit a Full Technical Report.

 

Booklists

Please refer to the Booklist for Part IIA Courses for references to this module, this can be found on the associated Moodle course.

Examination Guidelines

Please refer to Form & conduct of the examinations.

 
Last modified: 04/06/2025 13:06

Engineering Tripos Part IIA, 3A5: Thermodynamics & Power Generation, 2025-26

Module Leader

Dr A White

Lecturers

Prof A Wheeler and Dr A White

Lab Leader

Prof A Wheeler

Timing and Structure

Michaelmas term. Thermodynamics 2 lectures/week, weeks 1-4 (Dr Alex White); Power Generation: 2 lectures/week, weeks 5-8 (Prof Andy Wheeler). 16 lectures.

Aims

The aims of the course are to:

  • Introduce some new concepts in thermodynamics, especially relating to chemical thermodynamics
  • Focus on electricity power generation and the underlying thermodynamic theory.
  • Introduce some concepts in thermo-mechanical energy storage to support intermittent generation technologies.
  • Cover topics including power generation by direct electrochemical conversion by fuel cells, gas turbines, Rankine and combined cycles.
  • Introduce some advanced cycle concepts, hydrogen-fuelled power plant and discuss the possibility of carbon dioxide capture and storage.

Objectives

As specific objectives, by the end of the course students should be able to:

  • Understand the principles of exergy analysis, be able to calculate the lost work terms of power cycle components.
  • Know the importance of the Helmholtz and Gibbs functions, the uses of standard property changes in chemical reactions, and the idea of rational efficiency..
  • Understand the principles of electrochemical energy conversion, be aware of different types of fuel cell technology, be able to calculate the Gibbs and Nernst potentials, and have a basic knowledge of fuel cell losses.
  • Understand the principles of phase equilibrium, the role of the chemical potential, and the Clausius-Clapeyron equation.
  • Understand equation of state theory including characteristic form, Maxwell’s relations, ideal gases, ideal gas mixtures, imperfect gases, van der Waals form, and law of corresponding states.
  • Understand chemical equilibrium theory and the use of the equilbrium constant, be able to perform calculations for gas mixtures with one or two independent reactions, and be able to apply van’t Hoff’s equation.
  • Appreciate the need for energy storage and apply exergetic analysis to some thermo-mechanical storage concepts.
  • Understand the rôle of a range of thermodynamic cycles in electricity power generation and be conversant with likely future developments.
  • Be able to evaluate the performance of gas turbine plants including reheat, intercooling and recuperation.
  • Be able to evaluate the performance of Rankine power plants including reheat and feedheating.
  • Be able to evaluate the performance of combined cycles.
  • Understand the issues involved in the capture and storage of carbon dioxide.

Content

Introduction, Thermodynamics and Energy Storage (9L)

  • Overview of current and future electricity power generation, and the associated carbon emissions.
  • Thermodynamic availability, lost work and entropy production, exergy analysis, application to power cycles.
  • Gibbs and Helmholtz functions, standard property changes in chemical reactions, overall and rational efficiencies, electrochemical conversion, fuel cells (theory and practice).
  • Equilibrium criteria, phase equilibrium, chemical potential, Clapeyron equation, equations of state, ideal gas mixtures, imperfect gases, van der Waals equation.
  • Gibbs equation, chemical equilibrium, chemical potential of ideal gas, equilibrium constant, gas phase reactions, van’t Hoff equation.
  • Role of energy storage, description and anaysis of some storage tehnologies.

Power Generation (7L)

  • Gas turbines (GTs) with intercooling, reheat and recuperation.
  • Hydrogen-fired GTs and hydrogen production.
  • Rankine cycles with feed heating and reheat. Thermodynamic cycles for nuclear, biomass, solar and geothermal power and low-grade heat recovery.
  • Combined cycles (CCs): gas-steam CCGTs and and other CCs, including those employing Organic Rankine Cycles (ORCs).
  • Advanced cycles and carbon dioxide sequestration.

Examples papers

  1. 1B revision, exergetic analysis, chemical exergy and fuel cells
  2. Gibbs and Helmholtz functions, phase and chemical equilibrium, equations of state, energy storage.
  3. Gas turbine plant, intercooling and recuperation.
  4. Steam plant, reheat, feed heat, combined cycles and ORCs.

Coursework

Computer based cycle simulation

Learning objectives: 

  • To consolidate the concept of exergy covered in lectures, and to apply this to the analysis of power-generating gas turbine cycles.
  • To study the methods by which the efficiency and specific work output of a simple gas turbine plant may be improved.
  • To investigate trends in cycle performance with various design parameters.

Practical information:

  • Sessions will be able to complete the coursework online starting from week 2.
  • This activity doesn't involve preliminary work.

Full Technical Report:

Students will have the option to submit a Full Technical Report.

 

Booklists

Please refer to the Booklist for Part IIA Courses for references to this module, this can be found on the associated Moodle course.

Examination Guidelines

Please refer to Form & conduct of the examinations.

UK-SPEC

This syllabus contributes to the following areas of the UK-SPEC standard:

Toggle display of UK-SPEC areas.

GT1

Develop transferable skills that will be of value in a wide range of situations. These are exemplified by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority Higher Level Key Skills and include problem solving, communication, and working with others, as well as the effective use of general IT facilities and information retrieval skills. They also include planning self-learning and improving performance, as the foundation for lifelong learning/CPD.

IA1

Apply appropriate quantitative science and engineering tools to the analysis of problems.

KU1

Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of essential facts, concepts, theories and principles of their engineering discipline, and its underpinning science and mathematics.

KU2

Have an appreciation of the wider multidisciplinary engineering context and its underlying principles.

S3

Understanding of the requirement for engineering activities to promote sustainable development.

E1

Ability to use fundamental knowledge to investigate new and emerging technologies.

E2

Ability to extract data pertinent to an unfamiliar problem, and apply its solution using computer based engineering tools when appropriate.

E3

Ability to apply mathematical and computer based models for solving problems in engineering, and the ability to assess the limitations of particular cases.

P1

A thorough understanding of current practice and its limitations and some appreciation of likely new developments.

P3

Understanding of contexts in which engineering knowledge can be applied (e.g. operations and management, technology, development, etc).

US1

A comprehensive understanding of the scientific principles of own specialisation and related disciplines.

US2

A comprehensive knowledge and understanding of mathematical and computer models relevant to the engineering discipline, and an appreciation of their limitations.

US3

An understanding of concepts from a range of areas including some outside engineering, and the ability to apply them effectively in engineering projects.

US4

An awareness of developing technologies related to own specialisation.

 
Last modified: 04/06/2025 13:06

Engineering Tripos Part IIA, 3A3: Fluid Mechanics II (double module), 2025-26

Module Leader

Prof. H. Babinsky

Lecturers

Prof S.A. Scott, Prof C. Hall, Dr J.P. Jarrett, Dr C Clark

Lab Leaders

Prof H Babinsky and Dr C Clark

Timing and Structure

Michaelmas and Lent. 32 lectures.

Aims

The aims of the course are to:

  • To understand fluid flows to a level such that the pressures and resultant forces acting can be estimated in situations involving complex geometries of industrial interest at both subsonic and supersonic speed.
  • To understand the effects of viscosity and heat transfer, where relevant

Objectives

As specific objectives, by the end of the course students should be able to:

  • Know the concepts of stagnation temperature and stagnation pressure and be able to determine their values from a knowledge of static temperature, static pressure and Mach number.
  • Know how conservation principles determine the behaviour of normal shock waves and be able to use tables to quantify that behaviour.
  • Evaluate Mach number of a flow from measurements of Pitot and static pressures.
  • Determine flow patterns in nozzles under the assumption of one dimensionality, using tables.
  • Know how Mach number and other flow properties change under the influence of friction or heat exchange, and be able to quantify this using tables.
  • Know how to construct and interpret x-t diagrams for unsteady ID flow.
  • Quantify the behaviour of hydraulic jumps and infinitesimal waves in shallow water.
  • Understand the influence of the speed of sound on two-dimensional compressible flow behaviour.
  • Apply the two-dimensional method of characteristics for simple flows and flows involving reflection/cancellation.
  • Understand the origin of oblique shock waves and their reflection.
  • Apply the preceding ideas to practical flows via shock-expansion theory, linearised method of characteristics and linearised potential theory.
  • Know how to construct and use numerical solution methods for the equations of fluid flow using finite difference and finite volume approximations
  • Know how to estimate the accuracy and analyse the stability of numerical schemes
  • Identify and understand the operation of different types of turbomachinery.
  • Analyse turbomachinery performance.
  • Understand the causes of irreversibilities within the blade passages and their affects on the overall efficiency.
  • Analyse compressible flow through turbomachines.

Content

One-dimensional Compressible Flow (12L): 2 lectures/week, weeks 1-6 Michaelmas term (Dr A Agarwal)

  • Steady, adiabatic and inviscid flow; speed of sound; reversibility; the stagnation state; the effect of area variation on subsonic/supersonic flow, choking; normal shock waves; flow patterns in nozzles; use of table for isentropic flow and for shock waves.
  • Fanno and Rayleigh line processes for the effects of friction and heat exchange.
  • Introduction to unsteady flow. Hydraulic analogy for steady compressible flow; speed of waves in shallow water; the hydraulic jump; the venturi flume; weirs.

Two-dimensional Compressible Flow (8L): 2 lectures/week, weeks 7-8 Michaelmas term and weeks 1-2 Lent term (Dr J Jarrett)

  • Method of characteristics, expansion fan and compression ramp.
  • Oblique shock waves, strong and weak solutions.
  • Shock-expansion theory
  • Potential equation and linearisation. 

Equations of Fluid Flow and their Numerical Solution (6L): 2 lectures/week, weeks 3-5 Lent term (Prof S Scott)

  • Numerical solution techniques; finite difference approximations; finite volume approximations; order of accuracy, diffusion and dispersion errors; stability considerations for time iterative techniques
  • Classification of equations; numerical solution of the Euler equations, nonlinearity and shock waves

Turbomachinery (6L): 2 lectures/week, weeks 6-8 Lent term (Dr J Taylor)

  • Identify and understand the operation of different types of turbomachinery.
  • Analyse turbomachinery performance.
  • Understand the causes of irreversibilities within the blade passages and their affects on the overall efficiency.
  • Analyse compressible flow through turbomachines.

 

Coursework

There are 2 parts of coursework, one in Michaelmas and one in Lent (and in these terms only).

The Michaelmas lab will be done live in the lab. Instructions and preparatory material will be on moodle.

You need to book the slots on Moodle early in term.

___________________

If future COVID-19-related policies affect the way that labs are being delivered, the updates will be communicated through Moodle.
 

Turbomachinery

Learning objectives:

  • to study the characteristics of a typical centrifugal pump;
  • to study the role of the velocity triangles play in the pump characteristics;
  • to understand the key non-dimensional groups used to represent the pump characteristics;
  • to study the effect of Reynolds number on the pump performance by varying the pump speeds and the viscosity of the working fluids;
  • to observe the phenomenon of cavitation in a pump;
  • to appreciate the validity and limitations of the simple dimensional analysis for the pump performance;
  • to learn different ways of measuring mass flow rate;
  • to appreciate the advantage and limitation of using a venturi nozzle to measure mass flow rate.

Practical information:

  • Sessions will take place in the Hopkinson Laboratory in the Lent Term;
  • This activity does not involve preliminary work, but a preview of the relevant lecture notes as well as the labsheets before the lab would be helpful.

Full Technical Report:

Students will have the option to submit a Full Technical Report based on the lab and research on further reading.

 

Nozzle and supersonic tunnel

Learning objectives:

  • to study the pressure distribution in convergent-divergent nozzles for various pressure ratios;
  • to observe the phenomenon of choking;
  • to become familiar with the essential features of a supersonic wind tunnel;
  • to understand the basic principles of a schlieren system for flow visualisation;
  • to observe fundamental flow changes through a normal shock-wave;
  • to appreciate the validity and limitations of one-dimensional, adiabatic, inviscid theory.

Practical information:

  • Sessions will take place in the Aerolab;
  • This activity doesn't involve preliminary work.

Full Technical Report:

Students will have the option to submit a Full Technical Report.

 

Booklists

Please refer to the Booklist for Part IIA Courses for references to this module, this can be found on the associated Moodle course.

Examination Guidelines

Please refer to Form & conduct of the examinations.

UK-SPEC

This syllabus contributes to the following areas of the UK-SPEC standard:

Toggle display of UK-SPEC areas.

GT1

Develop transferable skills that will be of value in a wide range of situations. These are exemplified by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority Higher Level Key Skills and include problem solving, communication, and working with others, as well as the effective use of general IT facilities and information retrieval skills. They also include planning self-learning and improving performance, as the foundation for lifelong learning/CPD.

IA1

Apply appropriate quantitative science and engineering tools to the analysis of problems.

KU1

Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of essential facts, concepts, theories and principles of their engineering discipline, and its underpinning science and mathematics.

KU2

Have an appreciation of the wider multidisciplinary engineering context and its underlying principles.

E1

Ability to use fundamental knowledge to investigate new and emerging technologies.

E2

Ability to extract data pertinent to an unfamiliar problem, and apply its solution using computer based engineering tools when appropriate.

E3

Ability to apply mathematical and computer based models for solving problems in engineering, and the ability to assess the limitations of particular cases.

P1

A thorough understanding of current practice and its limitations and some appreciation of likely new developments.

P3

Understanding of contexts in which engineering knowledge can be applied (e.g. operations and management, technology, development, etc).

P4

Understanding use of technical literature and other information sources.

US1

A comprehensive understanding of the scientific principles of own specialisation and related disciplines.

US2

A comprehensive knowledge and understanding of mathematical and computer models relevant to the engineering discipline, and an appreciation of their limitations.

US3

An understanding of concepts from a range of areas including some outside engineering, and the ability to apply them effectively in engineering projects.

 
Last modified: 04/06/2025 13:05

Engineering Tripos Part IIA, 3A1: Fluid Mechanics I (double module), 2025-26

Module Leader

Prof S Barrett

Lecturers

Prof H Babinsky, Dr J Li, Prof M Juniper

Lab Leaders

Dr S Mandre, Prof P Tucker

Timing and Structure

Michaelmas and Lent. 32 lectures.

Aims

The aims of the course are to:

  • Develop an understanding of when and where fluid flows can be modelled as incompressible and inviscid.
  • Develop simple analytical and computational methods to solve incompressible and inviscid flows, and build up physical understanding through a range of practical examples.
  • Introduce the effects of viscosity, and discuss boundary layer flows in some detail.
  • Bring the ideas developed together in two applications sections, which consider the aerodynamics of aircraft wings and road vehicles.

Objectives

As specific objectives, by the end of the course students should be able to:

  • Know when and where incompressible fluid flows can be modelled as irrotational.
  • For two-dimensional incompressible flow, use the complex potential to determine the velocity and pressure distribution in simple geometries eg. corner flow.
  • For two-dimensional incompressible flow, superimpose elementary solutions to calculate velocity and pressure distributions in a range of practical flows.
  • For two-dimensional incompressible flow, know that the panel method leads to an efficient computational scheme.
  • For two-dimensional incompressible flow, understand the relationship between circulation and lift.
  • Use images to investigate ground effects and the influence of wind-tunnel walls.
  • Use elementary solutions to calculate velocity and pressure in some simple three-dimensional flows.
  • Use vortex dynamics to explain the development of simple three-dimensional flows.
  • For boundary layer flows, understand the coupling between the viscous-dominated near-field flow and the inviscid far-field.
  • Understand classical and integral solution techniques.
  • Understand the difference between laminar and turbulent flows and transition.
  • Understand the nature of flow around an aircraft.
  • Understand the interaction between lift and induced velocity.
  • Estimate the lift and drag of aircraft wings
  • Qualitatively understand the effects of viscosity on the flow around airfoils and wings
  • Describe the physical features of the flow around a road vehicle.
  • Understand the origins of the aerodynamic forces on a road vehicle
  • Explain how the aerodynamic forces are affected by road vehicle shape.

Content

Incompressible Flow (10L); 2 lectures/week, weeks 1-5 Michaelmas term (Prof M Juniper)

  • Irrotational flow and the velocity potential.
  • Two-dimensional flow:stream function and streamline; complex potential; sources, sinks and vortices; superposition of elementary sources to determine real flows; panel method; circulation and lift; use of images.
  • Three-dimensional flow:sources and sinks; vorticity in 3D, Kelvin's circulation theorem.
  • Viscous effects: Navier Stokes equation, vorticity equation.
  • Recorded lectures will be provided.

Boundary Layer Flows (10L); 2 lectures/week, weeks 6-8 Michaelmas term and 1-2 Lent (Dr J Li)

  • The boundary layer equations.
  • Laminar boundary layers, similarity solutions
  • Thwaites method, numerical methods.
  • Turbulent boundary layers, the log law.
  • Turbulent boundary layers with roughness
  • Pipe flows

Applications I - Aerofoils and Wings (8L); 2 lectures/week, weeks 3-6 Lent term (Prof H Babinsky)

Two-dimensional aerofoil flows:

  • modelling assumptions;
  • vortex sheet panel method;
  • thin aerofoil theory;
  • lumped parameter modelling;
  • viscous effects and stall.

 

Three dimensional wing flows:

  • general features;
  • panel methods in 3D;
  • lifting line theory;
  • lumped parameter modelling;
  • wing stall;

 

Applications II - Aerodynamics of Road Vehicles (4L); 2 lectures/week, weeks 7-8 Lent term (tbc)

  • Review of fundamental concepts : bluff-body aerodynamics, friction vs pressure drag, 2 and 3 dimensional bodies, ground effect
  • Drag of passenger cars ; boat-tailing, tail shapes, skirts
  • Lift/downforce: spoilers, wings, diffusers
  • Drag of haulage vehicles: tractor/trailer junction, trailer shape effects, cross-wind stability .

Coursework

Flow Around Bodies of Revolution

Learning objectives: 

  • To measure the drag forces on three bodies of revolution over a range of flow speeds.
  • To observe some aspects of the flow structures with oil flow and a tuft mast.
  • To obtain curves of drag coefficient versus Reynolds number.
  • To find the critical Reynolds Number at which the flow pattern on a sphere changes from a high drag regime to a low drag one.

Practical information:

  • Due to COVID-19 restrictions, data normally obtained in the laboratory may be provided by other means.
  • Any practical sessions will take place in the 3rd-floor Aerodynamics Laboratory, during Michaelmas week(s) 1-4 (approx).
  • This activity does not involve preliminary work.

Full Technical Report:

Students will have the option to submit a Full Technical Report.

Turbulent Boundary Layer

Learning objectives: 

  • To observe with the aid of a hot-wire anemometer and a stethoscope the transition from a laminar to a turbulent boundary layer on a flat plate under various conditions.
  • To obtain the transition Reynolds numbers.
  • To measure the angle of the turbulent wedge that is formed downstream of a roughness
    element.
  • To measure the mean and turbulence profiles of the boundary layer when it is fully turbulent.
  • To use the mean flow velocity profile to estimate the skin friction coefficient.

Practical information:

  • Due to COVID-19 restrictions, data normally obtained in the laboratory may be provided by other means.
  • Any practical sessions will take place in the 2nd-floor Aerodynamics Laboratory, during a limited period in the Lent term.
  • This activity does not involve preliminary work.

Full Technical Report:

Students will have the option to submit a Full Technical Report.

 

 

Booklists

Please refer to the Booklist for Part IIA Courses for references to this module, this can be found on the associated Moodle course.

 

Examination Guidelines

Please refer to Form & conduct of the examinations.

UK-SPEC

This syllabus contributes to the following areas of the UK-SPEC standard:

Toggle display of UK-SPEC areas.

GT1

Develop transferable skills that will be of value in a wide range of situations. These are exemplified by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority Higher Level Key Skills and include problem solving, communication, and working with others, as well as the effective use of general IT facilities and information retrieval skills. They also include planning self-learning and improving performance, as the foundation for lifelong learning/CPD.

IA1

Apply appropriate quantitative science and engineering tools to the analysis of problems.

KU1

Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of essential facts, concepts, theories and principles of their engineering discipline, and its underpinning science and mathematics.

KU2

Have an appreciation of the wider multidisciplinary engineering context and its underlying principles.

E1

Ability to use fundamental knowledge to investigate new and emerging technologies.

E2

Ability to extract data pertinent to an unfamiliar problem, and apply its solution using computer based engineering tools when appropriate.

E3

Ability to apply mathematical and computer based models for solving problems in engineering, and the ability to assess the limitations of particular cases.

P1

A thorough understanding of current practice and its limitations and some appreciation of likely new developments.

P3

Understanding of contexts in which engineering knowledge can be applied (e.g. operations and management, technology, development, etc).

US1

A comprehensive understanding of the scientific principles of own specialisation and related disciplines.

US2

A comprehensive knowledge and understanding of mathematical and computer models relevant to the engineering discipline, and an appreciation of their limitations.

US3

An understanding of concepts from a range of areas including some outside engineering, and the ability to apply them effectively in engineering projects.

 
Last modified: 04/06/2025 13:05

Engineering Tripos Part IB, 2P8: Manufacturing and Management, 2025-26

Leader

Dr L Mortara

Lecturers

Prof A Brintrup, Dr N Cooper, Prof R Daly, Dr K Kruger, Prof D McFarlane, Prof T Minshall, Dr L Mortara, Prof J Moultrie, Dr S Pattinson, Prof F Tietze

Timing and Structure

Easter Term in the Constance Tipper Lecture theatre : 13 lectures + 1 Industrial case + 1 example paper

Aims

The aims of the course are to:

  • Examine the journey from invention to market
  • Explore how new technologies are commercialised, either through the creation of new ventures or within established organisations, and the strategic, organisational, and operational choices that shape this process.

Objectives

As specific objectives, by the end of the course students should be able to:

  • Understand the likely stages of development from innovation to profit
  • Appreciate modern production technologies, advanced manufacturing, and operations management involved
  • Understand the funding, protection, and exploitation of intellectual assets alternative routes for financing innovation across the development and commercialisation stages
  • Describe how firms adapt their innovation and operations strategies in response to external pressures (such as the need for sustainability), uncertainty, and contextual disruptions.
  • Describe the main features of how a business works

Content

Given the aims above, what are the choices that accompany those who attempt this effort along the way?
Each lecture is organised around a key decision question faced when identifying and executing a route to market for a technological innovation.
Lecture-specific objectives and applied examples are used to assess student learning against these outcomes.

Please refer to Moodle (for the Handouts and extra material)

Where do inventions come from?

We start by examining the source of inventions and the conditions in which they are likely to occur. By the end of the lecture, students should be able to:

  • List at least six strategies by which new inventions are found
  • Give at least one example for each strategy
  • Understand the difference between invention and innovation
  • Describe the structure of this course

Is there a market?

Two major sources of invention are ‘push’ – the inventor thinks of something new and must establish a market; and ‘pull’ – there is a clearly defined market demand. In both cases, successful exploitation depends on understanding of the potential market for the new product. By the end of the lecture, given a proposed new technology or concept, students should be able to:

  • Apply the concept of the 'design mix' determine how a product might be differentiated.
  • Map the whole market for a potential new product, identifying and naming viable market segments comprising clusters of like-minded customers.

How do you design the right solution? From needs to prototypes

It is important that any design meets the requirements of potential users, customers, and any other stakeholder who might be influenced by the design, from maintenance to distribution. There are a number of different ways in which these requirements might be captured and considered. By the end of the lecture, students should be able to:

  • Identify the stakeholders who are influenced by the design
  • Propose a ‘persona’ of a specific user or stakeholder
  • Apply the Kano model to the benefits to the user of different product features
  • Understand the importance of prototyping in the design process

How to select the production processes to make your product?

This session will provide an introduction to the most common manufacturing processes used in industry today. We will examine the core principle of operation and think about their benefits and challenges. With this in mind, we will think about how to select an appropriate process or sequence of processes for a new product. Finally, there will be a brief introduction into where production process operation can benefit from integration of AI. Objectives are: 

  • Understand the principle of operation for a range of common manufacturing processes.
  • Appreciate the advantages and limitations of different common manufacturing processes.
  • Explore the first steps towards selecting production processes for a new product.
  • Understand where AI can contribute towards efficient manufacturing. 

How to scale up new technologies?

We will look at the challenges of taking a brand new product design through to manufacturing and how these challenges are addressed locally and nationally. We will focus on medical technologies as a case study to consider the broader materials, production processes and post-processing requirements and how they are balanced with aspects of safety, regulations, sustainability and ethics. The objectives are:

  • Appreciate the range of influences when selecting materials and production processes.
  • Understand the specific challenges of the medical technology sector.
  • Consider the role of quality control and post-processing when selecting materials and production processes.
  • Understand the challenges in moving a new idea through to a defined production process. 

How does a factory work?

This session introduces to key concepts in the way factories are planned, designed and operated to be able to make the products we use in everyday life. How factories are configured to be able to produce at different combinations of product volume and variety? The ways in which customers order are decomposed into tasks and examined, and some of the key equipment in a typical manufacturing environment is introduced in this context. Challenges for the modern factory will be discussed and examples of production outside the factory. The objectives are: 

  • Understand different types and configurations of factories used to make products we use in everyday life
  • Explore the way a order (of products) is decomposed into more elementary tasks which are to be completed within the factory
  • Identify some key operations, machines and devices in factory operations. 

How to control and manage factory operations?

The session starts with the simplest control loops in a factory and shows that a hierarchy of nested loops are implicitly used in the management of different levels of factory operations. The session will also introduce the concept of industrial automation and examine the scope, rationale and typical technologies used.  The related concept of operations management is also introduced. Advances in industrial automation and control such as Industry 4.0, Industrial Internet of Things and AI will be briefly examined. The objectives are:

  • Appreciate the hierarchy of control systems in use in the management of a typical factory
  • Explore the different ways automation can be applied to factory operations
  • Understand key features of industrial control and operations management.
  • Understand the role of emerging technologies in the control and management of a factory 

How do supply chains and industrial logistics work?

We will  introduce key concepts in supply chains and logistics, and examine their implications for modern manufacturing and society. We will explore current forces shaping supply chains and discuss the role of engineering led, quantitative approaches in addressing contemporary issues such as supply chain resilience, security and sustainability. The objectives are: 

  • Appreciate the role of supply chains within modern manufacturing and explore the objectives of supply chain management 
  • Explore the different types supply chains and current challenges facing companies in operating and coordinating them
  • Introduce the role and function of logistics operations within supply chain operations
  • Appreciate the range of quantitative decision-making models in addressing supply chain optimisation and coordination 

AI and Data science in manufacturing and supply chains

A range of contemporary Analytics and Artificial Intelligence methods are used in industrial systems.  The structure of the session builds on the previous lectures on processes involved in product design, factory systems and operations, and supply chain management, to map the ways in which data driven methods may be used to improve them. In doing so, the session describes methods such as predictive analytics, generative AI, optimisation, and agent-based systems; and explores the technical, managerial and ethical challenges involved in collecting and analysing industrial datasets. The objectives are: 

  • Understand the range of AI approaches applied to product design, manufacturing, and supply chain and logistics management 
  • Explore the challenges of developing AI and data science approaches in industrial environments
  • Appreciate how advanced AI and data science is transforming industries 

How can your assets be protected?

Before any public disclosure of an innovation, an inventor must decide how to prevent competitors copying the new features. By the end of the lecture, students should be able to:

  • Develop an awareness of the importance of intellectual property rights in today’s knowledge- and innovation-driven economies.
  • Develop an initial understanding of the fundamentals of selected intellectual property rights that are of particular relevance for engineers.
  • Understand where and how further, more detailed knowledge on intellectual property can be accessed. 

How does the innovation make money? How to get investment?

This lecture focuses attention onto two related issues: how an innovation could be turned into profits via the different types of business models and how to obtain investments to support the business. By the end of this lecture, the students will be able to:

  • Explain what is meant by a ‘business model’ as a way of structuring the value creation and value capture activities of the business.
  • Understand that there are different types of business model, and be able to describe the pros and cons of different models for achieving different outcomes.
  • Describe the different types and sources of investment available for businesses, and the suitability of each for different business models and stages of the development of a business. 

What are the issues in managing growth through continuous innovation?

One good idea is not sufficient to ensure the long-term survival of a company. Companies need to innovate if they are to continue to grow. In this lecture, we will review the challenges of managing a portfolio of innovation projects in a growing business and we will consider the new management challenges that need to be addressed. By the end of the lecture, students should be able to:

  • Describe some of the challenges of managing a portfolio of 'old' and 'new' projects, radical versus incremental innovations
  • Compare the characteristics of a start-up versus, long established company and the different management challenges resulting from these different characteristics
  • Understand the evolution patterns across markets and industry, and the threat of disruption.

How to deal with sustainability in industrial settings?

Through innovation and large-scale production, civilisation has achieved significant progress, delivering economic stability and substantial improvements in quality of life. However, the optimisation of industrial manufacturing has also contributed to rising greenhouse gas emissions and environmental degradation. As a major source of these impacts, industry has a critical role to play in reversing this trend.How are principles of industrial sustainability integrated in companies approaches? By the end of the lecture, students should be able to:

  • Discuss the impact of sustainability on the competing needs of industry
  • Demonstrate that there are different ways of measuring the impact of industry (in the context of sustainability)
  • Understand some of the different ways that sustainability can be implemented for industrial processes.  

Div E website

IfM Design Management Group website: https://www.ifm.eng.cam.ac.uk/

Booklists

Please refer to the Booklist for Part IB Courses for references to this module, this can be found on the associated Moodle course.

Examination Guidelines

Please refer to Form & conduct of the examinations.

UK-SPEC

This syllabus contributes to the following areas of the UK-SPEC standard:

Toggle display of UK-SPEC areas.

GT1

Develop transferable skills that will be of value in a wide range of situations. These are exemplified by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority Higher Level Key Skills and include problem solving, communication, and working with others, as well as the effective use of general IT facilities and information retrieval skills. They also include planning self-learning and improving performance, as the foundation for lifelong learning/CPD.

IA1

Apply appropriate quantitative science and engineering tools to the analysis of problems.

IA3

Comprehend the broad picture and thus work with an appropriate level of detail.

KU1

Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of essential facts, concepts, theories and principles of their engineering discipline, and its underpinning science and mathematics.

KU2

Have an appreciation of the wider multidisciplinary engineering context and its underlying principles.

D1

Wide knowledge and comprehensive understanding of design processes and methodologies and the ability to apply and adapt them in unfamiliar situations.

D2

Understand customer and user needs and the importance of considerations such as aesthetics.

D3

Identify and manage cost drivers.

S1

The ability to make general evaluations of commercial risks through some understanding of the basis of such risks.

S3

Understanding of the requirement for engineering activities to promote sustainable development.

E1

Ability to use fundamental knowledge to investigate new and emerging technologies.

E2

Ability to extract data pertinent to an unfamiliar problem, and apply its solution using computer based engineering tools when appropriate.

E3

Ability to apply mathematical and computer based models for solving problems in engineering, and the ability to assess the limitations of particular cases.

P1

A thorough understanding of current practice and its limitations and some appreciation of likely new developments.

P3

Understanding of contexts in which engineering knowledge can be applied (e.g. operations and management, technology, development, etc).

P5

Awareness of nature of intellectual property and contractual issues.

US1

A comprehensive understanding of the scientific principles of own specialisation and related disciplines.

US3

An understanding of concepts from a range of areas including some outside engineering, and the ability to apply them effectively in engineering projects.

US4

An awareness of developing technologies related to own specialisation.

 
Last modified: 18/02/2026 18:39

Engineering Tripos Part IB, 2P8: Bioengineering, 2025-26

Course Leader

Prof G Treece

Lecturers

Prof G Treece, Prof M Lengyel, Prof G Hennequin, Prof S Huang

Timing and Structure

Weeks 1-4 Easter term, 14 lectures + 2 examples classes, 4 hours/week.

Aims

The aims of the course are to:

  • enable students to appreciate the vast potential for the application of engineering principles in biology and medicine, and learn about four specific application areas in which Part I engineering principles can be applied to
  • gain insight into visual processing and optimality in eye design.
  • study the structure and function of the eye.
  • study the design of ocular prostheses.
  • study medical imaging of the components of the eye.

Content

Imaging of the eye (4L, Prof Graham Treece)

  • Optical fundus imaging and the scanning laser ophthalmoscope.
  • 2D and 3D optical coherence tomography.
  • Ocular ultrasonography.
  • Visualisation of 3D data.

Introduction and Ocular biomechanics and biomaterials (4L, Prof Shery Huang)

  • Healthy eye and ocular biomechanics.
  • Structural and mechanical diseases of the eye.
  • Lens and cornea replacement and transplantation.
  • Future eye repair practices:tissue engineering.

Biological vision with an engineers eye (3L, Prof Máté Lengyel)

  • Evolution in eye design:optimal optics.
  • Approaching physical limits; retinal patterning and processing.
  • Encoding visual scenes in the brain; optimal information processing. 

Visual processing (3L, Prof Guillaume Hennequin)

  • From eye to brain.
  • Spatial, depth & colour vision.
  • Retinal and cortical neural prostheses.

Booklists

Wang, L.V. & Wu, H.-I. Biomedical Optics: Principles and Imaging, Wiley, 2007.

  • Engineering Library: DB.158 and Part IB Tripos shelves

Examination Guidelines

Please refer to Form & conduct of the examinations.

UK-SPEC

This syllabus contributes to the following areas of the UK-SPEC standard:

Toggle display of UK-SPEC areas.

GT1

Develop transferable skills that will be of value in a wide range of situations. These are exemplified by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority Higher Level Key Skills and include problem solving, communication, and working with others, as well as the effective use of general IT facilities and information retrieval skills. They also include planning self-learning and improving performance, as the foundation for lifelong learning/CPD.

IA1

Apply appropriate quantitative science and engineering tools to the analysis of problems.

IA3

Comprehend the broad picture and thus work with an appropriate level of detail.

KU1

Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of essential facts, concepts, theories and principles of their engineering discipline, and its underpinning science and mathematics.

KU2

Have an appreciation of the wider multidisciplinary engineering context and its underlying principles.

D1

Wide knowledge and comprehensive understanding of design processes and methodologies and the ability to apply and adapt them in unfamiliar situations.

D2

Understand customer and user needs and the importance of considerations such as aesthetics.

D3

Identify and manage cost drivers.

S1

The ability to make general evaluations of commercial risks through some understanding of the basis of such risks.

S3

Understanding of the requirement for engineering activities to promote sustainable development.

E1

Ability to use fundamental knowledge to investigate new and emerging technologies.

E2

Ability to extract data pertinent to an unfamiliar problem, and apply its solution using computer based engineering tools when appropriate.

E3

Ability to apply mathematical and computer based models for solving problems in engineering, and the ability to assess the limitations of particular cases.

P1

A thorough understanding of current practice and its limitations and some appreciation of likely new developments.

P3

Understanding of contexts in which engineering knowledge can be applied (e.g. operations and management, technology, development, etc).

P5

Awareness of nature of intellectual property and contractual issues.

US1

A comprehensive understanding of the scientific principles of own specialisation and related disciplines.

US3

An understanding of concepts from a range of areas including some outside engineering, and the ability to apply them effectively in engineering projects.

US4

An awareness of developing technologies related to own specialisation.

 
Last modified: 05/06/2025 11:18

Engineering Tripos Part IB, 2P8: Electrical Engineering, 2025-26

Course Leader

Prof A J Flewitt

Lecturers

Professor A J Flewitt and Professor C Durkan

Timing and Structure

Weeks 1-4 Easter term. 16 lectures including worked examples, 4 lectures/week.

Aims

The aims of the course are to:

  • Give the student an appreciation of the scientific understanding, electronic materials, processing technilogy, and the design of the transistors, displays and storage devices inside a modern personal computer.

Objectives

As specific objectives, by the end of the course students should be able to:

  • Understand the concepts of electronic motion in metals and semiconductors and doping in semiconductors.
  • Understand the concepts in the design of a field effect transistor.
  • Understand the relationship between switching speed and dimensions in transistor design.
  • Give an overview of the technology of processing materials and the impact on transistor design.
  • Give an overview of lithography techniques and the impact on transistor design.
  • Understand the technological implications of increased speed and reduced dimensions of transistors
  • Give a vision of potential future developments where transistors have atomic scales.
  • Have an appreciation of the different technologies which can be used for flat panel displays.
  • Have a basic understanding of liquid crystal displays and active matrix liquid crystal displays.
  • Have a basic understanding of how a magnetic storage hard disk drive works, and materials used.

Content

Ubiquity of Semiconductor Devices (1L)

Semiconductor devices are hugely common in modern life,in cell-phones,computers,TVs,solar cells, lighting (light emitting diodes). How do they work inside?

Electronic devices in computers - Switches, logic, storage, DRAM, SRAM, idea of Moore's law

What is a Semiconductor (1L)

  • Bonding in metals and semiconductors. Band gaps. Perodic table, Doping.
  • The electron as a particle, a pin-ball model for conduction. Mobility, saturated velocity. Worked examples.

The MOSFET (Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor) (4L)

  • Operating concepts of MOSFETs. Transit time. Switching speed. Gate control.
  • MESFETs vs MOSFETs. Why Si not GaAs.
  • Elementary discussion of Scaling and Moore's law.

Displays (3L)

  • Display technologies - electricity into light.
  • What are Liquid crystals.
  • Active matrix liquid crystal displays.

Fabricating Devices (4L)

  • Production of silicon and related materials
  • Metallisation
  • Patterning
  • Etching

Magnetic storage technology (1L)

  • Elementary principles of magnetic storage - BH loops, bits, writing, reading.
  • The mechanical design of a modern hard disk drive.
  • The material in a disk and read head.

Towards the Future (1L)

  • How MOSFET device dimensions and voltages reduce to give even smaller and faster transistors, towards an atomic scale with  gate-all-around geometries.
  • Memristors as new devices for emerging neuromorphic computing.

 

Booklists

Please refer to the Booklist for Part IB Courses for references to this module, this can be found on the associated Moodle course.

 

Examination Guidelines

Please refer to Form & conduct of the examinations.

UK-SPEC

This syllabus contributes to the following areas of the UK-SPEC standard:

Toggle display of UK-SPEC areas.

GT1

Develop transferable skills that will be of value in a wide range of situations. These are exemplified by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority Higher Level Key Skills and include problem solving, communication, and working with others, as well as the effective use of general IT facilities and information retrieval skills. They also include planning self-learning and improving performance, as the foundation for lifelong learning/CPD.

IA1

Apply appropriate quantitative science and engineering tools to the analysis of problems.

IA3

Comprehend the broad picture and thus work with an appropriate level of detail.

KU1

Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of essential facts, concepts, theories and principles of their engineering discipline, and its underpinning science and mathematics.

KU2

Have an appreciation of the wider multidisciplinary engineering context and its underlying principles.

D1

Wide knowledge and comprehensive understanding of design processes and methodologies and the ability to apply and adapt them in unfamiliar situations.

D2

Understand customer and user needs and the importance of considerations such as aesthetics.

D3

Identify and manage cost drivers.

S1

The ability to make general evaluations of commercial risks through some understanding of the basis of such risks.

S3

Understanding of the requirement for engineering activities to promote sustainable development.

E1

Ability to use fundamental knowledge to investigate new and emerging technologies.

E2

Ability to extract data pertinent to an unfamiliar problem, and apply its solution using computer based engineering tools when appropriate.

E3

Ability to apply mathematical and computer based models for solving problems in engineering, and the ability to assess the limitations of particular cases.

P1

A thorough understanding of current practice and its limitations and some appreciation of likely new developments.

P3

Understanding of contexts in which engineering knowledge can be applied (e.g. operations and management, technology, development, etc).

P5

Awareness of nature of intellectual property and contractual issues.

US1

A comprehensive understanding of the scientific principles of own specialisation and related disciplines.

US3

An understanding of concepts from a range of areas including some outside engineering, and the ability to apply them effectively in engineering projects.

US4

An awareness of developing technologies related to own specialisation.

 
Last modified: 05/06/2025 11:18

Engineering Tripos Part IB, 2P8: Information Engineering, 2025-26

Course Leader

Prof R Cipolla

Lecturers

Prof R Cipolla, Prof R Turner and Prof A Abate

Timing and Structure

Easter Term: Weeks 1-4 - 13 lectures + 3 examples classes, 4 lectures/week

Aims

The aims of the course are to:

  • Provide a unified view of information engineering showing how signal processing, computer vision, machine learning and control relate to one another.
  • Use example applications drawn from autonomous driving to provide concrete examples of important concepts and subareas of information engineering including computer vision, machine learning and reinforcement learning
  • Introduce computer vision including algorithms for 3D reconstruction, registration and object recognition
  • Introduce basic concepts in inference, learning and optimisation including maximum-likelihood estimation, Bayes’ rule and gradient descent.
  • Introduce basic algorithms for planning and the general area of sequential decision making / reinforcement learning

Objectives

As specific objectives, by the end of the course students should be able to:

  • Provide example applications of machine perception, machine learning, and autonomous decision making systems.
  • Understand the mathematical basis for perspective projection and feature detection; neural networks and parameter estimation; basic planning and reinforcement learning.
  • Implement methods to solve simple computer vision and machine learning problems including object detection and segmentation and sequential decision making.

Content

A: Introduction to Autonomous Driving (1L) (Guest lecturer from industry - Dr Roddick from Waymo)

  • The anatomy of a self-driving car (Autonomous Vehicle) with description of autonomous driving hardware (the car, sensors, interfaces and actuators) 
  • Motivate the need for machine perception (computer vision), learning and decision making systems
  • Important sub-problems in the data processing pipeline: object detection, localisation and mapping, prediction, planning and action
  • Examples of self-driving cars

 

B: Machine Perception: Introduction to Computer Vision (5L) (R. Cipolla)

  • An introduction to computer vision: reconstruction, registration and recognition
  • Perspective projection
  • Convolution with gaussians and derivatives of gaussians to provide bandpass filters.
  • Edge detection using directional filters.
  • Scale-space and image pyramids for feature detection
  • The SIFT feature descriptor for matching image features.
  • Demonstration of state-of-the-art object detection, semantic segmentation and localisation systems
  • Examples paper and class

C: Machine Learning: Introduction to Deep Learning (5L) (R. Turner)

  • Training a simple classifier: logistic regression and gradient descent
  • Neural networks: Multi-layer perceptrons and back propagation
  • Neural networks: convolutional neural networks
  • Anatomy and training of a convolutional neural network in Tensorflow or PyTorch - network architecture, loss function, weight initialization, batch size, learning rate, epochs.
  • Examples paper and class 

D: Autonomous Decision Making: Introduction to Planning and Reinforcement Learning (5L) (A Abate)

  • Introduction to planning: Shortest path problems, value functions and dynamic programming
  • Introduction to reinforcement learning: Q-learning, actor-critic methods, approximations using neural networks
  • Identification of open problems
  • Examples paper and class

Booklists

Please refer to the Booklist for Part IB Courses for references to this module, this can be found on the associated Moodle course.

Examination Guidelines

Please refer to Form & conduct of the examinations.

 
Last modified: 10/05/2026 10:36

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