This programme provides graduates and working professionals with a broad training in signal processing and communications. It is suitable for recent graduates who wish to develop the specialist knowledge and skills relevant to this industry and is also suitable as advanced study in preparation for research work in an academic or industrial environment or in a specialist consultancy organisation.
Engineers or other professionals wishing to participate in the MSc programme may do so on a part-time basis.
Our students gain a thorough understanding of theoretical foundations as well as advanced topics at the cutting edge of research in signal processing and communications, including compressive sensing, deep neural networks, wireless communication theory, and numerical Bayesian methods.
The MSc project provides a good opportunity for students to work on state-of-the-art research problems in signal processing and communications.
This programme is run over 12 months, with two semesters of taught courses followed by a research project leading to a masters thesis.
Semester 1 courses
Semester 2 courses
With our excellent employability record and internationally respected reputation, the University of Edinburgh is a reliable choice for developing your engineering career.
This programme will appeal to graduates who wish to pursue a career in an industry such as communications, radar, medical imaging or anywhere else signal processing is applied.
Image and signal processing affect our daily lives in an ever-increasing way. Participate in designing this fascinating technology and shape IT‘s future function in business and society. Today‘s networked devices for image and signal generation provide a historically unmatched volume of raw data for automated decision making and control systems. The demands are high: How can we design new tools and software in order to best distil useful information? A lot of interesting research and development projects in the private and the public sectors are calling for your expertise. Alternatively, this degree will open career tracks in universities and research labs.
The international Joint Degree Master Programme„Applied Image and Signal Processing“ is conducted in English. The standard period of study is four semesters. The full program is worth a total of 120 points according to the ECTS (European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System). The academic degree of „Master of Science in Engineering“ (MSc) will be awarded upon successful completion of the programme.
From Theory to Practice (Curriculum)
The first semester is devoted to a concise study of the theoretical basis, the mathematical models and the algorithms used in image and signal processing. The second semester additionally focuses on geometric modelling, audio processing and digital media formats. Starting with the third semester, specific application scenarios are discussed and corresponding technologies are investigated in a number of elective courses.
Choose your Elective Courses
The elective courses comprise medical imaging, platform specific signal processing, data science, biometric systems, media security, computational geometry and machine learning.
Apply your Scientific Knowledge
In the third semester, students also start research on their master thesis and acquire profound IT-project management skills. The fourth semester is dedicated to the completion of the master thesis. An accompanying master seminar provides a forum for presenting and defending one‘s approach to a solution and the results obtained, i.e., for scientific discourse with faculty and peers.
Modules & Competences
This Joint Degree Master Programme is designed to provide students with an in-depth professional and scientific training. Based on appropriate prior bachelor studies, this programme offers a thorough technical training in conjunction with research-driven teaching. It will make the participants familiar with introductory and advanced-level topics in the fields of image and signal processing, their formal and methodical basics, and with diverse fields of application. The sound knowledge and skills acquired in this programme qualify the alumni for diverse practical challenges in their professional work and empower them to contribute to future innovations in image and signal processing. A master thesis serves as a documentary proof of the student‘s ability to tackle scientific problems successfully on his or her own and to come up with a result that is correct with regards to contents and methodology. Furthermore the publication of Master Thesis is intended. Thus, this programme also paves the road to subsequent work in science and technology.
Our MSc Systems, Control and Signal Processing degree will allow you to build on the core topic of signal processing with specialisms in systems theory, image processing and machine learning. This one year course will give you highly transferable skills in algorithmic development and programming.
Focus on systems and signal processing in a programme that encompasses contemporary approaches to a broad range of topics.
This programme is structured around a core of topics in signal processing, with specialisms in control and systems theory, image processing and machine learning.
The programme is centred around the research base at Southampton and reflects leading research in ECS in the areas of:
The programme has a high mathematical content, and much of the material is strongly computationally based. You will develop strong transferable skills in algorithmic development and programming.
View the programme specification document for this course
This programme provides an excellent platform for further research in either industry or academia.
Graduates from our MSc programme are employed worldwide in leading companies at the forefront of technology. ECS runs a dedicated careers hub which is affiliated with over 100 renowned companies including:
Visit our careers hub for more information.
Through an extensive blend of networks, mentors, societies and our on-campus startup incubator, we also support aspiring entrepreneurs looking to build their professional enterprise skills. Discover more about enterprise and entrepreneurship opportunities.
This course delivers a thorough, methodical and wide-ranging education in communications, signal processing, and microwave engineering. It covers in-depth materials including digital communication, wireless communications, mobile networks, digital signal processing, communication networks, and optical communications. In addition, students can choose between course units that specialise in signal and image processing, or antennas and microwave systems engineering.
The course is aimed at those with prior undergraduate level knowledge on communication and signal processing, wishing to enhance their skills to an advanced level for a rewarding career in related industries. Graduates are also capable to conduct PhD study in world leading research groups and contribute new ideas towards the advancement of technologies.
Practical support and advice for current students and applicants is available from the Disability Advisory and Support Service. Email: [email protected]
On graduating you will be able to enter directly all areas of the modern communication and signal processing engineering industry, including the fast growing mobile and wireless technology sectors. You will also be prepared to begin PhD research programmes, which may lead to careers in research establishments and universities.
This full-time course covers the theoretical and practical aspects of communications theory and networks, fundamental control technology and digital signal processing (DSP). All these topics are critical to the information and communications age.
You’ll gain an advanced knowledge of the principles of the communications, control and DSP domains. You’ll also develop an understanding of the current and future developments and technologies within these three disciplines.
Along with full accreditation from the Institution for Engineering and Technology (IET), this course will enable you to capitalise on job opportunities across a range of sectors including:
EDF Energy, Siemens and Texas Instruments are just some of the multinationals where our graduates have secured positions.
You’ll take two semesters of compulsory and optional taught classes. These are followed by a three-month research project in your chosen area. Opportunities exist to do the project through the department's competitive MSc industrial internships.
The internships are offered in collaboration with selected department industry partners including Selex ES, ScottishPower, SmarterGridSolutions. You'll address real-world engineering challenges facing the partner, with site visits, access and provision of relevant technical data and/or facilities provided, along with an industry mentor and academic supervisor.
We’ve a wide range of excellent teaching spaces including interactive classrooms and brand new state-of-the-art laboratories equipped with the latest technologies including:
You’ll have access to our IT facilities including web based resources, wireless internet and free email. There’s an IT support team to help with all your needs.
The Institution of Engineering & Technology (IET) - this programme is CEng accredited and fulfils the educational requirements for registration as a Chartered Engineer when presented with a CEng accredited Bachelors programme.
We use a blend of teaching and learning methods including interactive lectures, problem-solving tutorials and practical project-based laboratories. Our technical and experimental officers are available to support and guide you on individual subject material.
Each module comprises approximately five hours of direct teaching per week. To enhance your understanding of the technical and theoretical topics covered in these, you're expected to undertake a further five to six hours of self-study, using our web-based virtual learning environment (MyPlace), research journals and library facilities.
The teaching and learning methods used ensure you'll develop not only technical engineering expertise but also communications, project management and leadership skills.
Interaction with industry is provided through our internships, teaching seminars and networking events. The department delivers monthly seminars to support students’ learning and career development.
Xilinx, Texas Instruments, MathWorks, and Selex ES are just a few examples of the industry partners you can engage with during your course.
A variety of assessment techniques are used throughout the course. You'll complete at least six modules. Each module has a combination of written assignments, individual and group reports, oral presentations, practical lab work and, where appropriate, an end-of-term exam.
Assessment of the summer research project consists of four elements, with individual criteria:
By concentrating on three distinct disciplines, this course enables you to capitalise on job opportunities across a range of sectors including control, telecommunications, signal processing, electronics and IT user companies. Globalisation of the communications, electronic & digital sectors means if graduates wish to work abroad, this course provides an ideal passport to anywhere in the world.
Almost all of our graduates secure jobs by the time they have completed their course. They have gained professional and technical occupations with international companies such as Samsung, MathsWorks, Nokia and Texas Instruments, as well as joining Wolfson Microelectronics, Seles ES and Linn Products in the UK.
Increasingly, graduates of this course also play leading roles in the power and renewable energy sectors, supporting data analytics, information transmission and security for organisations such as EDF Energy, Siemens & Petrofac Engineering.
Job titles include:
Employers include:
Digital signal processing (DSP) is at the core of the communications revolution. Research is constantly being carried out to develop new DSP algorithms, allowing mobile broadband services, ‘Internet of Things’ applications and other technologies to be delivered to a growing number of users.
This programme will give you a thorough understanding of different aspects of DSP and as it relates to the communications landscape, as well as specialist knowledge from your choice of optional modules.
Our DSP lab will give you hands-on experience using the DSP technology that can be found in computers, cellular phones, GPS and other technologies, and you’ll learn from expert researchers at the forefront of their fields.
You’ll also benefit from specialist industrial lectures, allowing you to relate the theoretical and design aspects of communications and signal processing to practical problems and real-world constraints.
School Facilities
Our School is an exciting and stimulating environment where you’ll learn from leading researchers in specialist facilities. These include our Keysight Technologies wireless communications lab, as well as labs for embedded systems, power electronics and drives, ultrasound and bioelectronics.
There’s also a Terahertz photonics lab, class 100 semiconductor cleanroom, traffic generators and analysers, FPGA development tools, sensor network test beds. We have facilities for electron-beam lithography and ceramic circuit fabrication – and a III-V semiconductor molecular beam epitaxy facility. The Faculty is also home to the £4.3 million EPSRC National Facility for Innovative Robotic Systems, set to make us a world leader in robot design and construction.
The Institute for Digital Communications (IDCOM) is the UK's leading research institute in signal processing and communications and is home to the Li-Fi research and development centre. We have three major centres of activity; signal processing, communications systems and tomographic imaging. Our programme of research delivers world leading research in signal and image processing and communications from fundamental theoretical and algorithmic work through to its translation to specific audio, imaging, radar/sonar, and communications applications.
The Institute has excellent research facilities, including state-of-the-art computing systems and laboratories for agile tomography, and audio signal processing, as well as the Li-Fi research and development centre for visible light communications. Internationally recognised for our research on communications systems and signal processing, we offer research topics including: green radio; visible light communications; cognitive radio; compressive sensing; distributed sensor signal processing; and agile tomography.
IDCOM holds the only UK Research Council platform award in sensor signal processing, in collaboration with the joint research institute in signal and image processing and Heriot-Watt University, recognising our world leading research status.
The development of transferable skills is a vital part of postgraduate training and a vibrant, interdisciplinary training programme is offered to all research students by the University’s Institute for Academic Development (IAD). The programme concentrates on the professional development of postgraduates, providing courses directly linked to postgraduate study.
Courses run by the IAD are free and have been designed to be as flexible as possible so that you can tailor the content and timing to your own requirements.
Our researchers are strongly encouraged to present their research at conferences and in journal during the course of their PhD.
Every year, the Graduate School organises a Postgraduate Research Conference to showcase the research carried out by students across the Research Institutes
Our researchers are also encouraged and supported to attend transferable skills courses provided by organisations such as the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).
The Institute has excellent research facilities, including state-of-the-art computing systems and laboratories for usability engineering, audio signal processing and visible light communications.
An MSc by Research is based on a research project tailored to a candidate’s interests. It lasts one year full time or two years part time. The project can be a shorter alternative to an MPhil or PhD, or a precursor to either – including the option of an MSc project expanding into MPhil or doctorate work as it evolves. It can also be a mechanism for industry to collaborate with the School.
