Research in the Department of Electronic Engineering
Electronic Engineering is one of the largest departments in the University, with an overall postgraduate student population of about 450. In the recent Research Assessment Exercise, RAE2001, it was awarded a 5*A grade, being one of only two in the UK, demonstrating sustained excellence in its major areas of: communications, vision and image processing, satellite engineering and solid state electronics. The excellence of its research is also recognised by the prestigious prizes it continues to receive from both industry and government bodies. Funding from industry provides almost 50% of its overall research income.
Research Centres
The Centre for Communication Systems Research, (CCSR)
CCSR is an internationally recognised research centre, and is the largest academic Communications Research Centre in the UK. It is a key member of the UK Virtual Centre of Excellence, VCE, in Mobile and Personal Communications and has been selected as a member of both the Nokia and Ericsson Global University alliances, underlining its place as the UK's premier Centre for Mobile Communications.
The Centre for Vision, Speech and Signal Processing, (CVSSP)
CVSSP's internationally renowned research covers the analysis of image and speech data using techniques from signal processing, pattern recognition, computer vision and artificial intelligence. It's expertise and activities span, multimedia applications (video coding and retrieval), digital broadcast production, biometric authentication, document analysis, medical imaging, automatic visual inspection, mobile robotics, remote sensing, and dynamic 3D object and environment modelling.
Surrey Space Centre, (SSC)
Surrey Space Centre holds a unique place in satellite engineering research worldwide. Having pioneered cost-effective satellite engineering techniques to develop a series of highly sophisticated, yet inexpensive small satellites, it is now established as an international centre of excellence in academic research, teaching and commercial applications for small satellites, providing affordable access to space for a wide range of international customers. The research drives advances in small satellite technology that are exploited through the University's commercial company - Surrey Satellite Technology Limited.
Advanced Technology Institute, (ATI)
The new £10m Advanced Technology Institute is a collaboration between Electronics and Physics at Surrey in optoelectronic and microwave devices and circuits. The ATI has over 50 PhD students and 60 academic and research staff, whose research activities span the areas of solid state electronics and photonics. A further £4.5 M investment was made in May 2003 to provide equipment for nanoelectronics research and high performance computing.
Postgraduate Study
PhD research can be conducted (on a full-time, part-time or collaborative basis), by joining one of the Electronic Engineering Department's research centres, allowing access to world-class facilities and supervision.
In parallel with the excellence of our research, the high standard of our innovative teaching is reflected by the award of 23 out of 24 in the recent teaching assessment, and the 100% employment rate of our graduates. Our postgraduate programmes aim to provide relevant, up-to-date and high quality programmes for students who either wish to return to industry at professional engineering level or to continue for a higher research degree.
