Graduate Program in Telecommunications Engineering
Faculty
Professors: Naofal M. Al-Dhahir,
Farokh B. Bastani, Cyrus D.
Cantrell III, Andras Farago,
Andrea F. Fumagalli, Philipos C.
Loizou, Duncan MacFarlane, Aria Nosratinia,
William J. Pervin, Balaji Raghavachari,
Lakshman S Tamil, I-Ling Yen, Si Q. Zheng
Associate Professors: Jorge A. Cobb, Jason P. Jue,
Latifur R. Khan, Hlaing Minn, Won Namgoong, Balakrishnan Prabhakaran, Ravi Prakash, Mohammad Saquib, Murat Torlak, Subbarayan Venkatesan, Yuke Wang, W. Eric
Wong
Assistant Professors: Neeraj Mittal, Kamil Sarac
Senior Lecturers: C. P. Bernardin, Nathan
Dodge, Muhammad Kalam, P. K. Rajasekaran,
Marco Tacca
Objectives
The
Graduate Program in Telecommunications Engineering provides intensive
preparation for professional practice in the design, programming, theory, and
applications of telecommunications networks. It is designed to serve the needs
of engineers who wish to continue their education. The Telecommunications
Engineering Program offers courses of study leading to the M. S. and a Ph.D.
degree in Telecommunications Engineering. Education and training is provided to
both academically oriented students and students with professional goals in
industrial or governmental occupations requiring advanced knowledge of
telecommunications and related technology. A comprehensive program of evening
courses is also offered, which enables part-time students to earn the M.S. and
Ph.D. degree or to select individual courses of interest. Courses and research
are both offered in a variety of sub fields of telecommunications engineering,
including, fault-tolerant networks, digital communications, modulation and
coding, electromagnetic-wave propagation, fiber and integrated optics, lasers,
wireless communications, mobile computing, wireless multimedia, DWDM networks, QoS assurance protocols, network design and optimization,
telecommunications software, performance of systems, ad-hoc and PCS wireless
networks, network security and high speed transmission protocols.
Facilities
The Erik Jonsson
School of Engineering and Computer Science has developed a state-of-the-art computational facility
consisting of a network of Sun servers and Sun Engineering Workstations. All
systems are connected via an extensive fiber-optic Ethernet and, through the
Texas Higher Education Network, have direct access to most major national and
international networks. In addition, many personal computers are available for
student use.
The Engineering and Computer Science
Buildings provide extensive facilities for research in telecommunications,
microelectronics, and computer science. The TARGET Laboratory has
state-of-the-art telecommunications equipment, which includes a number of transport
nodes, data packet routers, voice over IP gears, and a cluster of Linux
workstations for protocols development and testing. The Wireless Information
Systems (WISLAB) and Antenna Measurement Laboratories at UT Dallas have a
wealth of experimental equipment with a unique reconfigurable multiple antenna testbed. Having this testbed
allows wireless researchers to integrate and to demonstrate radio functions
(i.e. WiFi and WiMAX) in
geographically different regions under different frequency usage characteristics.
With the aid of the Antenna Measurement Lab located in the Waterview
Science and Technology Center (WSTC), the researchers can design, build, and
test many type of antennas. The Optical Communications Laboratory includes
attenuators, optical power meters, lasers, APD/p-i-n photodetectors, optical tables, and couplers and is
available to support system level research in optical communications.
The Center for Systems,
Communications, and Signal Processing, with the purpose of promoting research
and education in general communications, signal processing, control systems,
medical and biological systems, circuits and systems and related software, is
located in the Erik Jonsson School. The Photonic
Technology and Engineering Center (PhoTEC) has
produced more than thirty Ph.D. graduates. The PhoTEC
faculty
carry out research in enabling
technologies for microelectronics and telecommunications.
The Digital Systems Laboratory
includes a network of workstations, personal computers, FPGA development
systems, and a wide spectrum of state-of-the-art commercial and academic design
tools to support graduate research in VLSI design and computer architecture. In
the Digital Signal Processing Laboratory several multi-CPU workstations are
available in a network configuration for simulation experiments. Hardware
development facilities for real time experimental systems are available and
include microphone arrays, active noise controllers, speech compressors and
echo cancellers. The Nonlinear Optics Laboratory has a dedicated network of Sun
workstations for the development of simulation methods and software for optical
transmission and communication systems, optical routers and all-optical
networks. The Broadband Communication Laboratory has design and modeling tools
for fiber and wireless transmission systems and networks, and all-optical
packet routing and switching. The Advanced Communications Technologies (ACT)
Laboratory provides a design and evaluation environment for the study of
telecommunication systems and wireless and optical networks. ACT has facilities
for designing network hardware, software, components, and applications.
In addition to the aforementioned
facilities, a Class 1000 microelectronics clean room facility, including
optical lithography, sputter deposition and evaporation, is available for
student projects and research. An electron beam lithography pattern generator
capable of sub-micron resolution is also available for microelectronics
research. The Plasma Applications Laboratory has state-of-the-art facilities
for mass spectrometry, microwave interferometry,
optical spectroscopy, and optical detection. In addition, a Gaseous Electronics
Conference Reference Reactor has been installed for plasma processing and
particulate generation studies. The Optical Measurements Laboratory has dual
wavelength (visible and near infrared) Gaertner Ellipsometer for optical inspection of material systems, a
variety of interferometric configurations, high
precision positioning devices, and supporting optical and electrical
components. The Electronic Materials Processing laboratory has extensive
facilities for fabricating and characterizing semiconductor and optical
devices. The Laser Electronics Laboratory houses graduate research projects
centered on the characterization, development and application of ultrafast dye
and diode lasers. Research in characterization and fabrication of nanoscale materials and devices is performed in the Nanoelectronics Laboratory.
In addition to the facilities on
campus, cooperative arrangements have been established with many local
industries to make their facilities available to UT Dallas graduate
engineering students.
Master of Science in Telecommunications Engineering
Admission
Requirements
The
University’s general admission requirements are discussed here.
A student lacking undergraduate
prerequisites for graduate courses in electrical engineering must complete
these prerequisites or receive approval from the graduate adviser and the
course instructor. A diagnostic examination may be required. Specific admission
requirements follow.
A student entering the M.S.T.E.
program should meet the following guidelines:
Applicants must submit three letters
of recommendation from individuals who are able to judge the candidate’s
probability of success in pursuing a program of study leading to the master’s
degree.
Applicants must also submit an essay
outlining the candidate’s background, education and professional goals.
Students from other engineering
disciplines or from other areas of science or mathematics may be considered for
admission to the program; however, some additional course work may be necessary
before starting the master’s program.
Degree
Requirements
The
University’s general degree requirements are discussed here.
The M.S.T.E. degree requires a
minimum of 33 semester hours.
All students must have an academic
adviser and an approved degree plan. Courses taken without adviser approval
will not count toward the 33 semester-hour requirement. Successful completion
of the approved course of studies leads to the M.S.T.E. degree.
The M.S.T.E. program has both a
thesis and a non-thesis option. All part-time M.S.T.E. students will be
assigned initially to the non-thesis option. Those wishing to elect the thesis
option may do so by obtaining the approval of a faculty thesis supervisor.
All full-time, supported students
are required to participate in the thesis option. The thesis option requires
six semester hours of research, a written thesis submitted to the graduate
school, and a formal public defense of the thesis. Research and thesis hours
cannot be counted in a M.S.T.E.
degree plan unless a thesis is written and successfully defended. A supervising
committee, which must be chosen in consultation with the student’s thesis
adviser prior to enrolling for thesis credit, administers the defense.
Full-time students at UTD who receive financial assistance are required to
enroll in 9 semester credit hours during the Fall, Spring and Summer semesters. Students enrolled in the
thesis option should meet with individual faculty members to discuss research
opportunities and to choose a research advisor during the first or second
semester that the student is enrolled. After the second semester of study,
course selection should be made in consultation with the research adviser.
Part-time students are encouraged to enroll in only one course during their
first semester and in no more than two courses during any semester they are
also working full-time.
To receive a Master of Science
degree in Telecommunications Engineering, a student must meet the following
minimum set of requirements:
Completion of a minimum of 33 semester
hours of graduate level lecture courses including the required core courses.
With adviser approval, these may include some 5000 level courses.
Students must take the following
five core courses and make a grade of B or better:
CS/TE 6385 Algorithmic Aspects of Telecommunication Networks
EE 6349 Random Processes
EE 6352 Digital Communication Systems
CS 6352 Performance of Computer Systems
CS 6390 Advanced Computer Networks
Students will take additional
courses from those described in the following pages.
Recommended Elective Courses: Choose
any 18 hours of 6000 level courses or higher with approval of the adviser.
RECOMMENDED
ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING ELECTIVES:
EE 6310 Optical Communication
Systems
EE 6316 Fields and Waves
EE 6340 Introduction to Telecommunications Networks
EE 6341 Information Theory I
EE 6343 Detection and Estimation theory
EE 6344 Coding Theory
EE 6345 Engineering of Packet-Switched Networks
EE 6355 RF and Microwave Communications Circuits
EE 6360 Digital Signal Processing I
EE 6361 Digital Signal Processing II
EE 6362 Speech Signal Processing
EE 6365 Adaptive Signal Processing
EE 6390 Introduction to Wireless Communications Systems
EE 6391 Signal and Coding for Wireless Communication Systems
EE 6392 Propagation and Devices for Wireless Communication
EE 6394 Antenna Engineering for Wireless Communications
EE 6395 Advanced Radio Frequency Engineering
EE 7340 Optical Network Architectures and Protocols
RECOMMENDED
COMPUTER SCIENCE ELECTIVES:
CS 6354 Software Engineering
CS 6360 Database Design
CS 6363 Design and Analysis of Computer Algorithms
CS 6368 Telecommunication Network Management
CS 6378 Advanced Operating Systems
CS 6381 Combinatorics and Graph Algorithms
CS 6386 Telecommunication Software Design
CS 6392 Mobile Computing Systems
CS 6394 Digital Telephony
CS 6396 Real Time Systems
Doctor of Philosophy in Telecommunications Engineering
Each doctoral degree program is
tailored to the student. The student must arrange a course program with the
guidance and approval of a faculty member chosen as his/her graduate adviser.
Adjustments can be made as the student’s interests develop and a specific
dissertation topic is chosen.
Admission
Requirements
The
University’s general admission requirements are discussed here.
The Ph.D. degree in
Telecommunications engineering is awarded primarily to acknowledge the student
success in an original research project, the description of which is a
significant contribution to the literature of the discipline. Applications for
the doctoral program are therefore selected by the Telecommunications
Engineering Graduate Committee on the basis of research aptitude, as well as
academic record. Applications for the doctoral program are considered on the
individual basis.
The following are guidelines for
admission to the Ph.D. program in Telecommunications Engineering.
A master’s degree in
Telecommunications Engineering, or Electrical Engineering or Computer Science
or a closely associated discipline from an accredited U.S institution or from
an acceptable foreign university. Consideration will be given to highly
qualified students wishing to pursue the doctorate without satisfying all of
the requirements for a master’s degree.
•
A grade point average in graduate
course work of 3.5 or better or a better on a 4-point scale
•
Scores on the GRE examination of 500
and 700 for the verbal and quantitative sections, respectively, or 1200 for the
total score.
•
Applicants must submit three letters
of recommendation on official school or business letterhead or the UTD Letter
of Recommendation form from individuals who are familiar with the student
record and able to judge the candidate’s probability of success in purchasing
doctoral study in electrical engineering.
Applicants must also submit a
narrative describing their motivation for doctoral study in telecommunications
engineering.
Applicants must also submit a
narrative describing their motivation for doctoral study and how it relates to
their professional goals.
For students who are interested in a
Ph.D., but are unable to attend school full-time, there is a part-time option.
The guidelines for admission to the program and the degree requirements are the
same as for full-time Ph.D., students. All students must have an academic
adviser and an approved plan of study.
Degree
Requirements
The
University’s general degree requirements are discussed here.
The Ph.D. requires a minimum of 75
semester hours.
Each program for doctoral study is
individually tailored to the student’s background and research objectives by
the student’s supervisory committee. The program will require a minimum of 90
semester credit hours beyond the bachelor’s degree. These credits must include:
1.
Course Work
At
least 30 semester hours of graduate level courses beyond the bachelor’s level in
the major concentration. Students
choose 30 hours from the following courses with the approval of the TE Graduate
Committee.
Core
Courses (choose any 5 of the following)
CS/TE 6385 Algorithmic Aspects of
Telecommunication Networks
EE 6349 Random Processes
EE 6352 Digital Communication Systems
CS 6352 Performance of Computer Systems
CS 6390 Advanced Computer Networks
CS 6354 Software Engineering
EE 6390 Wireless Communication Systems
EE/CE 6304 Computer Architecture
EE/TE 7V81 Network Security
Recommended
Electrical Engineering Electives
EE 6310 Optical Communication
Systems
EE 6316 Fields and Waves
EE 6340 Introduction to Telecommunications Networks
EE 6341 Information Theory
EE 6343 Detection and Estimation theory
EE 6344 Coding Theory
EE 6345 Engineering of Packet Switched Networks
EE 6355 RF and microwave communication circuits
EE 6360 Digital Signal Processing I
EE 6361 Digital Signal Processing II
EE 6365 Adaptive Signal Processing
EE 6390 Introduction to Wireless Communication Systems
EE 6391 Signal and Coding for Wireless Communication Systems
EE 6392 Propagation and Devices for Wireless Communication
EE 6394 Antenna Engineering for Wireless Communication
EE 6395 Advanced Radio Frequency Engineering
EE 7340 Optical Network Architecture and Protocols
TE/EE 7V81 Network Security
Recommended
Computer Science Electives
CS 6354 Software Engineering
CS 6360 Database Design
CS 6363 Design and Analysis of Algorithms
CS 6368 Telecommunication Network Management
CS 6378 Advanced Operating Systems
CS 6381 Combinatorics and Graph Algorithms
CS 6386 Telecommunications Software Design
CS 6392 Mobile Computing Systems
CS 6394 Digital Telephony
CS 6396 Real time Systems
CS 6390 Advance Computer Networks
CS 8302 Personal Communication Systems
2.
Supervising Committee
At least 4 members, with at least 3
from the Erik Jonsson school faculty.
3.
Qualifying Examination
The student must pass a qualifying
exam approved by the TE graduate committee.
4.
Dissertation
Completion
of a major research project culminating in a dissertation demonstrating an
original contribution to a scientific knowledge and engineering practice. The dissertation will be defended publicly. The rules for
this defense are specified by the Office of the Dean of Graduate Studies.
Neither a foreign language nor a
minor is required for Ph.D. However, the student’s supervisory committee may
impose these or other requirements that it feels are necessary and appropriate
to the student’s degree program.
Areas
of Research
The principal concentration areas
for the Telecommunications Engineering graduate program are:
•
Core and wireless networks
•
Communications and signal processing
•
Network design and protocols
•
Embedded and reconfigurable systems
•
Optical and photonic devices, materials
and systems
•
Fault-tolerant data networks
Doctoral level research
opportunities include: VLSI design, reconfigurable systems, system
architecture, fault-tolerant computing, digital signal processing, digital
communications, modulation and coding, electromagnetic-wave propagation, fiber
and integrated optics, lasers and optoelectronic devices, optical transmission
systems, optical networks, wireless communications, mobile IP, wireless
multimedia, DWDM networks, QoS assurance protocols,
network design and optimization, ad-hoc and PCS wireless networks, network
security and high speed transmission protocols.
Interdisciplinary
Opportunities
In keeping with the established
tradition of research at UT-Dallas, the Telecommunications Engineering Program
encourages students to interact with researchers in other strong programs,
including computer science, electrical engineering, computer engineering, and
business management.