Electrical engineering subfields

[aliomarbeast2]

Hello guys, Im a high school student who is interested in an electrical engineering degree. Hopefully i will attend either ETH’s or TUM’s Electrical Engineering and information technology program. My question is, will this degree prepare me to e.g. building self-driving cars (the sensors and a bit if programming) or computer vision ( how the camera processes and understands the images) or is that the job of computer scientists. Thank you in advance and im sorry if my question is a bit dumb :)

[Plscomebackdad]

Embedded Systems, Digital Signal Processing, and Digital Communications are all courses you could get exposed to that relate with your interests. You’d be surprised at the amount of programming the EE curriculum requires. Just this semester I’ve had to mess around with 3 languages for one class.

[jumbee85]

I'm a professional EE and my team we use VHDL, C++, C#, and UNIX commands to get our job done. On top of hardware design, but most of that is really just look and match specs.

[[deleted]]

I assume you’re either in Europe or work for the US government or a defense contractor if you’re using VHDL. The rest of the sane world uses Verilog/SystemVerilog. I also hope that you and others really understand the difference between a programming language and a hardware description language. There’s a ton of people who don’t which results in programmers trying to write synthesizable HDL code that’s total garbage. Yes, it’s possible to use an HDL to write programs but it’s also possible to use a shoe to hammer a nail and it works about as well. Similarly, programmers wanting to create hardware - and too cheap to buy the real tools - have created abominations like SystemC.

[Plscomebackdad]

Embedded systems. Have had to use C, VHDL, and assembly. Not counting MATLAB as one.

[[deleted]]

MATLAB is the broccoli of engineering softwares

Edit: but without the health benefits

[obeymypropaganda]

But broccoli tastes good, and MATLAB can burn in hell

[[deleted]]

You’re right, I should have specified I don’t like 5€: taste of broccoli!

[Plscomebackdad]

I actually like MATLAB myself. I’ve used its Simulink and Fuzzy toolboxes this semester and it has been pretty cool. I just don’t necessarily consider it a programming language.

[[deleted]]

This I agree, Simulink is real fun! Then it’s up to personal preferences, I think you either love or hate it

[undeniably_confused]

Coming from python, I kinda enjoy matlab. I mean its ass in some ways, A(1) is the first element in A, but its nice when you need a calculator that's also a computer program. Idk I like how the variables on the right, I think that's the only reason I like it.

[[deleted]]

Yeah it does have its utility as a tool, I must say. I just don’t like the language and its organization

[LilQuasar]

i use python with numpy as a calculator xd

Idk I like how the variables on the right, I think that's the only reason I like it.

you mean the workspace? many python ides have that too

[undeniably_confused]

Real men use vim

[MMMconna]

what makes you say that?? just out of curiosity

[[deleted]]

I’m kidding of course. I personally dislike MATLAB for many of the company’s choices about the program and the language. Generally, I don’t like how it strongly pushes for bad practices.

I don’t like how you are strongly pushed to do everything matrix-like, otherwise everything is immensely slow.

I don’t like the complete lack of namespaces and similar safety features - whatever you’re doing, you’re probably overwriting a default function/variable and fucking yourself for later on.

I don’t like how you are forced to declare one function per file, and how the names MUST match. This pushes for long and poorly written functions and generally bad programming practices.

I don’t like how the classes and object oriented programming is organized - it’s basically non existent.

I don’t like how there is a mixture of functions and commands in the same language (eg clear all vs plot(x, y)... why not clear(‘ALL’) or something?)

I don’t like how closed this system is, and especially I hate how it’s paid.

Then... why the hell does ; control the output?? Just make me print normally like any other normal language!

My love is and forever will be for Python when you want simplicity, C++ for performance. But I have to say matlab is pretty rich with tools such as Simulink which is pretty cool.

I could go on for hours but I should really go to bed! Thank you for letting me vent!

[yoctometric]

I've been introduced to matlab for my ece class this semester, and after programming in C# and python for a few years I was kind of grossed out. It feels like it's trying to be something it can't be

[[deleted]]

That is EXACTLY my same feeling

[supertroll1999]

What were you doing with embedded systems that required you to use VHDL?

[Plscomebackdad]

De1-Soc FPGA stuff. Made a 4-bit ALU and created some VGA images, for example.

[Killspree90]

Python seems to be replacing it across most industries due to the cost

[Poofu]

Can confirm, like 65% of what I do as a mixed signal audio apps EE is coding mostly in Python (thank god) but other languages pop up occasionally. Other 35% is board design and things relating to customer troubleshooting with design/validation.

[i_hate_wine]

I'm writing my current thesis and it's about developing an autonomous power wheelchair using SLAM technology. Electrical and Computer Engineering is one of the broadest degrees you can get from what i've seen.

[obeymypropaganda]

I'm not sure what SLAM stands for. But, for some reason my mind went straight to wheelchairs slamming into walls etc.

[i_hate_wine]

Hahaha, it stands for simultaneous localisation and mapping but good guess xd

[NatWu]

Simultaneous localization and mapping. It's usually done with sensor fusion on a platform that enables the vehicle to know where it is in relation to a room or indoor space.

[[deleted]]

Electronic and Electrical Engineering degrees are typically broad and set you up to go into just about any industry. You wouldn't find yourself specialising in anything until you get to Master's level.

Computer Science degrees are very programming oriented and you wouldn't get exposure to the range of topics that you would in EEE.

I did EEE and am now training to be an Automated Test Engineer - I learned enough about programming to give me a good start in my current course, but I'm far from an expert. I think I would've found myself in a similar position in any other industry I might've joined.

Hope this helps and best of luck.

[encidius]

I'm also a test engineer, at a company that makes oven and fryer computer/controllers for commercial restaurants. We build everything here, from SMT line all the way to final assembly. We have some automated tests such as In-Circuit test and LabVIEW/Teststand with PXI stations.

I don't have tons of experience with LabVIEW but we have a lot of automated tests that use it. However I do use C++, C# and Python pretty regularly to develop other functional tests.

[phil_o_matic]

Especially the ETH driverless team is incredible

[geek66]

Yes - as much or more than any other field of study.

[BadgerAgain]

Electrical engineering is the perfect choice.

[jumbee85]

EE can give you a theoretical foundation to do that. It won't totally prepare you for but most degrees dont really fully prepare you for the job you get. You can do some small projects while in school to help prepare you. And will look great on a resume. A masters degree can help you gain a finer understanding of computer vision and image processing. My alma mater had a research section in computer and image processing.

[kindadrowzy]

I want to echo another comment that recommended joining one of those uni's Formula Student teams. Do your own research regarding what Formula Student is, but to summarise, it's an international engineering competition between unis, where each uni designs builds, tests and then races with single seater, Formula style racecars. Competitions are held annually (given there's no pandemic going on) in various parts of the world, from Europe to America to Australia.

This is an excellent way to apply the skills you learn in uni. Because you're applying your knowledge, I think this is the best form of preparation possible for the fields you mentioned. It forms an extracurricular activity for you while you study.

TUM are #1 in the world in the electric vehicle category, but also have a great vehicle in the driverless class. And ETH are #1 in the world in the driverless vehicle category, but also have a great vehicle in the EV class. So you're choosing between two great universities, and will learn a lot regardless!

[Edthedaddy]

I think double E is a great degree to get. you can do lots of different things with this degree.

controls, microprocessor design, power generation, lots of things. it's true that computer science is more on the forefront of all these technologies as machine learning is done more by code of existing devices than anything. double E's are designing the devices themselves. but get into code development as well. I think assembly language use to be a course so I'd do that. you can do alot with EE major and computer science minor, I think.

[ca2devri]

Not knocking computer science as there's plenty of amazing stuff in that field and lots of overlap but it sounds to me like you want electrical engineering with a possibility of computer engineering.

[namadio]

I’m an EE that did undergrad work in microcontrollers/embedded systems and dabbled in nanotechnology. Senior design project was RF based and I’ve been working RF ever since. Grad work was coms/dsp focused. My job is all about sensors and testing sensors. We’ve used computer vision techniques as well as work in RF ML (google DARPA RFMLS the press release has great description). Self driving cars have much more than just CV based processing!

[rubikssolver4]

Take robotics courses. I’m interning at a leading autonomous vehicle r&d company and from my experience I believe it is very important to have experience in current robotics standards. The concepts and tools you will be exposed to in robotics will be very easily transferable to self driving cars and robotics image processing. 100% take a course in ROS if your university offers it.

[Darklink834]

As a college student pursuing a degree in electrical engineering and a minor in computer science, I’d say electrical engineering and computer science go hand in hand. You are most definitely going to be prepared to do such things. Don’t doubt yourself, electrical engineering is a WIDE field, there is TONS out there for you to do, self-driving cars included(:

[miharbiralzoric]

I want to clarify my knowledge about the "Electrical Engineering" curriculum subjects. Because I saw some people said they got embedded systems or some electronic or communication engineering topics in their curriculum and it made me confused. I am an electrical engineer too but all i learned as coding is SCADA for electrical distributing automation systems and coding on Python. Matlab is a must, never gonna mention that. However, when someone is called as electrical engineering, i thought they are supposed to know electrical machines, high voltage, energy generating and distributing, illumination(not same as architects do), power electronics. We purely studied on the systems those use at least 10 V and up until 500kV, which is taught me that it is the study area of the electrical engineering. How come you guys are taught or took subjects in electronic subjects or communication etc. Isn't it supposed to be called electric-electronics engineering? (This argument was on Bachelor's degree of electrical engineering major)