Master of Electronics and Computer Engineering

It is undeniable that the Palestinian economy can become a Hi-Tech one when a more profound and specialized learning and training is made accessible. This advanced education should be a mixture of the profound theoretical knowledge and know-how in translating this knowledge into practical applications. To achieve this strategic objective, the Faculty of Engineering at Al-Quds University offers a contemporary engineering master program for Electronics and Computer Engineering with two concentration areas “Electronics and Communications” and “Computer and Software Systems”, and encompasses the necessary experts that constitute the largest and most diverse teaching staff compared to other universities. Their specializations cover all the disciplines that are suggested in this powerful program. This program is aimed at the following objectives:

• Heightening the responsibility of our Master graduates through the broad knowledge in electronics, communications as wells as computer and software systems in industry, commerce and research.
• Providing the students with the necessary scientific and engineering expertise and knowledge in electronics, communications and computers for being able not only to conceptualize, design and operate of existing technical systems but also innovate new solutions and techniques as well.
• Supplying the industry, research institutions, colleges and universities, nationally and internationally, with engineers with a high level of in-depth knowledge and expertise in a selected range of advanced topics in electronics, communications and computer engineering.
• Equipping the students with the necessary knowledge and self-confidence coupled to an understanding of the process of technological innovation and of the key factors in the strategic and operational management to launch a start-up enterprise.
• Encouraging hard working students with extraordinary professional qualities in pursuing further knowledge and experience in electronics, communications and computer engineering at universities or research institutions.

The ILOs of the MECE program are the attributes of the graduates after successfully completing the program. That is, the ILOs are the statements of what students are expected to be able to know, understand or demonstrate as a result of engaging in the MECE program. All-roundedness attributes such as Intellectual Professional Practical and Transferable Key Skills :

• Analyzing, modeling and simulating systems at various levels.
• Applying both fundamental principles and advanced techniques of computing, electronics and communications successfully to a range of technical and engineering problems.
• Utilizing relevant engineering design tools such as Microsoft .NET, NetBeans, MATLAB, LabVIEW etc.
• Planning, controlling and executing of hard- and software projects.
• Communicating effectively and presenting ideas and findings clearly in oral and written forms acquired through semester activities, projects and research theses.
• Thinking critically and creatively.
• Demonstrating self-learning and collaborating effectively with other members in a team.
• Recognizing social and national responsibility and ethics.
• Planning, designing, carrying out, evaluating and reporting research projects.
• Knowledge, Understanding, Skills, Abilities & Attitudes for the Electronics and Communications track :-
• Identifying the different aspects of electronic and communication systems with regard to computer and software systems.
• Designing, developing and implementing electronic and communication systems related to wireless communications, image processing, analog and digital control systems, instrumentation and measurement systems.
• Identifying, analyzing and solving technical problems related to electronic, communication systems with regard to computer and software systems.
• Having a minimum computer programming knowledge, understanding and skills to solve practical engineering problems related to electronic and communication systems.
• Applying mathematical techniques to model and solve engineering problems related to electronic and communication systems.
• Appreciating and identifying electronic, communication, and computer issues related to product design; and generating and evaluating design solutions to solve a specific problem.
• Knowledge, Understanding, Skills, Abilities & Attitudes for the Computer and Software Systems track :-
• Identifying the different aspects of computer and software systems with regard to electronic and communication systems.
• Designing, developing and implementing hardware and software systems related to internet applications, networking and operating systems, intelligent systems, multimedia systems etc.
• Identifying, analyzing and solving technical problems related to computer and software systems with regard to electronic and communications such as data acquisition and measurement systems, web-based remote laboratories, wireless communications systems etc.
• Having an advanced computer programming knowledge, understanding and skills to solve practical engineering problems related to computer and software systems.
• Applying mathematical techniques to model and solve engineering problems related to computer, networking and software systems.
• Appreciating and identifying computer and software issues related to product design; and generating and evaluating design solutions (usability engineering) to solve a specific problem.

Graduating with a Bachelor of Science, B.Sc. /B.Eng. degree in an Engineering discipline including Computer and Electronics, or from a closely related fields awarded by an internationally recognized academic institution, is eligible to apply for the MECE program.

Transcripts and References

All applicants who wish to apply for the MECE program should provide transcripts and three faculty references from the most recent academic institution attended from the most recent academic institution.

Grade Point Standing

Applicant’s record should exhibit adequate achievement as indicated both by accumulative average and quality of courses covered during her/his entire academic record. Normally, applicants should have a good grade in her/his Engineering B.Sc. /B.Eng. degree.

Graduate Record Examination (GRE) (counts as extra credit for the applicant)

Applicants to the MECE program are recommended to submit their scores on the general GE.

TOFEL Scores (counts as extra credit for the applicant)

Applicants to the MECE program are recommended to submit their Test of English as Foreign Language (TOFEL) scores.

Provisional Admittance

Provisional admittance may be granted on a case-by-case basis, and indicates that although an applicant shows adequate potential, the applicant does not meet all the requirements. The required collateral work as well as completion dates shall be indicated in the letter of admission.

Admission Process

A complete application consists of the following:

• Al-Quds University Graduate Application Form
• Faculty of Engineering Supplemental Application Form
• Application Fee
• Two official Transcript of all Academic Institution work (undergraduate and graduate)
• TOFEL scores (recommended)
• Three letters of recommendation
• A statement of purpose for graduate study
• An interview

Recommended Course Distribution for the Specialization “Electronics and Communications” (Thesis)

Recommended Course Distribution for the Specialization “Computer and Software Systems” (Thesis)

Recommended Course Distribution for the Specialization “Electronics and Communications” (Comprehensive Exam & Project)

Recommended Course Distribution for the Specialization “Computer and Software Systems” (Comprehensive Exam & Project)

1. Program Compulsory Courses (Generic)

8701601 Engineering and Scientific Computing (3 credit hours)

Scientific computing environments, Linear least squares, Normal equations method, Orthogonalization methods, Eigenvalues and eigenvectors, Methods for computing of selected and all eigenvalues, Systems of nonlinear equations, One-dimensional optimization, Multidimensional unconstrained optimization, Nonlinear least squares, Fast fourier transform, Discrete cosine transform, Recursion, Finite state machines, Wavelets, Random numbers and simulation, Stochastic simulation, Monte Carlo techniques, Genetic algorithms.

8702602 Applied Programming for Engineers (3 credit hours)

Programming tools for modular and object-oriented programming techniques using one of the power programming languages such as C++, C# and Java for solving real-world engineering application problems will be covered. Object-oriented design and development. Design and implementation of classes, event driven graphical user-interface (GUI) programming. Programming engineering problems and applications from different areas such as: electric circuit analysis, speech signal analysis, image processing, genetic programming, multimedia.

2. Program Compulsory Courses (Track: Thesis)

8700710 Thesis I (3 credit hours), 8700711 Thesis II (3 credit courses)

The MECE thesis represented in the two courses Thesis I and Thesis II must be done at Al-Quds University and may be a design project, an analytical paper, or experimental work. It involves the design and test of a system and /or the simulation of a system of process and/or the development of a computer program and/or the study of a physical phenomenon. The associated work is an individual effort that demands initiative, creativity and individual responsibility. The MECE thesis is to be completed in two semesters. In Thesis I, which represents the first stage of the MECE thesis, the student will be also examined for his ability to continue with Thesis II. During Thesis I, the student gathers all pertinent information and data acquired through literature reviews, and then, studies, analyzes, solves etc. At the end of the Thesis I, the student is required to make a representation of his findings that must be approved by the MECE’s program committee before the student may enroll in Thesis II. In Thesis II, the research must be completed and copies of the thesis are to be deposited at the university`s library (see also subsection ‎5.2.1: Track: Thesis).

3. Program Compulsory Courses (Track: Comprehensive Exam & Project)

8700798 Project (3 credit hours)

During the project, which extends over one semester, the student will be assigned a specialized engineering application problem of limited scope under the supervision of a faculty member. The problem definition spans from gathering all pertinent information and data, through studying, analyzing and recording of the problem, followed by designing and implementing of an application, which can be an executable program, a simulation or a combined hardware and software system. At the end of the project, the result of the student’s findings must be provided informs of a report, a system demo, and an oral representation (see also subsection ‎6.5: Program Compulsory Courses (Track: Comprehensive Exam & Project)

4. Specialization Compulsory Courses

8701611 Advanced Wireless Communications (3 credit hours)

Introduction to wireless communication systems. Modern wireless communication systems. Cellular systems design fundamentals: cell and frequency reuse concepts, handoff strategies, cell splitting, cell sectoring; interference, coverage and system capacity analysis. Mobile radio propagation models: free space propagation model, ground reflection model, propagation mechanisms, outdoor propagation models, indoor propagation models. Wireless multi-path fading channel models: time and frequency dispersive channels. Modulation techniques for mobile communications. Equalization, diversity, and channel coding. Multiple access techniques for wireless communications: FDMA, TDMA, SSMA, CDMA, multi-carrier CDMA, SDMA, CSMA, OFDMA.  Wireless systems and standards: AMPS, GSM, IS-95, GPRS, EDGE, WCDMA, CDMA2000, WLAN, WiMAX, LTE. Introduction to wireless networking.

8701652 Advanced Topics in Control Systems (3 credit hours)

State-space analysis of control systems, Lyapunov stability of linear and nonlinear systems, state estimations and observers, Analysis and design of sampled data control systems. Introduction to optimal control theory.

8701613 Engineering Measurement and Instrumentation (3 credit hours)

Dynamic characteristics of instruments, time and frequency domain responses. System identification using correlation techniques, Resistance-type strain gages, force, torque & pressure measurements, displacement, velocity & acceleration measurements, analysis of vibrating systems, temperature measurements, fluid flow measurements, statistical methods. Learning how to use LabVIEW to simulate and test digital systems for several reasons, utilizing its rapid prototyping facilities to create graphical UI without all of the overhead found in typical code or compiler systems etc.

8701614 Signal and Image Processing (3 credit hours)

Random Signals: Markov chains, Cyclostationary random processes, Gaussian random processes, filtering random processes, estimating signal parameters. Digital Signal Processing: parametric models (AR, MA, ARMA, Sinusoidal, and State space representation), least squares estimation, Wiener filtering, adaptive filtering, Kalman filtering, particle filtering, signal estimation, methods of optimization (comprise dynamic programming and linear programming). Image Processing: image formation, point processing and equalization, color correction, Fourier transform, convolution, image sampling and warping, spatial filtering, filtering in the frequency domain, noise reduction, mathematical morphology, image compression, image segmentation, image reconstruction and restoration.

5.Specialization: Computer and Software Systems

Table 8: Compulsory Courses for Specialization: Computer and Software Systems

8702661 Softcomputing (3 credit hours)

Fuzzy Set Theory, Fuzzy sets, rules and reasoning, fuzzy inference systems, Neural networks. Adaptive networks. Supervised learning neural networks. Learning from reinforcement, Unsupervised learning and other Neural Networks. Neuro-Fuzzy Modeling, Adaptive Networks-based Fuzzy Inference Systems, Coactive Neoro-Fuzzy Modeling. Classifications and Regression Tress, Data Clustering Algorithms, Rule-base identification, Genetic algorithms. Hybrid Models.

8702622 Distributed Systems (3 credit hours)

Definition of a distributed system, remote procedure protocols, remote object invocation, massage-oriented and stream-oriented communication, processes, threads, code migration, naming, synchronization, election algorithms, mutual exclusion, distributed transactions, consistency, data-centric and client-centric consistency models, fault-tolerance, process resilience, distributed commit, recovery, distributed object-based systems, distributed file systems.

8702623 Advanced Software Design and Development for Engineers (3 credit hours)

Critical systems’ definition, specifications, development and validation, software design for real-time systems, user-interface design, rapid software development, software reuse, object-oriented design patterns, component-based software engineering, concurrent and real-time programming in Java (C++ or C#), programming of multithreaded environments, network programming by using sockets and datagrams, a multithreaded server programming, programming of network-based collaborative applications, accessing databases with JDBC, files and streams. Evaluation of software systems using usability engineering.

8702624 Advanced Topics in Computer Networking (3 credit hours)

Covers perspectives in the areas of switch/router architectures, scheduling for best-effort and guaranteed services, QoS mechanisms and architectures, web protocols and applications, network interface design, optical networking, and network economics. The course also includes a research project in computer networking involving literature survey, critical analysis, and finally, an original and novel research contribution.

6. Elective Courses

6.1 Elective course: Group I

6.2 Elective course: Group II

8702541 Advanced Computer Architecture (3 credit hours)

Pipelined CPU architecture. Instruction set design and pipeline structure. Dynamic scheduling using score boarding and Tomasulo’s algorithm. Software instruction scheduling and software pipelining. Superscalar and long-instruction-word architectures. Branch prediction and speculative execution. Caches: associativity, allocation and replacement policies, sub-block placement. Multilevel caches, multilevel inclusion. Cache performance issues. Uniprocessor cache coherency issues: self-modifying code, peripherals, address translation. Interconnection networks: topology, routing, flow control, deadlock avoidance. The k-ary n-cube family of topologies. Virtual channels, wormhole routing and virtual cut-through.

8702621 Parallel Processing (3 credit hours)

Massively parallel SIMD processors, multiprocessor architectures, interconnection networks, synchronization and co. Memory and address space management, process management and scheduling. Parallel compilers, languages, performance evaluation.

8702721 Advanced Multimedia & Virtual Reality Systems (3 credit hours)

Multimedia data technologies. Compression and decompression. Multimedia applications and content authoring. Multimedia servers and file systems. Networked and distributed multimedia systems. Stereoscopic display, Force feedback simulation, haptic devices, Viewer tracking, Collision detection, Visibility computation, Time-critical rendering, multiple levels of details (LOD), Image-vase VR system, Distributed VR, collaboration over computer network, Interactive modeling, User interface issues, Applications in medicine, simulation, and training.

8701624 Advanced Digital Communications (3 credit hours)

This course introduces advanced topics in digital communications and provides the students with the state-of-the-art knowledge and design of modern digital communication systems. Topics include: source coding; characterization of digital communication signals and systems; optimum receivers in additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) channel and error probability analysis; carrier and symbol synchronization; channel capacity and coding; block and convoluational channel codes; signal design for band-limited channels; communication through band-limited linear filter channels; equalization and adaptive equalization; multi-channel and multi-carrier systems with emphasis on MIMO and OFDM systems; spread spectrum signals for digital communications;  digital communication through multi-path fading channels; multi-user communications with emphasis on CDMA, multicarrier CDMA and OFDMA.

8701643 Linear Optimal Control (3 credit hours)

Linear optimal regulator problem. Finite time horizon. Principle of optimality. Hamilton-Jacobi equation. Riccati differential equation. Steady state solution (LQR)/ Algebraic Riccati equation. Tracking systems. Properties of regulator systems (gain and phase margin, sensitivity, nonlinearities). Optimal state estimation (Kalman filter). System design using state estimators. Frequency shaping. Controller reduction.

8701653 Control of Nonlinear Systems (3 credit hours)

Analysis and synthesis of nonlinear control systems. Assessment of stability by: phase plan and describing function methods, circle and Popov criteria, Lyapunov criteria and construction of Lyapunov functions by methods of Krasovskii and Lu`re. Introduction to nonlinear feedback control design. Feedback linearization: input-state and input-output linearization. Adaptive control.

8701673 Industrial Automation (3 credit hours)

Motion actuators. Sensors. Industrial switching elements. Electric ladder diagrams. Pneumatic control circuits. Semiflexible automation (hardware programmers). Flexible automation (programmable controllers, microcomputers). Introduction to assembly automation. Robotics in industrial automation.

8701683 Estimation and System Identification (3 credit hours)

Review of probability, statistics, and stochastic process. Dynamical models for time-invariant systems (FIR, ARX, ARMA, ARMAX). State-space models. Nonparameteric estimation. Guiding principles behind least-square parameter estimation. Various methods for recursive estimation. Experiments for data acquisition and their design.

8701693 Robotics (3 credit hours)

Basic organization and operation of intelligent computer-based robots. Analysis of methods for the design and operation of robotic systems. Robot vision and intelligence. Robot arm kinematics, dynamics and control. Trajectory planning. Robust control of robot manipulator. Adaptive control of robot manipulator. Advanced control techniques. Force control.

8701612 Advanced Digital Signal Processing (3 credit hours)

Practical issues in DFT. FIR and IIR filters. Ladder filters. Capacitor filters. Wave filters. Lattice filters. Complex signal and minimum phase filters. Multirate filtering. Circuits and complexity parameters. Practical issues in  filter design. Spectral analysis. Practical issues in spectral analysis.

8702633 Advanced Operating Systems (3 credit hours)

Parallel and distributed operating systems. Load sharing, scheduling, reliability, recovery, memory management. Distributed file systems, distributed agreement, and object-oriented operating systems.

8702572 Computer Vision (3 credit hours)

Visual information processing problems. Human and machine vision systems. Image formation and transforms. Encoding, enhancement, edge detection, segmentation. 2D and 3D object description and recognition. Scene analysis. Applications.

8702673 Intelligent Agents (3 credit hours)

Action selection and planning, Collaboration between people and agents, Communication between people and agents, Expert assistants. Agent architectures, Interacting with stochastic environments, Reinforcement learning, Multi-agent systems, Game theory and auctions.

8701636 Wireless Networking (3 credit hours)

An Overview of wireless Systems, Multiple Access techniques, Mobile Network and Transport Layer, Wireless Wide Area Networks (WANs): GSM Evolution, cdmaOne Evolution. Planning and designing WANs. Wireless Personal Area Networks (WPANs): Bluetooth, Low Rate and High Rate. Wireless Local Area Networks (WLAN). Wireless Application Protocol. Internetworking between WLAN and wireless WAN. Fourth Generation Systems and New Wireless Technologies, wireless ad hoc networks: MANET, SANET, VANET. Protocols of wireless ad hoc networks: MAC layer protocols, Routing protocols, Transport layer protocols.

8701737 Advanced Data Acquisition Techniques (3 credit hours)

Intelligent Sensor / Actuator Controllers (ISACs). Microconvertors; eight-bit microcontrollers specially designed for sensors/actuation applications such as ADuC8X2 microconvertor series by analog devices. Advanced communication techniques including USB, PCI, IEEE etc.

8702542 Advanced Database Systems (3 credit hours)

Distributed and object-oriented databases and knowledgebase systems. Design theory, query optimization, and transaction processing.

8702655 User Interface & Human Computer Interaction (3 credit hours)

Description : Priciples of HCI. Modeling the user. Iteraction. Window management system design. Help systems. Evaluation techniques. Computer-supported collaborative work.

8702663 Advanced Engineering Management & Administration (3 credit hours)

Cover the principles and procedures of creative problem solving, including the use of brainstorming sessions. A step-by-step formulation of the practical techniques by which creative imagination can be more productively utilized. Special attention to the development of professional creativity habits through formulating basic plans, investigating directions, developing methods, and optimizing and completing solutions. Uses the case method to provide a thorough study of engineering management and administrative procedures in recognizing and solving engineering problems. Emphasizes strategic planning and policy decisions that affect the image and success of the whole organization in its domestic and global environments.

8701682 Selected Topics in Electronics and Communications (3 credit hours)

In this course, other electronics and communications topics that are not covered in other courses can be covered in this course.

8702635 Selected Topics in Computer and Software Systems (3 credit hours)

In this course, other topics in computer and software systems that are not covered in other courses can be covered in this course.

8701638 Special Topics in Electronics and Communications

Recent advances that are not covered in other electronics and communications courses can be covered here.

8702639 Special Topics in Computer and Software Systems

Recent advances that are not covered in other computer and software systems courses can be covered here