Computer engineering typically focuses on creating operating systems, VLSI chips, analog sensors, mixed signal circuit boards, and software and firmware for embedded microcontrollers. In robotics research, which mainly relies on employing digital systems to operate and monitor electrical systems like motors, communications, and sensors, computer engineers are also well suited.
What is Computer Engineering?
Hardware (physical components) and firmware used in a variety of applications, including consumer electronics, medical equipment, communication systems, aircraft, self-driving cars, etc., are created by computer engineers using principles from computer science and electrical engineering.
Students in computer engineering learn how to design, fabricate, and test microchips, circuits, processors, conductors, and any other component utilized in computer systems or devices (e.g. supercomputers, smartphones, laptops, servers, IoT gadgets). They also create firmware, a crucial form of software that enables operating systems and applications to fully utilize the hardware.
The most popular abbreviations in computer science are CE/CEN, CompEngineering, CompE, and CpE.
History
When John Vincent Atanasoff and Clifford Berry started working on the first electronic digital computer in 1939 using principles from electrical engineering, physics, and mathematics, computer engineering was born. In the past, Clifford Berry studied electrical engineering and physics, while John Vincent Atanasoff taught physics and mathematics at Iowa State University. Together, they spent five years building the ABC, commonly known as the Atanasoff-Berry computer. A copy of the ABC was built in 1997 and required a team of researchers and engineers four years and $350,000 to produce, whereas the original ABC was disassembled and discarded in the 1940s as a memorial to the deceased inventors.
After numerous advances in semiconductor technology, the modern personal computer was created in the 1970s. These include the monolithically integrated circuit chip developed by Robert Noyce at Fairchild Semiconductor in 1959, the monolithically integrated circuit chip developed by William Shockley, John Bardeen, and Walter Brattain at Bell Labs in 1947, the metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET, or MOS transistor), and the single-chip microprocessor (Intel 4004) developed by Federico Faggin, Marcian Hoff, and Masatoshi Shim at Bell Lab
Computer Engineering Specialisations
If you want to focus more specifically, universities and colleges can offer a variety of specializations or subdisciplines in addition to standard Computer Engineering degrees. Here are a few illustrations:
- Hardware Systems
- Computer Graphics and Visualisation
- Medical Image Computing
- Computer and Network Security
- Distributed Computing
- Robotics and Cybernetics
- Embedded Systems
Computer Engineering Classes
Before selecting an academic program, look over the curriculum and don’t only rely on the program’s name to get an idea of what you’ll be studying. Get in touch with the college or university where you want to apply if you have any additional inquiries. They’ll be delighted to assist you.
With that in mind, let’s examine some of the typical courses generic Computer Engineering degrees typically offer:
- Computer networks
- Computer vision
- Autonomous robotics
- Programming principles
- Computer architecture
- Introduction to electronics
- Circuit analysis
- Signal processing
- Engineering computing
- Embedded systems
Computer Engineering skills
You need to acquire or enhance skills like the following to be successful as a computer engineer:
- Critical thinking
- Attention to details
- Technical writing
- Programming
- Analytical thinking
- Problem-solving
- Creativity
Computer engineers employ these abilities to discover novel solutions that increase the speed, security, and power efficiency of our systems. If you’ve ever wondered why modern phones and laptops perform better than older models, it’s because more effort has gone into building quicker components, as well as operating systems and programs that are more optimized.