ECE General Lab Information and Etiquette

• Food and drink are not permitted in ECE labs
• All ECE computers use Linux as their primary operating system, although Windows is also available. All software used in the ECE program can be accessed on any ECE lab computer.
• Do not remove equipment from the ECE labs.

ECE Help Desk - 2C78 (Upper-year) and 2C80 (Second Year)

The ECE Help Desk is available for drop-in assistance for assignments, exam preparation, or general questions about the field of ECE. The Help Desk is equipped with a limited number computers with FPGAs.

For second year students, the scheduled times are 11:30 am - 1:30 pm Monday, Wednesday, and Friday in 2C80, which should overlap with an open time slot for second year EE and CME students.

If you need help outside of regular help desk hours, feel free to email ece-help-desk@usask.ca.  

Photonics Lab - 2C97

This lab features equipment for Optolectronics and Photonics, particularly with fiber-optic transmission lines.

Tau Lab - 2C61

The Tau lab is a heavily used lab, particularly for CME students. It houses equipment for FPGAs, microcontrollers, Internet of Things, routers, and networking.

General Lab - 2C80 and 2C82

Equipped with 48 stations for working in pairs, these labs are used for low voltage experimentation and digital logic. There is an inventory of resistors and integrated circuits available for school related use. If any materials are getting low, please inform a Support Engineer.

DSP Lab - 2C70 and 2C74

This lab houses specialized DSP equipment, such as vector signal analyzers, that are considered industry standard.

Power Lab - 2C75

The Power lab focuses on power distribution and features rotating machines and transformers. With funding from SaskPower, the lab has received significant improvements, and experiments that were previously done as simulations can now be done on physical equipment. Lab safety is delivered prior to experiments performed in classes. This lab is not available for after hours access without permission.

• ECE Lab Access Waiver
• ECE Grad Student Handbook

Signal processing is an integral part of entertainment, communications, space exploration, geophysics, archeology, finance, medicine, etc. Signal processing hardware together with algorithms are core to many systems, ranging from highly-specialized military equipment to low-cost, high-volume consumer electronics. It is digital signal processing (DSP) techniques that provide amazing performance of multimedia systems such as 3D and high-definition television, high-fidelity audio, on-line gaming, etc. With the convergence of communications, computers and signal processing in consumer, industrial and government applications, the role of signal processing will continue to grow in the years to come.

This stream teaches students the fundamental theory as well as the practical issues of DSP so that they can understand and solve real-world engineering problems. This is accomplished with a modest student workload by efficiently linking different courses in the stream. By completing this stream the students will be well qualified to work in the areas of consumer electronics (e.g. Apple and RIM), industrial electronics (e.g. Startco, International Road Dynamics), digital communications (e.g. SED Systems, Vecima Networks, RIM, Cisco, Google) and utilities (e.g. SaskPower, SaskTel). Graduates could work in industry in a production or R & D facility, or continue on with graduate studies to research and develop new DSP techniques or solve very challenging DSP problems. Alternatively, as some of our graduates have done, students may start a company to provide efficient and cost-effective designs or sub-systems or products.

Our modern world is full of sensors and the circuits that utilize them to measure physical properties. A modern car contains more than 100 sensors; a third of those sensors are miniaturized systems. The circuits control the engine, air bags, brakes, and all aspects of the operation of the car.  Other areas of applications for sensors and related circuits and devices are in mining and oil & gas industries, environmental control and protection, industrial controls, radio frequency control and monitoring, RFID technology, or medical monitoring and imaging, to name just a few. Many applications are increasingly multidisciplinary and involve knowledge and expertise in various fields of engineering and sciences.

The Sensors, Circuits and Devices focus area involves six classes on electro-magnetic fields, electronic instrumentation, electronic devices, microwave circuits, micro- and nanotechnology, and optoelectronics and photonics. Exciting laboratory exercises provide hands-on experience. The focus area embraces core competencies of Electrical Engineering, but is also multidisciplinary.  Sensors are ubiquitous, and graduates of this focus area can find employment opportunities all across the Engineering spectrum: Electrical engineers with a specialization in Sensors, Circuits and Devices are needed and therefore work in a vast variety of venues, ranging from small companies and start-ups to multi-national corporations, consulting firms, and academia. They can work as design engineers in mid- size, expanding engineering companies in Saskatoon, as post doctoral fellows in European national research laboratories, or as sensors experts for the automotive industry. Some graduates have recently started their own company to develop devices for the oil and mining industry.

The Power and Energy stream teaches the different technologies of electric power generation, delivery, and utilization using various energy conversion technologies. Courses involve studies of various types of electric power generators, motors, transformers, power electronic technology, power system analysis, and control and protection.

Students get hands-on experience with power circuits, transformers, electric machines, and power control technologies through the laboratory classes. Graduates from this stream can apply their knowledge in designing, planning, operation, maintenance, control and protection of the electric power system to provide safe and reliable power.

The IEEE and the Canadian Electricity Association anticipate a workforce crisis in the power and energy sector. Students graduating from this stream will be qualified to work in power utilities (e.g. SaskPower, Saskatoon Light & Power, ATCO, EPCOR, ENMAX, TransAlta, Manitoba Hydro), heavy power consuming industries, such as mining (e.g. potash, oil and gas, uranium), manufacturing, power switch-gear industries (e.g. GE, ABB, Siemens), and power consulting and construction companies (e.g. Stantec, Tetratech, WorleyParsons, March Consulting, SNC-Lavalin).

Learn more about research happening in this stream by visiting the Power Systems Research Group webpage.

The focus of the Computer Engineering program is to unite electronics, communication, and microelectronic technologies with a nucleus of digital technology involving digital systems, software and computer systems and offer specialization within the areas of:

• Data communications, networks and digital signal processing
• Real time computing and digital design and control systems
• Advanced FPGA synthesis and design
• Application tools and operating software for embedded systems

The Digital Systems technology focus area involves the areas of computer architecture, functional verification, networking, and embedded systems. The digital systems area has flourished in the past thirty years and continues to be a pervasive technology in today’s society. It exists in your home, in your transportation, where you work, how you bank, and what you do for entertainment. The need for fast, efficient, reliable products is everywhere.

Graduates of the Computer Engineering program may work in communications, hardware design, circuit and microprocessor design, or other computer-related careers such as multimedia or power system operation. Many students also go on to graduate studies in more advanced areas of computer engineering and some pursue an advanced business administration degree.