Chair Holders

Control and Instrumentation  Chair

The Control and Instrumentation Chair serves as a cornerstone in preparing aspiring engineers for careers in control systems, automation, robotics, and instrumentation. This extended abstract provides an overview of the department's mission, core focus areas, key academic programs, and state-of-the-art laboratories.

Introduction:

The Control and Instrumentation Chair is committed to fostering excellence in control theory, system analysis, automation technologies, and instrumentation practices. By offering a diverse range of courses and providing cutting-edge laboratory facilities, the Chair ensures that students develop a strong foundation in these fields and are equipped with the knowledge and skills required to meet the challenges of the modern industry.

Academic Programs:

The Chair offers comprehensive undergraduate and master's programs to cater to the varying needs and interests of students. These programs include a rich blend of foundational and specialized courses designed to enhance theoretical understanding, practical skills, and research capabilities.

Undergraduate Program:

The undergraduate program in Control and Instrumentation chair provides a holistic understanding of control systems, automation, and instrumentation. Key courses delivered in this program include Introduction to Control, Modern Control, Process Control and Automation, Introduction to Robotics, Digital Control, Electric drives, Introduction to Instrumentation, Advanced Instrumentation Engineering, and Artificial Intelligence. These courses enable students to grasp fundamental concepts, explore advanced techniques, and understand the interdisciplinary nature of control and instrumentation.

Master's Program:

The master's program in Control System Engineering offers an advanced curriculum for students seeking in-depth knowledge and research expertise in this field. The program encompasses courses such as Modeling and Simulation of Dynamic Systems, Engineering Optimization, Linear System Theory, Multivariable and Robust Control, Computer Controlled Electrical Drives, Intelligent Control Systems, Optimal Control Systems, Nonlinear Control Systems, Advanced robotics, and Adaptive Control and System Identification. These courses delve into advanced theoretical frameworks, emerging technologies, and research methodologies to empower students to contribute to the advancement of control system engineering fields.

In addition to that, the chair is planned to launch master of science in Robotics and Automation Engineering and master of science in Instrumentation Engineering soon. Lastly, the chair has also an approved curriculum in PhD. In Electrical Engineering (Control and Instrumentation Specialization) and admit students from now onwards.

Laboratories:

The Chair boasts state-of-the-art laboratories that provide hands-on experience and foster practical skills development. These laboratories serve as hubs for experimentation, innovation, and project-based learning. The following four standard laboratories are available to students:

Process Control and Automation Laboratory: Equipped with industrial-scale process control systems, Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs), and Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems. This laboratory allows students to gain practical insights into process control, industrial automation, and real-time system integration.

Robotics Laboratory: Features cutting-edge robotic platforms, simulation software, and programming tools. Students can experiment with robot kinematics, dynamics, control architectures, and programming, enabling them to grasp the intricacies of robotics and automation.

Control System Laboratory: Provides experimental setups and software tools for designing, implementing, and testing control systems. Students can analyze control system dynamics, evaluate performance characteristics, and develop control algorithms using hardware-in-the-loop and software-in-the-loop simulations.

Instrumentation Laboratory: Equipped with a wide array of instrumentation devices and measurement instruments. This laboratory allows students to explore various sensors, signal conditioning techniques, data acquisition systems, and calibration procedures, thereby enhancing their practical skills in instrumentation and measurement.

Conclusion:

The Control and Instrumentation Chair plays a pivotal role in training the next generation of engineers in control systems, automation, robotics, and instrumentation. Through its comprehensive academic programs and state-of-the-art laboratories, the Chair aims to empower students with theoretical knowledge, practical skills, and research acumen. By bridging the gap between theory and application, the Chair ensures that graduates are well-prepared to tackle complex challenges in industries related to control systems and instrumentation.

Power and Energy Chair

Power system engineering can be generally expressed as a field of study that deals with the generation, transmission, and distribution of electrical energy. Production of high-quality electric power at a minimum cost in a sustainable manner is a major concern. The power generated at different sites is usually accommodated in a centralized system known as the power grid. Transmission of power from the generating station to substations is required. Indeed the long-distance transportation of power should be achieved by keeping the energy loss as low as possible. The power will then distributed from substations to energy consumers which may be residents, industries or commercial centers, etc. The distribution system needs to be maintained such that the consumers get a continuous supply of electric power having the desired quality.

Hence the power system network should be designed to have a stable operation at high reliability, with sufficient protection from faults and hazards. These can be realized by integrating the fundamental concepts of electricity with applied mathematics and system modeling elements. The modern power system has a centralized unit remotely controlling all the systems and components which is called power system automation. Automation of a power system involves multidisciplinary fields of study like instrumentation and sensors, communication technology as well as computer systems.

Power system engineering includes the design and analysis of all kinds of electric machinery and drive systems. With the advancement of solid-state electronics, power electronics switches and power converters are taking part in the power system operation.

Although there is much amount of exploitable source of energy in Ethiopia, only a few of it is used. It is known that coverage of electricity is very low across the country. The existing electric power is also not reliable and lacks the required quality. A skilled human resource and tremendous capital are needed to increase the coverage of energy demand as well as to improve the existing power system. The faculty of electrical and computer engineering have long sustained undergraduate to Ph.D. programs that are designed to address these problems through education, research, and innovation. Professional consultation services in the area and community engagement activities are also among the major missions.

The power and energy programs in the faculty are designed to train competent engineers who have adequate knowledge and skill for planning, operating, controlling and protecting power electric power networks and related systems. There are modern laboratories and experienced experts in the faculty which are the backbones for the journey to excellence in the specified area.

In every design, a due focus is given to green energy sources to meet the energy demand while the environment keeps unaffected.

Microelectronic Chair

The sole purpose of a Micro-Electronics Engineer is to design microchips to suit various applications. However, they may also be involved in designing, planning, and organizing the manufacturing process of these small-scale electronic components due to their detailed knowledge of these components. Microelectronic engineers construct prototypes of new designs, perform specialized tests, and record and interpret data on the performance of new models.

Most microelectronics engineers obtain a bachelor's degree in electronics engineering. However, like most engineering fields, microelectronics combines skills and knowledge from several engineering fields, so many engineers find it easy to switch from one related field to another. It is not uncommon to see microelectronics engineers overlap knowledge from fields like mechanical engineering or materials engineering.

Microelectronics engineers develop plans and construct prototypes of electronic circuit chips, circuit boards, and semiconductors. They apply knowledge of mechanical systems, new materials, and electronics to construct prototypes of new designs. They require specialized knowledge in technical writing skills and material science in order to prepare semiconductor reports and interpretation skills to read, prepare, and compile progress reports.

They must know

The RTL modeling (VHDL or Verilog), simulation, logical synthesis and/or timing static analysis stepsThe main simulation tools, which include Cadence (PKS, NCSIM), Mentor Graphics (Modelsim) and/or Synopsys (Design Compiler / PrimeTime).

Finally, they must be rigorous. Given the masks fabrication and production costs, they have to alert as soon as they detect a problem at any phase of the project.

Communication and Electronics Chair

It is a pleasure to welcome you to the Communication Engineering (CE) Chair. The CE Chair is home to 23 faculty members, 6 laboratory instructors, and around 250 students in the UG (undergraduate) , PG (postgraduate) and PhD Programs.

At the UG level, the CE Chair offers a Bachelor of Electrical  Engineering (B.E.E) degree: with a focus area of Communication Engineering in the regular program with duration of five years; and in continuing program too with duration of six years.  The program deals with the electronic devices, circuits, communication equipment like transmitter and receiver. It also deals with basic electronics, analog and digital transmission & reception of data, voice and video (Example AM, FM, DTH), microprocessors, satellite communication, microwave engineering, wireless communication, Fiber optics communication, antennae and wave progression. It aims to deepen the knowledge and skills of the students on the basic concepts and theories that will equip them in their professional work involving analysis, systems implementation, operation, production, and maintenance of the various applications in the field of Communications Engineering.

At the graduate level, the CE Chair offers two MSc degree and one PhD programs in specializations:

•                           Communication System Engineering
•                           Biomedical Engineering (Imaging and Instrumentation)
•                           PhD degree in Communication Engineering.

Besides this, on the coming semester we will be lunching two more MSc Programs with the collaboration of Physics Department in the areas of:-

•                              Photonic and Optical Communication Engineering
•                              Space Science and Engineering

Hardware and Networking Chair

 Computer engineering department is a field that uses many of the same techniques one uses in computer science or electrical engineering. Computer engineering as an academy started in the area of electrical engineering with some computer hardware and software focus courses to enable electrical engineers to design build and operate simple programmable devices. Through time, as computerization of electronic & electrical devices and machineries abound, the program included more programming courses to cope with the change.  

In today’s world, the need for more programmable features in devices has pushed the limit in such a way that we need to avoid the previous trend of adding few courses. Computer engineering has globally evolved to emerge as a discipline by itself, still maintaining a strong link with electrical engineering. Hence, the program had redesigned with new contents and the curriculum included more computer courses.

The program has a five year no-stream undergraduate, MSc (three specializations) and now PHD programs accepting and training students with the aim of creating skilled graduates with strong mathematical background, knowledge of electronic technology and computing ability. The academic contents of undergraduate computer engineering program are designed to enable graduates to build computing abilities in the electronic arena.

The program is organized in to two chairs and each chair has their own thematic areas: “SOFTWARE AND DATA SCIENCE SYSTEMS CHAIR” and “HARDWARE & NETWORKING SYSTEMS CHAIR”.

Under the “HARDWARE & NETWORKING SYSTEMS CHAIR” the courses and thematic areas cover Computer architecture, embedded systems, Electronic design automation, FPGA, Hardware verification and testing, Nano-systems design and modeling, System-on-chip design, Computer networks, Mobile and wireless computing IOT, high performance computing, VLSI design, Cyber Security, Robotics and etc.

In this chair two MSc specializations were given more emphasis currently that are believed to fulfill the demands of industry and academia in the country as well as worldwide: “Hardware & computer architecture” and “Computer Networks & Cyber Security” specializations.

Software and Data Science Chair

Computer engineering department is a field that uses many of the same techniques one uses in computer science or electrical engineering. Computer engineering as an academy started in the area of electrical engineering with some computer hardware and software focus courses to enable electrical engineers to design build and operate simple programmable devices. Through time, as computerization of electronic & electrical devices and machineries abound, the program included more programming courses to cope with the change.  

In today’s world, the need for more programmable features in devices has pushed the limit in such a way that we need to avoid the previous trend of adding few courses. Computer engineering has globally evolved to emerge as a discipline by itself, still maintaining a strong link with electrical engineering. Hence, the program had redesigned with new contents and the curriculum included more computer courses.

The program has a five year no-stream undergraduate, MSc (three specializations) and now PHD programs accepting and training students with the aim of creating skilled graduates with strong mathematical background, knowledge of electronic technology and computing ability. The academic contents of undergraduate computer engineering program are designed to enable graduates to build computing abilities in the electronic arena.

The program is organized in to two chairs and each chair has their own thematic areas: “SOFTWARE AND DATA SCIENCE SYSTEMS CHAIR” and “HARDWARE & NETWORKING SYSTEMS CHAIR”.

The Software and Data Science Systems Chair manages courses focusing on software programming, software systems engineering, distributed systems, data structures and algorithms, artificial intelligence and machine learning, computer graphics, computer vision and big-data sciences. Thematic areas defined under this chair are Artificial intelligence and Machine learning, DBMS and software engineering. These thematic areas are designed to create solid research and collaborative framework for students and researchers to work on contemporary scheme of programming by leveraging advanced computing architectures. Students and researchers shall model, design, implement and evaluate algorithms and programs targeting big data applications and artificial intelligence systems. Also in the scope the thematic areas are signal systems and analysis, computer modeling and simulation, modeling and programming security systems/appliances, and intelligence electronic and electrical devices. We are in the process launching MSC program in ‘Artificial intelligence and big data engineering’ in pursuit of educating students aligned with national development goals in computer engineering