What is Communication
Engineering?
Introduction to Communication Engineering
10/12/2023
Digital Media Technology 201
Vanja Nikolic
Introduction to Communication Engineering
Communication Engineering is a field of engineering that focuses on transferring (sending
and receiving) information from one place to another. This can include internet technologies,
networking, radio communications, and others. Practical examples would be anything from
connecting a PC or a laptop to the internet to turning on an AC with a remote or even NFC (Near
Field Communication). Especially popular subfield of communication engineering is
telecommunication engineering.
Communication engineers are in charge of the research, design, and development of
communications equipment and systems. Their role might also include troubleshooting system
issues, and inspecting and maintaining communications systems and broadcast systems.
Communication Engineering – Digital Media Technology – Computer Science
How do they compare?
Since Computer Science seems like the "smallest" field out of the three, we will focus on
that first. Computer Science, in simple words, is the study of computers and computational systems.
It is strongly limited to what we can do on a computer, mobile phone, laptop, and some other
programmable smart devices.
Digital media is a field that focuses on creating and distributing media in a digital form. It
relies on using technology (laptops, mobile phones, and computers) for graphic creation. For this
reason, digital media is really limited, although it goes a bit further than computer science. While
posters can be seen on paper, they are still made using computer programs.
Communication engineering, in contrast to the other two, is not limited to only electronic
devices, but a lot of other stuff as well. As previously mentioned, communication engineering also
plays a part in making connections between electric appliances (remote and TV, remote and AC,
NFC, and so on).
So where do these three fields collide? We
can see from a pretty simple example. Computer
Science is there to make software for graphic
creativity. CS (Computer Science) engineers
programmed famous apps like Adobe Package,
Autodesk, and others. These are the programs that
DM (Digital Media) specialists use to make digital art
(it can go from 3D art and 2D graphic design to
editing photos and making videos). CE
(Communication Engineering) is there as the last step.
Without it, the DM art would stay inside the computer and wouldn’t be seen by a wide audience.
CE makes systems that help connect the computer and its media to the internet. Thus CS, DM, and
CE can all work together to program, create, and distribute different graphics or information.
Communication Engineering as a University Major
Communication Engineering is a popular major everywhere; although, some universities
would have a Telecommunication Engineering major instead, as a popular subfield. From the
perspective of an international student, this major is available in the English language all over the
world, which shows its popularity and importance. There are more and more job opportunities for
graduates each year.
What do communication engineers study?
Communication engineering students study a wide range of topics in communications.
Courses depend on the university, but in general CE students need to learn about general physics,
calculus and math, probability, electronics, digital communications, communication networks, and
so on. After graduation, the students can choose from many different career paths. They might be
communication engineers, network engineers, telecommunication specialists, wireless systems
engineers, and so on. Again, this depends on the university in courses, but generally speaking, there
are a lot of paths a student can choose, including a master's degree specialization.
Conclusion
As I am a DM student, I can speak from my point of view. It looks like CE has only a little
relation with DM, and I would say that CS is a lot more relative. It all depends on the project we
choose to do as students. If we want to make a digital product using certain software, CS and DM
would come into play. If we were to have a remote-controlled project, I could imagine all three
fields working together, amongst some other fields as well (like maybe mechanical engineering). I
can see the importance of collaboration of CE and DM students for certain projects. However, since
my preferred career path is Digital Game Development or Game Design, communication
engineering does not interest me because I don’t see any relation between CE and my career path.
Introduction to Communication Engineering – LAB VISIT
As Zhejiang University of Science and Technology has a Communication Engineering
degree, it has a couple of labs equipped with different objects for different purposes. Previous
lecture we had an opportunity to visit these labs. Some of the labs we visited include: high
frequency/digital communications lab, cellular communication lab, wireless networking lab, and
cloud computing lab. All of these labs have different equipment, but as I’ve noticed, all of them
have same looking storages and a couple of them have big antennas.
A lot of the important equipment in the
laboratories is placed in these metal lockers. That
includes servers, switches and sometimes routers. I
could see that all the labs have similar lockers, but they
all served different purposes. In cellular communication
lab, the lockers were containing a lot of switches and
other cellular networking devices. In networking lab
there were some routers, while in the cloud computing
lab I could also see a lot of servers. A lot of labs were also equipped with computers.
Here are some photos of servers, switches and routers:
servers
switches
and
routers
Besides this I could see other equipment such as microprocessor, advice for circuit analysis
and others.
antenna
IoT
To conclude, communication engineering is a wide field that requires a lot of specific
equipment just for transferring signals, measuring and following up the results. CE students need to
be knowledgeable about a variety of subject that even includes math and physics.
Although CE is much more complex, the lab visit help me to get an idea of what it entails.
