Electrical and Computer

Engineering: An Overview

Dr Hien Vo
ECE Department
VGU
 Outline

 Introduction. Main objectives

 General course information. Course outline
 Brief history of electrical engineering and
computer engineering (ECE)
 Current active research areas in ECE
 Motivations
 ECE applications in our daily life
 Career paths
 ECE: present and future
 Main Course Objectives

 Provide a survey – past, present, future – of the field of

electrical and computer engineering
 Introduce fundamental ideas and concepts in ECE
 Theory – Simulation – Hands-on Experience
 Discuss other topics related to the broader field of
engineering & society
 Familiarize students with the design process & the
engineering mindset
 Improve problem-solving skills, teamwork and
communication skills
 Electricity
Elektor
Greek
Electricus beaming sun
Latin
produce from
amber by friction
Electricity
Microsoft’s Encarta Dictionary
a fundamental form of kinetic
or potential energy created by
the free or controlled movement
of charged particles such as
electrons, positrons, and ions
 How does your iPhone work?
 ECE invents, designs and develops the majority of
engineering technologies, concepts, ideas behind
the iPhone!
 Other Inventions…

… and iPad … and computers

… and components
… and televisions
 iPhone X: Overview

 2.39 GHz Apple A11 64-bit hexa-core CPU

 3-core GPU
 64KB/8MB L1/L2 cache; 3 GB DRAM
 Up to 256 GB of storage
 2436 x 1125 Multi-touch AMOLED Screen 458 ppi
 3G-4G GSM/CDMA Cellular, Bluetooth, WiFi, GPS…
 12 MP f/1.8 Dual Rear Camera, 7 MP f/2.2 Front Camera
 iPhone X: ECE Technology

 Analog circuits: speakers & microphone, wireless transmitter,

receiver…
 Digital circuits: logic gates, flip-flops, CPU, ROM, RAM,
counters, adders, multipliers…
 Algorithms: coding & information theory, signal/image/info
processing, packet-switching networks, Internet access…
 Display: LCD, multi-touch controllers…
http://www.ifixit.com/
 A11: iPhone X SoC
 The brain of iPhone X!!!
 M11 motion-coprocessor embedded
 3-core GPU embedded
 2.39 GHz 64-bit hexa-core System
on a Chip (SoC)
 10-nm manufacturing process
 87.66 mm2
 3 GB DRAM included
 L1 cache = 64 KB
 L2 cache = 8 MB
 4.3+ billion transistors
 A12: iPhone Xs & Xs Max SoC
 2.49 GHz ARM 64-bit quad-
core System on a Chip (SoC)
 6-core CPU – 4-core GPU –
8-core Neural Engine
 7-nm manufacturing process
 83.27 mm2
 4 GB DRAM included
 L1 cache = 256 KB
 L2 cache = 8 MB
 ~7 billion transistors
Nano-Scale: How Small?

 10 nm ≈ the same level

as your DNA
 100,000 times smaller
than the diameter of a
regular strand of hair
 1,000,000 times smaller
than an ant!
Inside the iPhone X
 Apple A11 bionic SoC
 STB600B0
 Apple power management IC
 NXP1612A1 IC
 Apple power management IC
 TI battery charger
 Apple audio codec

 NXP NFC controller

 Apple WiFi bluetooth module
 Qualcomm LTE transceiver
 Broadcom power amplifier
 Skyworks power amplifier
 Qualcomm modem
 Broadcom wireless charging
controller
http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/
 Inside the iPhone X
Antenna TrueDepth camera system

Sony 12 MP f/1.8
dual rear camera

Dual battery

Wireless charging coil

Taptic Engine

Audio Loudspeaker

 Total estimated cost of all components: ~$370

How Did We Get to the Moon in 1969?
 We used a huge rocket with
plenty of fuel!
 We also needed a few super-
computers!
 iPhone X vs Super-Computer 1969
FLOPS = FLoating point Super- Max
OPerations per Second Year Location
Computer Speed

UNIVAC 250 Lawrence

1960
LARC Kflops Livermore
2018 iPhone Xs:
1.2 Los Alamos
~115 Gflops 1961 IBM 7030
Mflops National Lab

3 Lawrence
1964 Cray 6600
Mflops Livermore
2018 Summit Oak Ridge
~ 20M cores 36 Lawrence
1969 Cray 7600
~ 200,000 Tflops Mflops Livermore
iPhone vs Super-Computer 1969

 iPhone Xs is 3000 times more powerful!

 iPhone Xs is thousands of times smaller
 iPhone Xs uses a tiny fraction of electricity
 Revolutionary or Evolutionary?

Motorola Razr BlackBerry

Martin Cooper with

first cell phone 1973 DynaTAC 1983
Samsung i8510

Nokia N8 HTC HD2 Samsung Galaxy Apple iPhone

 Electrical Engineering
 The study and design of electrical signals and
electrical systems
 To distribute and convert energy between various forms
 To gather, store, process, compute, communicate, present,
and display data or information
 Many branches of electrical engineering
 Electronics, circuits, networks, and systems
 Microelectronics; solid-state devices, integrated circuits,
and devices
 Signal processing, communications, information
technology
 Microwave, quantum, and optical electronics
 Electromagnetic wave radiation and propagation
 Computer Engineering
 The analysis, design, and evaluation of both
hardware (devices, components) and software
(programs) for computer systems, computer
networks, memory devices, and input/output
devices
 Key computer engineering topics
 Computer architecture
 Algorithms
 Correctness; robustness
 Communications; security
 Complexity; computational cost
 ECE Specialties
Digital signal processing
Communications
Information theory Information
Control theory Engineering
…
Algorithms
Architecture
Complexity
Electronics Computer
Electrical Programming
Circuits Engineering /
Engineering Language
Optics Computer
Compilers
Power systems Science
Operating
Electromagnetic Systems
… …
Common Engineering Elements
 Emphasis on practicality and design
 Quantitative: computations; numerical results; computer-
reliant
 Modeling: simplifying components, systems, phenomena
 Materials: properties, behaviors
 Relationship to sciences: physics, chemistry
 Safety factor
 Cost. Complexity. Reliability
 System approach: control and stability
 Environmental impact
 Inter-disciplinary. Communication. Teamwork
 Career Paths in ECE
College / Government Agencies/Labs
University
Industry

Graduate School Industry

Research
Academics

Professional School Anything

you wish
 Numerous Billionaires Too
Irwin Jacobs
Qualcomm
Founder

Michael Bloomberg
Former NY Mayor
Johns Hopkins EE
CEO of Bloomberg LP
Jeff Bezos
Amazon Founder/CEO
Princeton EECS
 Numerous Billionaires Too
Larry Page / Sergey Brin
Google Co-Founder
Stanford Computer Engineer/CS

Henry Samueli Steve Wozniak

Broadcom Co-Founder Apple Co-Founder
UCLA EE Professor UC Berkeley EE
 ECE History
 1679: G. W. Leibniz, binary arithmetic
 1729: S. Gray, conduction of electricity
 1750: B. Franklin, electrical fluid, lightning rod
 1785: C. Coulomb, electric charges
 1800: A. Volta, first electric battery
 1816: J. Henry, inductance
 1820: A. M. Ampere, current-induced magnetism
 1827: G. S. Ohm, electrical resistance
 1831: M. Faraday, electromagnetic induction
 1837: S. Morse, telegraph
 1854: G. Boole, algebra of logical functions
 1865: J. C. Maxwell, theory of electromagnetic field
 ECE History
 1876: A. G. Bell, telephone
 1877: T. A. Edison, phonograph
 1879: T. A. Edison, incandescent lamps
 1888: H. Hertz, experimental foundations on
electromagnetism
 1888: N. Tesla, AC induction motor
 Late 1800s – Early 1900s: EE degrees and depts
 1901: G. Marconi, trans-atlantic wireless telegraphy
 1910: L. De Forest, first commercial radios
 1927: J. L. Baird, television
 1927: E. H. Armstrong, FM radio
 1936: A. Turing, mathematical logic for computer design
 ECE History
 1940s: J. Von Neumann, computer conceived
 1947: W. Shockley, J. Bardeen, W. H. Brattain, transistor
 1948: C. E. Shannon, information theory & communications
 1950: R. Hamming, error-correction codes
 1958: J. S. Kilby, first integrated circuits
 1960: I. S. Reed, G. Solomon; Reed-Solomon codes
 1968: Intel
 1980: Sony & Philips, CD technology
 1980: Microsoft
 1980s: Global Positioning System (GPS)
 1989: World Wide Web
 1980s-1990s: JPEG, MPEG, MP3
 1996-Present: DVD technology, cellular phones, PDA
 2000s: HDTV, blue-ray player, H.264, iPhone, smart phones
Current Issues
 Information
processing: too
much data!
 How to extract
meaningful
information for
more accurate
prediction?
 How can we get
meaningful help
from computers?
Current Smartphones: Sensor Galore!

 Cellular, Bluetooth, WiFi

 Cameras: front as well as back
 3 microphones: front, back, bottom
 Fingerprint, GPS & geomagnetic
 Motion, accelerometer, gyroscope
 Proximity, ambient light, moisture/humidity
 Temperature, atmospheric pressure
 Data-Deluge Challenges

Bio- health-sensors currently available on the market!

 Data-Deluge Challenges

Smartphones on the market within the last 5 years

 Big Data: Capturing Its Value?

Source: McKinsey Global Institute, “Big Data: The next frontier for innovation, competition, and
productivity,” May 2011.
 Interesting Questions…
 How to minimize data storage and Compression
communication bandwidth? Communication

 How to acquire new data more Sensing

efficiently: faster better with less power? Hardware

 How to deal with missing, corrupted, Signal / Data

tampered with, and even contradictory Processing
data?

 How to identify common trends, Machine

patterns, anomalies in the data jungle? Learning
 Course Concentration
 Information technology
 Information representations
 Information theory
 Information processing and manipulation
 Information coding. Data compression
 Information communications and transmission
 Information technology via an electrical signal
and system perspective