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MSc Pre-Course Reading List

Below are the pre-course reading lists for your particular course. We would expect you to be familiar with the list of subjects relevant to your course before you commence your studies with us…

 

MSc in Microelectronics Systems Design,
MSc in Radio Frequency Communications, and
MSc in System-on-Chip

The following is a list of subjects with which you are expected to be familiar at the start of the course. Some of these subjects are covered explicitly in lectures; other subjects are considered pre-requisites for units on the course. In all cases, you should be familiar with the material in the chapters specified. If you are unable to obtain the recommended books, similar books may be used instead, but most of the books listed below will be used as course texts.

C Programming
Programming is not explicitly taught as part of the MSc. You will be expected to be able to program in C for some units and for the project. There are many suitable books available (for example Buchanan, W., C for Electronic Engineering, Prentice Hall, 1995). You should be familiar with:

  • Functions (arguments, return, scope, recursion).
  • Dynamic memory allocation.
  • Structures (declaration, definition, pointers, arrays).
  • Header files and modular programming.

Digital Design
Zwolinski, M., Digital Design with VHDL, Addison Wesley Longman, 2000, ISBN 0-201-36063-2 [Shops]
You should read and understand the material in chapters 1 to 7.

Circuit Theory
Sedra, A.S. and Smith K.C., Microelectronic Circuits 3rd Edition,
Read: Chapters 1, 2, 10.9-11 and 11.

Signal Processing
Proakis J. G. and Manolakis D., Digital Signal Processing: Principles, Algorithms and Applications, 3rd ed., Prentice Hall, 1996

Digital Communications
Sklar, B., Digital Communications: Fundamentals and Applications (2nd Ed.), Prentice Hall PTR, 2001.
Read: Chapters 1-4, 6, 7, 12.

Wireless Communications
Rappaport, T. S., Wireless Communications: Principles and Practice (2nd Ed.), Prentice Hall PTR, 2002.
Read: Chapters 1-5.

MSc in Systems and Signal Processing

Students on this course typically have an undergraduate background in engineering, and will have had substantial exposure to systems and signal processing.

No experience in image processing or machine learning/artificial intelligence is required, but background reading for these sections of the course are:

  • Pattern Recognition and Machine, by Christopher M. Bishop; Springer-Verlag New York Inc.; New Ed edition; ISBN-10: 0387310738, ISBN-13: 978-0387310732
  • Feature Extraction and Image Processing, by Mark Nixon, Alberto Aguardo, Academic Press, 2nd Edition; ISBN-10: 0123725380, ISBN-13: 978-0123725387

A useful tool in systems and signal processing is MATLAB, which is a professional mathematical language. It is available at the university, but expensive to buy a single license. We therefore do not expect you to do this, however there is an open source package Octave for which the language and basic functionality is very similar. Some exposure to this before you start may help you out a little in some of the courses (and it is not a bad skill to have in any case!).

It would be a good idea to refresh your core undergraduate courses in signals and systems/control. Recommended books for this material include:

  • Modern Control Systems, by Richard C. Dorf, Robert, H. Bishop, Prentice Hall, 11th Edition; ISBN-10: 0132270285, ISBN-13: 978-0132270281
  • Signals and Systems by A V Oppenheim , A S Willsky & S H Nawab, Prentice Hall Int 1996. ISBN-10: 0138147574, ISBN-13: 978-0138147570

It would also be wise to refresh your undergraduate courses in mathematics: linear algebra, probability, Fourier analysis and Fourier/Laplace transforms will all be important in this course.

MSc in Software Engineering

It is expected that you have taken a first degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a closely related subject. In particular you should check that you have covered the core subjects listed in the ACM/IEEE Computer Science Curriculum: http://computer.org/curriculum

This course assumes you have programming experience, and are familiar with the Java programming language. You can learn about this language, for example, by following Sun's Java Tutorial, which is available on-line and also in book form: http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/

It is also assumed that you are already familiar with modern software development techniques, and in particular the UML notation. This is covered by many good textbooks, for example UML Distilled, by Martin Fowler, from Addison Wesley.

Finally, you should familiarise yourself with a formal method such as B or Z. Two books covering these are The B Method, by Steve Schneider, from Palgrave Macmillan, and Formal Specification Using Z, by David Lightfoot, from Palgrave Macmillan.

MSc in Web Science

The Web Science curriculum does not expect you to have specific programming skills, and the course teaching will directly address the construction and use of the Web in its various forms. However, digital literacy (the use of information management tools such as databases) is expected.

We do not require you to have any prior knowledge of Web Science itself, but relevant background reading includes the following texts:

The following popular texts are also relevant, and provide interesting perspectives for understanding the Web.

MSc Web Technology

It is expected that you have taken a first degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a closely related subject. In particular you should check that you have covered the core subjects listed in the ACM/IEEE Computer Science Curriculum:
http://computer.org/curriculum

This course assumes you have programming experience, and are familiar with a modern programming language such as Java or C#. In addition, it is assumed that you are already familiar with HTML, Javascript, and at least one modern web development technology, such as ASP.NET, JSP, or PHP. There are many textbooks and on-line tutorials covering these technologies, and you are advised to spend time, if necessary brushing up on your skills in these areas.

MSc in Nanoelectronics, and
MSc in MicroElectroMechanical Systems

We expect you to have a scientific background which ideally includes some knowledge on Semiconductor Device fabrication and operation, Materials Science, Solid State Physics, and Circuit Design. We appreciate that you are unlike to have knowledge of all these subject but you might read up a bit on the subject in which you expect to be weakest. The two books by Sze will give you a solid understanding of semiconductors. Most undergraduate text on the other subjects would provide enough background. The book by Waser will give you a very good idea of the content of the MSc Nano-electronics as we will teach many of the subjects mentioned in this book.

  • Nano-electronics and Information Technology. Ed. R. Waser , publisher Wiley, ISBN 978-3-527-40542-8 or 3-527-40542-9
  • Fundamentals of Semiconductor Fabrication. G.S. May and S.M. Sze, publisher Wiliey, ISBN 0-471-23279-3
  • Semiconductor Devices: Physics and Technology. S.M. Sze, publisher Wiley, ISBN 0-471-33372-7

 

Specifically related, the MSc Microsystems Technology course will provide a detailed introduction to the subject area but advanced reading of web related resources (e.g. What is MEMS Technology? and About MEMS) will give you good background. The course material closely follows the content in the books by Beeby et al and Kovacs.

  • MEMS Mechanical Sensors. Steve P. Beeby, Graham Ensell, Michael Kraft and Neil White, publisher Artech House, ISBN-10: 1580535364 or ISBN-13: 978-1580535366
  • Micromachined Transducers Sourcebook. Kovacs, publisher McGraw-Hill, ISBN-10: 0072907223 ISBN-13: 978-0072907223
  • Microsensors, MEMS and Smart Devices: Technology, Applications and Devices, Julian W. Gardner (Author), Vijay K. Varadan (Author), Osama O. Awadelkarim , ISBN-10: 047186109X or ISBN-13: 978-0471861096
  • Practical MEMS: Analysis and Design of Microsystems, MEMS Sensors (accelerometers, Pressure Sensors, Gyroscopes), Sensor Electronics, Actuators, RF MEMS, Optical MEMS, and Microfluidic Systems, Ville Kaajakari, ISBN-10: 9780982299104, ISBN-13: 978-0982299104
  • An Introduction to Microelectromechanical Systems Engineering, Nadim Maluf (Author), Kirt Williams, ISBN-10: 1580535909, ISBN-13: 978-1580535908

 

MSc in Artificial Intelligence

People on the MSc come from a variety of backgrounds, however you are expected to have some numerate and mathematical ability, and exposure to programming is strongly desirable. Many key modules require some programming aspects and it will help if you are familiar with at least the basics. A useful tool in AI and machine learning is MATLAB, which is a professional mathematical language. It is available at the university, but expensive to buy a single license. We therefore do not expect you to do this, however there is an open source package Octave for which the language and basic functionality is very similar. Some exposure to this before you start may help you out a little in some of the courses (and it is not a bad skill to have in any case!).

Refreshing some linear algebra and basic probability aspects would also help you when you start, as unsurprisingly these are some of the common mathematical tools which are used in the field. No experience of AI or machine learning is necessary, however a good idea of both disciplines could be gained from the following two books, and these are thus recommended (The Foundations of AI course uses the first, and the ‘Advanced Machine Learning’ course which everyone is strongly encouraged to take uses the second):

  • Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach, Stuart Russel, Peter Norvig; Pearson Education; 2 edition; ISBN-10: 0130803022, ISBN-13: 978-0130803023
  • Pattern Recognition and Machine, by Christopher M. Bishop; Springer-Verlag New York Inc.; New Ed edition; ISBN-10: 0387310738, ISBN-13: 978-0387310732

 

MSc in Energy and Sustainability with Electrical Power Engineering

Reading list for MSc Energy and Sustainability with Electrical Power Engineering

We expect you to have taken a first degree in engineering, physics or a closely related subject. This course assumes that you have experience in circuit theory and three phase circuits, electrical machines fundamentals, electromagnetics and basic thermodynamics. The following books are recommended to re-familiarised yourself with the above subjects.

  • Circuit Theory: Dorf R C, Svoboda J A Introduction to Electric Circuits, 7th ed., John Wiley & Sons ,2006
  • Electrical machines: Chapman S. J, Electrical Machinery and Power System Fundamentals, McGraw-Hill Higher Education, 2001
  • Electromagnetics: Hammond P and Sykulski J K, Engineering Electromagnetism, Oxford University Press 1994
  • Thermodynamics: Sonntag R.E, Borgnakke C. and Van Wylen G.J., Fundamentals of Thermodynamics, 6th ed., John Wiley & Sons, 2003

MSc in Wireless Communications

The following is a list of subjects that are closely related to the course of MSc Wireless Communications. Some of these subjects are covered explicitly in lectures; other subjects are considered pre-requisites for units on the course. If you are unable to obtain the recommended books, similar books may be used instead.

Matlab Programming
There are many suitable books available. For example, Mcmahon, D., MATLAB Demystified, McGraw-Hill Professional, 2007.

Signal Processing
Proakis J. G. and Manolakis D., Digital Signal Processing: Principles, Algorithms and Applications, 3rd ed., Prentice Hall, 1996

Digital Communications
Sklar, B., Digital Communications: Fundamentals and Applications (2nd Ed.), Prentice Hall PTR, 2001.
Read: Chapters 1-4, 6, 7, 12.

Wireless Communications
1) Rappaport, T. S., Wireless Communications: Principles and Practice (2nd Ed.), Prentice Hall PTR, 2002.
Read: Chapters 1-5.

2) Goldsmith, A., Wireless Communications, Cambridge University Press, 2005.

PhD in Complex Systems Simulation

We expect you to have taken a degree in a numerate discipline and to have experience of some kind of computer programming. If you are unsure of your programming ability, we *strongly* advise you to take time to address this before the start of the course. Please get in touch to find out about self-study materials.

We do not require you to have any prior knowledge of complexity science itself, but relevant primers/background reading includes (in order of increasing simplicity):

  • Kauffman, S. (1995). At Home in the Universe. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
  • Resnick, M. (1997). Turtles, Termites, and Traffic Jams. MIT Press.
  • Waldrop, M. (1994). Complexity: The Emerging Science at the Edge of Order and Chaos. Penguin.

If you would like further guidance, do get in touch with the DTC's manager, Nicki Lewin.

 

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Electronics and Computer Science
University of Southampton,
Southampton,
SO17 1BJ.

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023 8059 2630

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