MEngSc Electrical and Electronic Engineering - RF and Microwave

University College Dublin (UCD)

The UCD School of Electrical Electronic Engineering have a long tradition of excellence in research, much of it achieved in close collaboration with industry. Our staff are leaders in the international research community, and graduates of our research programmes have found success in industry and academia around the world.Successful commercialisation of research conducted within the School has been achieved across the healthcare, energy, semiconductor design and networking sectors, in companies such as BiancaMed acquired by ResMed, Cylon, Massana acquired by LSI and Intune Networks.The radio frequency RF power amplifier PA is an essential unit of almost all wireless transmitters, from tiny sensors, mobile phones, to high power base stations. It strengthens the signal to combat losses in transmission by converting DC electric power to added RF output power. It is widely recognised that this key element in the wireless link is critical and difficult to implement, and it consumes a high proportion of the total transceiver energy. It is also a complex nonlinear unit which introduces distortion that severely limits data capacity. The central focus of the UCD's RF and Microwave Research Group is to address some of the most difficult challenges in future power amplifier development, in particular how to change current paradigms to deal with the unsustainable growth trends in energy consumption as well as minimizing the generation of distortion and maintaining high quality of services for the explosive growth of data traffic in future wireless systems.Wireless technologies have revolutionized the way we live over the past decades. Wireless is today everywhere and with almost everything, and this revolution shows no sign of abating. The explosion in data traffic caused by the use of smart phones, tablets, etc., is placing huge demands on the cellular networks. In the longer-term we are likely to see an extraordinary revolution much bigger than anything witnessed to date, when literally 100s of billions of everyday objects, from watches and keys to cars and buildings, are connected to the Internet. As data rates increase, the scientific challenges in wireless system design mount rapidly. New research breakthroughs will be essential to make this exciting vision a reality.