Modules and Study Guide

(Dean of Studies)

After completing this module, students have the key competencies for the academic and scientific work. They can deal critically with scientific texts or pass on their knowledge to other people and support their learning process. This includes the understanding of the essential content of scientific texts, their classification in the current scientific context, the critical reflection of social, economic and cultural impact as well as their representation and presentation. To stimulate the development of knowledge among learners and to enable, the students have acquired knowledge from the general university teaching and can apply this.
(winter semester, OPAL)

(Dr. Wolfgang Rave)

To identify systems or to track their state, parameters and variables have to be estimated. Estimation theory is the mathematical foundation for finding out the value of state defining parameters, functions, variables, and to identify the system state based on this. Detection theory is the mathematical foundation for making decisions, e.g. either of the value of a signal out of a discrete valued symbol alphabet, or to recognize signals out of a class of models.
This course provides an introduction into the estimation and detection theory which is a topic within the field of statistical signal processing that is applied e.g. in control, communications, and process monitoring.
General methods of parameter  estimation/detection are provided (e.g. ML and MAP rules, Neyman-Pearson-Theorem, Bayes' detection/estimation), as well as quality criteria of estimators (bias, efficiency, Cramer-Rao bound) and foundations of linear estimators (e.g. Wiener Filter).
(winter semester, OPAL)

(Prof. Gerhard Fettweis)

This course covers fundamental processing hardware and software implementation challenges and methodologies. In particular the design tradeoff and design methodologies of co-designing both, hardware as well as software systems are covered, with an emphasis on hardware architecture design. By moving into nano-scale devices very large-scale realization possibilities are enabled which requires a special emphasis to be given on parallel processing and multi-processor systems. To deepen the understanding of the topic a practical lab course is offered in addition to the class. (summer semester, OPAL)   

This module consists of one course in winter semester and a choice of 3 courses in summer semester.

Winter semester:
In the RoboLab (Prof. Christof Fetzer) students deal with problems in the field of computer science by using practical programming tasks. The students will gain skills in programming and first experiences in project and team work. After a brief introduction, the students then have time until the end of the year to solve a given task independently. Tutors will provide consultations and help the students.
(course webpage)

Summer semester, choice 1 of 3:
1. Semiconductor Technology Lab
In the Semiconductor Technology Lab (Prof. Thomas Mikolajick) students will go through the process steps to make a two layer wiring structure, which will be finally electrically qualified. The processing contains:

• PECVD
• RIE
• PVD
• Lithography
• Electrochemical Deposition

(OPAL)

2. Hardware/Software Codesign Lab
The HW/SW-Codesign Lab (Dr. Emil Matúš) uses the reconfigurable processor flow from the company Tensilica to demonstrate the potential of HW/SW Codesign. The Tensilica Instruction Extension (TIE) is a description language that allows to modify the standard RISC/VLIW pipelines of the different baseline processors. Out of the TIE description a modified compiler, assembler, linker, debugger and a cycle accurate processor simulator are generated. Thereby architecture modifications and their impact to the software can be analyzed with short turn-around times and manageable complexity. An energy and area estimator can be used to infer some estimates on the hardware complexity of the modified architecture without the need for setting up a complete RTL synthesis flow.  (winter semester, OPAL)

3. Emerging PV Technologies
In the “Emerging Photovoltaics Lab” (Prof. Karl Leo) the students will follow an extended introduction to thin film solar cells with focus to challenges, production techniques, and typical characterization of solar cells. Afterwards, the students will prepare organic solar cells by screen printing and characterize their performance.

(Prof. Gerhard Fetzer)

For safety critical systems, the risk of software failures must be negligible. In this course we will present design principles for building highly dependable systems, i.e., systems that are available, reliable and secure. The scope of dependability ranges from simple hardware components up to complex distributed systems.
(winter semester, course webpage)

(Dean of Studies)

Each student processes a complex task of modern engineering work experiences as part of a research group. At the end of the course, the student documents and presents the results.  
(winter semester)

(Prof. Frank Ellinger)

High frequency integrated circuits for high speed wireless communications such as low noise amplifiers, power amplifiers, mixers, oscillators on basis of active and passive devices, as well as complete radio frontends and architectures, are lectured. The advantages and challenges of aggressively scaled CMOS and BiCMOS, Moore than Moore (e.g. FinFET, SOI, strained silicon) and Beyond more Moore (silicon nano-wire, carbon nano-tubes (CNT) and organic) technologies are discussed from circuit design perspective. (summer semester, course webpage, OPAL)

Pre-Knowledge: U. Tietze, Ch. Schenk, Electronic Circuits (German Version: Halbleiterschaltungstechnik), mainly Chapter 3 (FET), Chapter 4 (Amplifiers), Chapter 15 (power amplifiers) and Chapter 25 (Transmitter and Receiver)

(Prof. Stefan Mannsfeld)

This module consists of 2 courses beginning in winter semester.

Semiconductor Technology I: The lecture covers the basic technologies for the manufacturing of semiconductor devices, integrated circuits and Mircosystems. A major goal is to descibe the fundamentals to understand the interdependencies of the physical, chemical and technological mechanisms of semiconductor processing.
(winter semester, course webpage, OPAL)

Semiconductor Technology II: Besides a sufficient inventory of process technologies, the generation of an integrated circuit requires a solig knowledge of the interaction between the device properties and the individual process steps. Effort has to be minimized while performance must be increased. This art named process integration is the major topic of the second part of the course.
Starting with the basic function of a MOS field effect transistor, we will develop simple structures of integrated circuits and always focus on the interaction of device performance and manufacturing technology. Concepts of self alignment as well as parasitic effects will be explained. Finally we will run through the whole process sequence for the fabrication of a CMOS product.
(summer semester, OPAL)

Materials for Nanoelectronics (Prof. Andreas Richter): The lecture provides basic knowledge of materials in nanotechnology. Proceeding the effects of small structures, the basic types of nanoelectronic structures are introduced. Additionally, the students will get an overview over the most important material systems of nanotechnology including fabrication methods, structure formation, assembly and properties. General material-technological challenges in nanotechnology will also be addressed.
(winter semester, course webpage, OPAL)

Innovative Semiconductor Devices (Prof. Thomas Mikolajick): The objective of the lecture is to introduce device concepts that can fulfill special requirements e.g. for scaled devices, power devices, high frequency devices etc. Based on the basics of diodes, bipolar transistors and MIS transistors the special features that enable the fulfillment of important requirements will be discussed in detail. At the end of the lecture the students will know both the principal concepts as well as their technological realization as a basis for their own later work in that field. 
(winter semester, course webpage/OPAL)

(Jun.-Prof. Iuliana Panchenko)

3D System Integration and 3D Technologies: This lecture provides knowledge in the area of the modern 3D system integration technologies, which is a special branch of the electronics packaging. Starting with explanation of the different 3D concepts, the main technological steps and challenges of the vertical interconnect or through silicon via (TSV) fabrication are introduced. Further the TSV plating and bump fabrication, thinning of the wafer as well as stacking procedures will be explained. Different bonding technologies (metal diffusion, solid-liquid interdiffusion and hybrid) will be described.
(summer semester, OPAL)

Micro-/Nanomaterials and Reliability Aspects: This lectures deals with the material systems, which are typically used in the 3D system integration. The main metallic materials (Cu, solder) and new nanomaterials (nanocomposites, functional layers, nanoporous materials) for the interconnects will be the focus of this lecture. Due to the large number of material interfaces the resulting thermo-mechanical stress appears to be a reliability issue for the functionality of 3D systems. These reliability aspects will be discussed in terms of material combinations, processing and application.
(winter semester, OPAL)

(Prof. Thomas Mikolajick)

This module covers established memory concepts in part I and concepts which are in research respectively development stage in part II. 

• Memory Technology 1: In this course, the main technologies for data storage are discussed. In detail, magnetic memories (Magnetic Tapes, Hard Discs), optical memories (CD, DVD) and semiconductor memories (SRAM, DRAM, non-volatile semiconductor memories) are content of the course.

  Each chapter begins with the basics requirements. Then - starting from the typical structure of the particular storage medium - required components are described. Each chapter is closed with a view at the alternative technologies which are in development.

  (summer semester, course webpage OPAL)
• Memory Technology 2: The lecture covers the concept and technology of several alternative memories. While conventional semiconductor memories – like Flash, DRAM or SRAM – use charge to store the data, these innovative memories use other material effects. In detail ferroelectric memories (FeRAM), magnetoresistive memories (MRAM), phase change memories (PCM), resistive memories (RRAM), organic memories, molecular memories and probe storage will be discussed. Each chapter starts with fundamentals and history, then the memory effect will be explained. The next part derives the design and operation of the memory cell in an array from the physical limitations. Afterwards reliability aspects and the current status are elucidated. 
  (winter semester, course webpage OPAL)

(Prof. Gianaurelio Cuniberti)

The basic principles of molecular electronics will be presented, with particular attention to physical effects and experimental methods. The most relevant experimental and theoretical methods for the investigation of charge transport at the molecular scale will be discussed. In particular, the following points will be treated in detail:

• Electronic properties of molecules
• Charge transport at the nanoscale
• Molecular elements (Diodes, Transistors, Sensors)
• Scanning probe and and break-junction methods
• Single molecule electronics
• Molecular architecures

(winter semester, OPAL)

The module deals with the physical foundations of nanotechnology and the fabrication and properties of nanostructured materials.

Nanotechnology (Prof. Lukas Eng): The course will give an introduction to nanomaterials and the positive and negative impact that they can have on the environment and human health. Therefore, we will present both the problems and the potential solutions arising by the interaction of nanomaterials with the environment. Therein the impact of nanomaterials on water (e.g. photocatalysis), soil and air contamination/ decontamination and on human health (nanotoxicology and bio-applications of nanomaterials) will be covered.
(summer semester, OPAL)

Nanostructured Materials (Prof. Gianaurelio Cuniberti): The course deals with the physical properties of nanostructured materials and their fabrication. The course is accompanied by lab classes. The following topics are discussed:

• scaling laws, mesoscopic systems, quantum effects
• synthesis of clusters and nanotubes
• density of states and electron transport in low-dimensional systems
• theoretical foundations of scanning tunnelling microscopy, atomic force microscopy, chemical atomic force microscopy, and near-field scanning optical microscopy
• nanostructuring via electron beam lithography, optical lithography, and scanning probe techniques
• giant magnetoresistance, single-electron devices
• lab classes for scanning tunnelling microscopy and atomic force microscopy

(summer semester, OPAL)

Optoelectronic Devices and Systems (Prof. Hubert Lakner):

• Basic principles and technical realisation of optoelectronic devices and systems
• Light Emitting Diodes, Laser Diodes
• Compound semiconductors, organic semiconductors
• Micro Opto Electro Mechanical Systems for spatial light modulation
• Application of optoelectronic devices like projection systems, displays, modulators and optical storage

(winter semester, OPAL)

Nanooptics (Prof. Eng):
Nanooptics describes optical phenomena occurring on the length scale below the diffraction limit of approximately half the wavelength ~λ. The optical interaction between fluorescent molecules, between molecules and a metallic or dielectric surface such as a nanoparticle and nanowire antennas, or the effect of surface enhanced Raman scattering used for nanoscale surface analysis, all base on such optical far- and near-field coupling effects. Nanooptics thus has the power of providing optical characterization on the 10 nm length scale and hence being of great benefit to many new fields and nanodevices. Of importance, however, is the understanding and interplay of different physical effects such as radiative and nonradative damping, electric field enhancement, optical transitions, and others more. This lecture will provide the necessary background, as well as the view into prospective applications.

(winter semester, OPAL)
 

(Prof. Hauff, Dr. Hinz)

The course covers the fundamentals of vacuum technology, plasma physics, industrial plasma processes, and process tool design, as well as introduces students to basics of thin film growth, provides examples of different types of coatings used today, such as hard coatings and barriers, glass and optical coatings, electronic and functional coatings, organic electronics, as well as plasma-based treatment technologies. The students will gain a fundamental understanding of the physics of plasmas used in industrial processes and tools. Furthermore, they will be able to choose suitable technical plasma sources and plasma process tools for specific applications. In addition, students will become familiar with typical examples for layers and layer stacks used in major application fields for coatings.

(winter semester, OPAL)

(Prof. Manfred Helm, Dr. Biele)

The module deals with basic quantum mechanics with applications to solid state physics and nanoelectronics. The foundation will be laid for a microscopic understanding of electronic materials and devices. The students know basic quantum mechanics and its application to periodic solids. They know the treatment of the hydrogen atom and time-dependent pertubation theory. In particular, thay can apply the Schrödinger equation to one-dimensional problems independently. They know about semiconductor nanostructures (two, one, and zero-dimensional structures, i.e., quantum wells, wires, and dots), their fabrication and their energy level, electron transport and optical absorption, their application to devices, as well as the effect of a magnetic field.

This module consists of 2 courses (winter semester): 
Semiconductor Quantum Structures   (OPAL)
Quantum and Solid State Physics (OPAL)

(Prof. Mayr, Dr. Partzsch)

This course focuses on the design of hardware accelerators for deep neural networks – DNN-, ranging from architectures to arithmetic building blocks. Aspects of hardware/software codesign are covered, as well as DNN deployment on hardware accelerators and selected optimization techniques. With this course, students gain a profound understanding of DNN hardware accelerators and how to use them for specific applications.

(summer semester, OPAL)

(Prof. Diana Göhringer)

The module provides an overview and special knowledge in the fields of design, simulation, and programming of modern embedded systems consisting of several processors and special accelerators. The lecture-accompanying exercises serve to consolidate the lecture material and include practical experience in the subject area.
(summer semester, course webpage, OPAL)

(Prof. Uwe Marschner)

The content of the module focuses on:

• operating points of systems and linearization of the equations, complex variables,
• circuit representation of electromechanical systems: mechanical circuits with lumped parameters (translational, rotational), acoustic circuits, magnetic circuits
• analogies between components (capacitor O─O mass, inductance O─O compliance)
• mechanical circuits with distributed parameters (bending, mechanical wave guides)
• circuits with transducers (reversible sensors and actuators)
• transformation of components into other physical domains)
• simulation with pSpice

(winter semester, course webpage, OPAL)

(Prof. Akash Kumar)

Motivations: Nowadays, the means of computation in datacenters are no longer homogeneous. Traditionally, only the General Purpose Processors were used to process the data. The current datacenters are moving towards heterogeneous computation where other components are integrated alongside GPPs. They are either GPGPUs (General Purpose Graphic Processing Units), dedicated hardware accelerators (like Google TPU, Tensor-Processing Unit) or a more generic reconfigurable platform for accelerators, FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array). GPGPU proves to be very efficient in parallel processing in the big-data era with tremendous data bandwidth and processing power. However, they require hundreds of watts of power (each) to operate which significantly contribute to the plethora of problems in cooling and power management in datacenters. On the other end of the spectrum, dedicated hardware accelerators are extremely fast and power efficient for its very desired functionality. FPGAs sit in the middle of the spectrum to offer the best of both worlds: fast computation with inherently infinite parallelism, generic enough for (almost) any accelerator on the same platform with reconfigurability, and finally, energy-efficient with reasonable power consumption (40W on Microsoft datacenters). As a result, many companies have been investing in FPGA in their datacenter solutions such as Microsoft, Amazon, Baidu, Huawei, Ericsson, etc.
The aim of this module is to equip the students with the knowledge of hardware systems design. It starts with different ideas, flows, and steps involved in moving from a high-level system architecture specification models to a fully functional, optimized system on the FPGA. In order to fulfill this goal, the students need to have a different mindset in working with hardware. It’s no longer sequential, everything is parallelized. The insights into different algorithms and techniques in every step of building the hardware (turning hardware description language model to logic elements, mapping and placing them to FPGA resources, connecting those resources to realize a working system) are discussed. These are the foundations for the students to critically analyze and successfully design a hardware system on the FPGA.

Configuration: 2 V / 2 Ü / 0 P

Pre-requisites: Basic knowledge of computer architecture and embedded systems is required. Furthermore, knowledge in hardware design, including VHDL and FPGA is an advantage.

Examination: The exam form for the award of credits corresponds to the regular exam at the first retake exam (WH1). In the case of an approved second re-examination (WH2), the examination is an oral individual examination of 30 minutes.

(summer semester: OPAL)

(Dr. Sebastian Ertel)

Stop testing, start proving!Come and learn about the foundations of future software and hardware development with functional programming languages such as Haskell and proof assistants such as Coq.
(winter semester, OPAL)

(Prof. Diana Göhringer)

The module provides an overview and special knowledge in the fields of simulation, evaluation and verification of digital systems. The practical course accompanying the lecture includes practical experience in programming digital systems using the hardware description language VHDL and the modelling language SystemC.
(winter semester, course webpage, OPAL)

(Prof. Frank Ellinger)

The design of integrated circuits in aggressively scaled nano-technologies is lectured with focus on optical broadband communication systems. Transimpedance amplifiers, detector circuits, laser drivers, multiplexers, frequency dividers, oscillators, phase locked loops, synthesizers and data recovery circuits are treated. The challenges (e.g. large bandwidth, gain, noise and good large signal performances despite of low available voltages) and corresponding solutions or circuits in nano-technologies are discussed.
(winter semester, course webpage, OPAL) 

(Prof. Kambiz Jamshidi)

This is a graduate level course on theory, design, technology, and applications of integrated optical devices with the emphasis on silicon semiconductor photonic to be used for communications and signal processing. The aim of the course is to provide introductory knowledge and basic understanding of integrated optical devices. The theoretical bases as well as design and simulation of integrated optical devices including passive structures (waveguides, couplers, Gratings, Interferometers, resonators, filters) as well as electro optic modulators (Mach Zehnder and micro ring modulators), electro absorption modulators, photo detectors, and lasers will be presented. At the end of the module, you have an overview about photonic devices that are currently realized in silicon.
(winter semester, course webpage, OPAL)

(Prof. Kambiz Jamshidi)

The content of the module focuses on various optical computing methods, i.e. basic principles of artificial neural networks, quantum computation, and Ising machines, and also on linear and nonlinear photonic devices which are needed for the realization of these methods.
(summer semester, course webpage, OPAL)

(Prof. Akash Kumar)

This module is designed as a follow-up to the Embedded Hardware System Design (lecture and seminar) offered in the summer semester. However, it is also suitable for other participants who did not attend the lecture and seminar courses. Previously, the participants learned about the knowledge of hardware systems design. It started with different ideas, flows, and steps in moving from a high-level system architecture specification model to a fully functional, optimized system on the FPGA. The insights into different algorithms and techniques in every step of building the hardware (turning behavioral models to logic elements, mapping and placing them to FPGA resources, connecting those resources to realize a working system) were discussed. In the seminar course, the participants completed two short projects related to high-level synthesis using Vivado and logic synthesis and technology mapping using ABC.

In this module, the participants will be exposed to practical challenges involved in the various aspects of designing hardware for embedded systems. The goal of this module is to have hands-on practice in implementing various stages of embedded hardware design. The current course will follow a project-based approach, where the participants will be evaluated on their implementation of two projects of their choice from a list of projects. The first project will be related to HDL- and HLS-based embedded system designing using Vivado, and the second project will focus on logic synthesis and technology mapping using ABC. For this purpose, the course will be divided into two 7-weeks parts each. In each part, we will initially have three-week tutorials to discuss the relevant tools and skills, followed by four-week time to complete the selected projects.

(winter semester, OPAL)

(Dr.-Ing. Richard Schroedter, Dipl.-Ing. Steffen Seitz, Dr.-Ing. Carsten Knoll)

Course Description
Neural network systems are modeled after the human brain and can accomplish many difficult tasks such as image, speech recognition and generation as well as autonomous driving. Traditional computer hardware is suffering from a Neumann bottleneck, requiring new strategies to handle the enormous growth in data. This can be tackled with the so-called in-memory computing, which uses memory hardware to store and compute data in the same device. One promising solution are novel materials in the nanoscale offering resistors with memory function, so-called memristors.
This course will introduce the basic concepts of machine learning and neural networks for different data types like time series and images. The audience will learn about different network learning methods, optimizers and loss functions and understand the reliance of these methods on vast amounts of data and that computing power is a limiting factor in neural model development. 
Then course will bridge from software to hardware accelerators for implementing neural networks specifically based on memristive devices. Basic memristor theory and its application in crossbars, logic circuits and neurons are introduced, and insights into the concepts of crossbar mapping, peripherals, and spiking neural networks are provided.
In addition, the students learn how to apply the python language and how to implement basic neural models in code utilizing ML related python library’s like PyTorch and simulate memristive circuits using LTSpice.

Course Contents
•    Introduction to Neural Networks and Memristors
•    Machine Learning
•    Deep Neural Networks 
•    Recurrent Neural Networks
•    Convolutional Neural Networks
•    Neural network hardware accelerators 
•    Memristor circuit theory 
•    Memristor physics and modeling 
•    Memristive crossbars and logic circuits 
•    Memristive neurons 
•    Crossbar mapping and performance
•    Spiking Neural Networks

(winter semester, course webpage, OPAL)

(Prof. Christian Mayr)

Content of the module:

• Methods for design and sizing of integrated analogue CMOS circuits
• Neuromorphic VLSI systems: neurobiological fundamentals, common abstraction models, and application in science and technology, e.g. in
  brain machine interfaces and for signal processing
• Fundamentals, concepts and methods of design and analysis of analogue and neuromorphic CMOS circuits using the design framework Cadence DF2.

The module consists of lectures on fundamentals of neuromorphic systems and on CMOS circuit design, as well as accompanying computer exercises using the corresponding VLSI design tools.

After completing the module, students are literate in the field of neural networks from neurobiological principles up to applications. They are able to use industrial design tools (Cadence DF2, Spectre), to design and size CMOS circuits, to verify parameters and constraints by simulation and to design circuit layouts.

(summer semester, course webpage, OPAL)

(Prof. Gerhard Fettweis, Dr. Padmanava Sen, Dr.-Ing. Sebastian Haas)

Physical design is an integral part of development of digital hardware. The content taught in this course will help the students to plan and execute implementations of systems like processors, advanced VLSI systems design and physical layers of communications. The objectives of this course can be summarized below:

• Understand the background in CMOS and devices, representing them in behavioral, structural, and physical domain and how it differs from an analog circuit implementation
• Understand the concepts of Physical Design Process such as partitioning, floor planning, placement and routing
• Get an introduction to the concepts of design optimization algorithms and their application to Physical Design Automation
• Understand the concepts of simulation and synthesis in VLSI Design Automation (using standard cells, FPGAs, etc.)
• Be able to formulate challenges in a realistic IC design and figure out the steps to solve/mitigate them
• Understand how the CAD tools work to facilitate the IC design (in a nutshell)

Apart from providing backgrounds, the course offers a hands-on training to practice the acquired theoretical knowledge. This includes access to the tools used for physical design and to design a small digital chip. Basic Verilog programming knowledge will be needed to follow this practical part.

Course Contents

• Introduction
• Digital design and standard cells (different technologies)
• Netlisting and system portioning
• Floorplanning
• Routing and placement (block level, chip level)
• Timing analysis and performance constraints
• Clock tree analysis and signal integrity
• Timing-driven placement and routing leading to Physical synthesis
• DRC related to Physical Synthesis
• Parasitic Extraction
• Designing a small digital chip

(summer semester, course webpage, OPAL)

(Prof. Christian  Mayr)

Content of the module:

• Basics, concepts and methods for designing complex digital VLSI-systems
• Architectures for highly integrated digital processing systems, with emphasis on user-specific signal processing systems
• Methods for the efficient transfer of architectural concepts in the highly integrated implementation of a digital system.
• Specification and abstract modelling of the system, conversion into a Register-Transfer-Level (RTL) description, automated circuit synthesis and physical implementation (place & route, layout synthesis), delivering the data for the manufacture of the chip.
• Verification of the design on all levels of abstraction (behaviour, implementation) via simulation (functional verification)
• Proof of the equivalence of transformation steps via formal verification, i.e. by checking compliance with design rules (signoff-verification)

Objectives:
After completion of this module, the students will be able to carry out a complete implementation and verification of a VLSI-System (e. g. a processor with a complexity comparable to an 8051) using industrial design software (Synopsys, Cadence). They have expe-rience of working together in a design team (division of tasks, definition of interfaces, sequence and timing).

(summer semester, course webpage, OPAL)

(Prof. Dirk Plettemeier)

The module focuses on the fundamentals of antenna theory, e.g. parameter, antenna arrays, linear, aperture, patch, slot, on-chip antennas, and of Radar Systems, e.g. radar equation, pulse/pulse Doppler, CW, SFCW, FMCW, PRN, SAR.

(summer semester, OPAL)

(Prof. Frank Fitzek)

This course covers hot topics of communication networks, which are discussed in the IETF, IEEE, and 3/5GPPP. The covered topics include but are not limited to:

• Tactile Internet & Cyber Physical Systems
• Network Slicing
• Mobile Edge Cloud
• Information-Centric Networking, Content Delivery Networks
• Software-Defined Networks
• Network Function Virtualisation
• Machine Learning (for communication networks)
• Exercises: Mininet, Docker, Network Slicing, Mobile Edge Cloud

(winter semester, course webpage, OPAL)

(Prof. Gerhard Fettweis)

Signal theory: sine signals, Dirac impulse, spectral representation, low pass signals, band pass signals; Linear time invariant systems; Analogue modulation: amplitude modulation, frequency modulation; Sampling theorem: sampling theorem for low-pass signals, sampling theorem for band-pass signals, sampling kernels; Digital modulation: frequency shift keying, phase and amplitude modulation; Stochastic signals: spectral properties, correlation, noise; matched-filter design, bit error probability for AWGN channels.

Upon completion of this course, the student has received an understanding of the fundamentals of communications signal transmission and receiption. Basic practical implementation problems as e.g. synchronization have been addressed, without showing solutions within this course. The student has an understanding of complex baseband representation of signals, and has a first understanding of the different set of basic modulation techniques. Also, the transmission over noisy channels introduces the concept of understanding that errors occur when transmitting signals.

(summer semester, OPAL)

(Prof. Jürgen Czarske)

The module focuses on the application of laser physics, system theory, digital signal processing, Fourier optics, neural networks, adaptive  & programmable optics and diffractive deep neural networks in the fields of digital holography and image processing as well as biomedical laser systems and optogenetics.
(winter semester; the module includes 2 lectures: Digital holography and image processing, OPAL  /  Biomedical Laser Systems and Optogenetics, OPAL)

(Prof. Christof Fetzer)

During the development of software it is infeasible to find all its bugs, which can reach as far back as the design phase. Therefore, it is reasonable to deal with the remaining software faults (bugs) during runtime to increase the overall reliability. This course will evaluate a selection of fault-tolerance mechanisms and analysis methods that can be applied statically or dynamically.
(summer semester, course webpage)  

(Prof. Christof Fetzer)

Systems Engineering 1

Systems Engineering is about the activity of designing, building and operating software platforms. This course tries to focus on progressive topics that are related to the software development process. These include exposing parallelism on current hardware, ensuring composability and safety of complex modules, testing methods to find bugs as early as possible and the management of human resources that should encourage collaboration.

Outline: Multicores and Concurrency, Software Transactional Memory, System Architecture, Feature Engineering, Agile Development, Testing, Stream Processing and Distributed Event Processing
(winter semester, course webpage)

(Dr. Alon Ascoli)

The module focuses on state-of-the-art computing structures for data processing using innovative nanotechnologies which increase the efficiency of integrated circuits and therefore reach far beyond the age of Moore’s law. Students will learn about neuromorphic structures, Cross-Point Arrays, Crossbar Arrays, neural networks, and quantum computing.
(winter semester, OPAL)

(Dr. Hossein Dokhanchi)

The module provides an in-depth exploration of the core ideas, principles, and technologies underlying communication systems and sensing technologies, both crucial components of the future generation networks. It highlights the interconnection of these fields and their collaborative role in improving and enabling simultaneous operations. The module begins by introducing the waveforms employed in joint communications and sensing (JCAS), followed by a brief review of estimation and detection theories that form the foundation of both sensing and communications. It proceeds to investigate multiple antenna-JCAS, followed by the unique characteristics of the mmWave frequency band, and their impact on JCAS. The module then delves into the analysis of communication-centric, radar-centric, and dual-centric waveforms for JCAS. Ultimately, it covers the application of optimization and information theories to facilitate the design of JCAS waveforms.
(winter semester, OPAL)

(Dr. Christian Scheunert/Mathias Kortke)

The subject area "System Theory" includes general definitions and basic methodology that are required to describe dynamic processes in nature and engineering. 

The student should recognize that physical and technical systems, especially in electrical/electronic engineering, automatic control, and information technology, can be investigated consistently and described mathematically by a unified point of view. This module focuses on methods for investigating static and dynamic systems under the influence of stochastic signals. For this purpose, the theory of the stochastic process is  initially introduced, based on probability calculus. Methods for its mathematical description are presented.

The transfer of stochastic signals by abstract systems is elaborated mainly for nonlinear static systems (transformation of the probability density function) and for linear dynamic systems (transformation of the power density spectrum).
(winter semester, course webpage, OPAL)

(Prof. Alexander Schill)

This module will provide an overview of middleware architecture and platforms for the development of distributed applications and information systems. In doing so, the focus will be both on the intensive discussion of the field of mobile communication or mobile processing and on the transactional processing in distributed environments (especially with regard to large information systems). The students will learn to identify and develop concepts and architectures for distributed and omnipresent application and information systems, to choose appropriate solutions, and to evaluate modern technological developments in this field.

Lectures:

• Distributed Systems: an introduction to problems, concepts and solutions of Distributed Systems. It covers basic principles such as the client/server model, remote procedure call, distributed object-oriented systems as well as current standards.
  (winter semester, course webpage, OPAL)
• Mobile Communication and Mobile Computing: an introduction to principles, standards and solutions for mobile communication and its applications within the area of mobile computing. Based on the physical foundations of mobile communication channels, typical standards such as GSM (Global System for Mobile Communication) are presented. Techniques for locating mobile users and mobile devices also present a major focus area. In the area of application support, typical software architectures and services for mobile computing are discussed. Examples of application areas covered are sales support and service engineering. An outlook towards high performance communication in mobile networks and related applications concludes the lecture.
  (winter semester, OPAL)

(Dr. Waltenegus Dargie)

Wireless sensors are tiny, low-cost, low-power, multifunctional sensor nodes with the capability of sensing certain physical properties, data processing, and communication in short distances. A large amount of such sensor nodes organize themselves in a highly dynamic manner to carry out a coordinated sensing task which covers a very large area such as a mining field or a battle zone. Unlike traditional networks, establishing wireless sensor networks impose specific challenges owing to the fact that the sensors are resource constrained and, by and large, unattended. This lecture will focus on proposed self-organizing algorithms, medium access control and routing algorithms, query and localization techniques, and data storage mechanisms.

(summer semester, course webpage, OPAL)

This module is offered by TUDIAS.

The participants of the module "German Language and Culture" have the possibility to take part in a basic course of general German language. In this course, apart from the German language teaching on the A1-level (CEFR), regional and specific cultural knowledge about Germany and especially the region of Saxony is offered.

(winter semester)

(Prof. Stefan Schulz)

The lecture will provide both overview as well as selected details of the whole lifetime of an integrated circuit: from first idea, system and circuits design phase via prototype evaluation and test development to ramp-up and application support. Also the special needs of automotive integrated circuits will be investigated, like thorough methodologies for verification, reliability and functional safety.

(summer semester, OPAL)

(Prof. Edeltraud Günther)

Many raw material sources are reaching their limits due to the increasing material requirements of the industrialized and emerging countries as well as linear raw material flows. The scarcity of natural resources is reflected in rising prices and requires companies to rethink their use of resources. In this context, the course “Resource Management” is devoted to material and resource efficiency from a business perspective. Against the background of the political, economic, socio-cultural, technological, ecological and legal (PESTEL) framework conditions, instruments such as life cycle assessment and the concept of ecological scarcity are presented and discussed. Various practical examples illustrate options for the sustainable use of resources.

(summer semester, OPAL)

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