Content of this Master's | Curriculum

The Master’s in Embedded Systems takes two years and you will earn a total of 120 EC. In your first year, you will take compulsory courses and choose elective courses. In your second year, you will do an internship and write a master’s thesis.

The choice of Trethyn
“I chose this Master’s because I wanted to learn more about the integration of hardware and software. I am specifically interested in programmable hardware. When I graduate, I would like to make a positive environmental impact using the knowledge and skills I have acquired. That’s why, in my Master’s thesis I want to investigate how to connect distributed generation systems, such as renewable energy and wind systems, to an electrical grid.”
Electives:
Embedded Computer Architectures II
Perspectives on Engineering Design
Implementation of Digital Signal Processing
Dependable Computing Systems
Real-Time Systems II

The choice of Merijn
“I hold a Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Design, which has equipped me with the skills to use technology in product design. Because of my interest in electronics and design and my desire to gain more technical knowledge, I chose to do a combined Master's in Embedded Systems and Industrial Design Engineering. Within Embedded Systems, I got curious about computer architecture and pervasive systems, so I focused on them by choosing electives. When I graduate, I would like to go in the direction of product design that involves electronics and programming.”
Electives:
Pervasive Computing
Machine Learning I
Image Processing and Computer Vision
Electric Vehicle System Design
System-on-chip Design

Structure

The first year consists of a core programme for all students. You will take six compulsory courses that focus on the most important aspects of designing embedded systems: requirement engineering, modelling, architectures, testing, and verification. To give you the opportunity to prepare yourself for the Master's, we offer homologation courses in the first quartile. This way, we ensure everyone has the same level of knowledge and skills. In addition, you need to choose elective courses that can help you specialise in a distinct theme. You can also take courses from the Master’s in Computer Science and the Master’s in Electrical Engineering.

European Credit Transfer System

Student workload at Dutch universities is expressed in EC, also named ECTS (European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System), which is widely used throughout the European Union. In the Netherlands, each credit represents 28 hours of work.

First year
Compulsory courses for the Master's	30 EC	Embedded Computer Architecture Systems Engineering Embedded Artificial Intelligence Real-time Systems Embedded Systems Laboratory Security Services for the Internet of Things
Homologation courses Depending on your background, we advise you to take one or more of these courses.	≤ 10 EC	We recommend the following course to students who have a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science* from the TUD, TU/e, or UT: - Instrumentation of Embedded Systems We recommend the following course to students without sufficient programming knowledge and skills who have a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from a Dutch university: - Software Development for Robotics Students who have a bachelor’s degree from a Dutch university of applied sciences are required to take the following course*: - Distributed Energy Management for Smart Grids
Elective courses	20 EC	Examples of electives: Computer Architecture Embedded Computer Architectures 2 Design of Digital Systems A/D Converters Distributed Systems Principles of Programming, Processes, and Patterns Embedded AI Machine Learning I Machine Learning II Introduction to Biometrics Design of Digital Systems Image and Computer Vision Advanced Vision and Pattern Recognition Internet of Things Wireless Communication Systems Cloud Networking Distributed Systems Mobile and Wireless Networking Internet Security Ad-Hoc Networks Advanced Multiple Antenna Radio Systems Dependable Computing System Validation Embedded Computer Architectures 2 Real-time Systems 1 Real-time Systems 2 Distributed Systems Software Testing and Risk Assessment Programming Principles, Patterns, and Processes Cyber-Physical Systems Image Processing and Computer Vision Robot Perception, Cognition, and Navigation Advanced Software Development for Robotics Tele-presence in Robotics AI for Autonomous Robots There are plenty more courses you can choose from. Ask your study adviser or skype with a student for more information.
Second year
Internship	20 EC	You will do an internship at a company or a research institute. If you have a degree from a university of applied sciences, you will take elective courses instead.
Final project and master’s thesis	40 EC	You will complete your Master’s by writing a master’s thesis.
Total EC	120 EC

Take courses at three technical universities.

When you enrol on the Master’s in Embedded Systems, you are registered at two other technical universities in the Netherlands: Delft University of Technology and Eindhoven University of Technology, so you can take relevant courses.

Master's thesis

You will complete your Master’s by writing a master’s thesis. You have plenty of room to come up with your research project or contribute to ongoing research. You will carry out your research within one of the Electrical Engineering or Computer Science research groups. You can, for example, develop an RFID system for asset tracking to monitor the movement of goods in a warehouse and automatically update inventory records. What about investigating how to design and develop a wearable safety device for cyclists, such as a smart vest, that can detect speed and communicate the data to a smartphone app? Another area in which you can focus is robotics and mechatronics where you can work on developing a pneumatic manipulator instrument for an MRI environment.

As part of your master’s thesis, you can undertake research projects such as:

How can a machine learning algorithm be executed efficiently on a microcontroller?
How can we design a low-power chip for one of the world’s largest radio telescope arrays Square Kilometre Array to enable astronomical discoveries?
How much data can we stream wirelessly from one Internet-of-Things device to another in a secure way?

Questions? If you want more information about this Master’s, contact the study adviser Eric Bong.

The choice of Trethyn

The choice of Merijn

Structure

First year

Second year

Master's thesis