Communications Engineering

The research program of the Department is centred on applied research in the core areas of Biomedical, Communication, Control Systems, Digital Signal Processing, Optical and Photonics, Semiconductor Materials and Device Research.

Opportunities exist for suitably qualified graduates to pursue further studies.

Rapid and extensive developments have taken place in all aspects of communications in the the last few years. Electronic communications is of major importance to all organisations and to all people.

 

Undergraduate Course

Communications is now the fastest growing industry sector in the world. Areas addressed in this course include signal processing for voice data, networking, multimedia, intergrated broadband systems (ISDN, ATM), mobile and personal communications, data superhighways, communications theory, communication systems simulation, digital receiver design and advanced radar systems.

Research

The research interests of the Department encompass a wide range of practical and theorectical aspects of communications. The staff members whose research interests lie in this area are;

Prof John Devlin, Professor
BE(Elec) Melb , PhD La Trobe .

Performance studies of digital communication satellite links. Switching and control of SSTDMA systems. Dynamic protocol formats to improve intergration with terrestial networks. Satellite communication gateways. Channel quality of HF communication links. Design of microwave circuits for satellite applications. Antennas and receiver for satellite communication. Mobile communication via satelite. Microwave. Digital receiver design, HF receivers and data transmission, frequency synthesis techniques, high linearity phase receivers. Radar systems: HF radar systems (SuperDARN): HF ionospheric phased array backscatter, real time systems design, data storage, transmission and analysis techniques. Microwave ultra wideband Chirp radars, non invasive testing and imaging, microwave ISAR systems.

A/Prof David Tay, Associate Professor
BE(Hons), BSc(Hons) Melb , PhD Cambridge.

Wavelet Transforms, Multirate filter banks, Multidimensional Filters, Image Compression, Document Image Processing, Time series analysis, Watermarking, Multiuser communicaton, Multimedia signal processing.

A/Prof Dennis Deng, Associate Professor
BSc SunYat-Sen , MSc Acadamia Sinica , PhD La Trobe.

Algebra structures for signal processing. Neural networks. Nonlinear signal processing. Multiresolution signal decomposition and processing. Image processing and image data compression. Medical imaging.

Mr Michael Feramez, Senior Lecturer
BEng (Comm) RMIT , MEngSc Monash , MIEAust, CPEng.

Statitical modelling and characterisation of VHF radio channels beyond line-of-sight. Digital microwave radio communications, cellular mobile radio communication networks planning and performance evaluation. Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), Statellite communication and Global Positioning Systems. Telecommunication networks planning, design, performance and management.

Mr Jim Whittington, Senior Lecturer
BSc(Hons) La Trobe , MEng La Trobe.

Safety & Intelligent Vehicle Systems - AUTOCRC (www.autocrc.com) Digital Radar Development (www.tiger.latrobe.edu.au) Development of DSP hardware in FPGAs for advanced communication and control applications.

Mr Geoff Tobin, Associate Lecturer
BSc(Hons) Melb .

Satellite switched TDMA scheduling algorithms. Combinational geometry applied to matrix decomposition. Algebraic structures for signal processing. Production of diagrams and graphs using the Metafont language.

Scholarships may be available to well-qualified applicants. For more information on scholarships available at La Trobe University click here . For further information on research degrees at La Trobe University click here .

Detailed information on undergraduate and postgraduate courses is available from the La Trobe University handbook. Further information regarding the Department of Electronic Engineering may be obtained by writing to: