Welcome to the Department
We're looking forward to meeting you this autumn!
Department contacts
Useful links
- Virtual tour - a 360 Virtual Tour of Imperial. Get familiar with the campus before you arrive.
- PG Safety Induction Presentation - Please familiarise yourself with the Health and Safety procedures.
Information for MSc students starting in October
- Welcome Week EEE Department timetable 2024
- Learning Resources and background reading
- Computing and laptops - Bring Your Own Device
Please make sure you also check out the Imperial College Welcome Week website, with details of more events and activities across campus, including Imperial College Student Union clubs and socities.
Sunday 29 September
| 10:00-16:00 | International Student Welcome | Queen's Tower Rooms and Great Hall, Sherfield Building | Fair with stalls from Imperial teams who support international students will run alongside PG and UG Welcome events for International Students. |
Monday 30 September
| 10:30-16:30 | Discover Imperial Fair | Queen's Tower Rooms, Sherfield Building | Fair with stalls from broad range of teams providing extra- and co-curricular opportunities and support for students |
| 11:30-12.00 | Collect ID cards. Analogue & Digital IC Design, Applied Machine Learning, Future Power Networks | MSc Common Room 304, EEE Building | Please complete Safety form before attempting to collect your ID card |
| 12.00-12.30 | Collect ID cards. Comms and Signal Processing, Control Systems | MSc Common Room 304, EEE Building | Please complete Safety form before attempting to collect your ID card |
| 13:30-14:20 | EEE Welcome Talk - New EEE PhD and MSc Students | Room 408, EEE building | Head of Department, Director of Postgraduate Studies, Postgraduate Senior Tutor, Student Wellbeing Adviser, Safety Briefing. |
| 14:30-15:30 | MSc Programme Meetings | CSP - 408 Control - 403a AML - 407A/B ADIC - 403b FPN - 406 |
Meet your course directors. Find out more about the course and ask any questions regarding timetables, exams, projects etc. |
Tuesday 1 October
| 10:00-16:00 | Imperial College Union Welcome Fair | Across South Kensington Campus | Imperial College Union main Welcome fair showcasing the Union's Clubs, Societies, Projects and more. |
| 11:00-12:00 | MSc Control student only - Preliminary Test | Room 305, EEE Building | mandatory attendance test to evaluate whether you need to attend the Control Engineering module |
Wednesday 2 October
| 11:00-12:00 | Wellbeing session - ‘How to do well and feel well’ (PhD and MSc students) | Room 408, EEE Building | Session run by Dept Student Wellbeing advisor Kelly Greenwood |
| 13:45-15:00 | Postgraduate Services - Induction | Room 408, EEE Building | Blackboard - Induction (13:45-13:55) with Carly Careers Service (13:55-14:05) with Jess Popplewell Enterprise Lab (14.05- 14:15) with Jennifer Mills Centre for Academic English (14:15- 14:30) - Michael Student Union (14:30-14:40) Library Services (14.40-14:50) with Louise-Anne Hand |
| 15:00-16:00 | Plagiarism Awarness (Compulsory) | Room 408, EEE BSuilding | Aims to equip all Imperial postgraduate students with a working knowledge of the concept of plagiarism and how to avoid it. Preparation for the Graduate School course. |
Thursday 3 October
LECTURES START
| 13:15-14:30 | MSc Lunch Socials | CSP 403 Control 305 FPN 406 AML 407A ADIC 407B |
Meet your cohort and Student Reps. Lunch provided. |
Wednesday 9 October 13:00 - 14:30
Women in Electrical Engineering Lunch Social. MSc and Undergraduate social event, Room 305. Lunch will be provided.
Wednesday 30 October 2024- 15:00-16:00
| 15:00-16:00 | Active Bystander with speaker Mark Bailey (EEE PhD and MSc students) | Room 408, EEE Building | The Active Bystander training programme aims to empower staff and students across the College community to challenge poor behaviours and bring about cultural change through the reinforcement of messages defining the boundaries of unacceptable behaviour. |
MATLAB
There may be a need for you to use MATLAB during your MSc course. These tutorials from the web and YouTube may be helpful to you:
http://www.mathworks.com/academia/student_center/tutorials/launchpad.html
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=MATLAB&annotation_id=annotation_736368&feature=iv
http://www.math.utah.edu/lab/ms/matlab/matlab.html
Another good way for a novice to get started is to open one of the demos within MATLAB and work through it step-by-step (you simply need to type “demo” or “help” in the command window to get to the demos).
PYTHON
Python and its packages such as numpy, pandas and matplotlib are essential programming tools for the Applied Machine Learning
course.
Linear Algebra
These notes on Linear Algebra will assist students on our MSc courses. It might be worth studying these before you arrive.
MSc in Control and Optimisation
- “Introduction to linear algebra” by Gilbert Strang
- MATLAB courses available on-line at: https://matlabacademy.mathworks.com (recommended: MATLAB onramp, Simulink onramp, Control Design Onramp with Simulink, MATLAB Fundamentals, MATLAB for Data Processing and Visualization, MATLAB Programming Techniques, Introduction to Symbolic Math with MATLAB, Solving Nonlinear Equations with MATLAB, Solving Ordinary Differential Equations with MATLAB, Introduction to Linear Algebra with MATLAB)
- Book by Astrom, Murray: “Feedback Systems: An Introduction for Scientists and Engineers”. By Karl J. Åström and Richard M. Murray, available on-line http://www.cds.caltech.edu/~murray/amwiki/index.php/Second_Edition
-
Linear Systems, by Panos Antsaklis & Antony Michel, Birkhauser, 2006
MSc in Future Power Networks - background study materials
- AC transmission system operation, powerflow and basic stability analysis. Chapter 3 and 8 of ‘Electric Power System’ 5th edition by Weddy, Cory et. al.
- Analysis of the performance of linear closed-loop controllers using frequency-domain tools. Chapter 1 and 2 from 'Multivariable feedback control: analysis and design.' Vol. 2. New York: Wiley, 2007 from Skogestad, Sigurd, and Ian Postlethwaite.
- Basic stability analysis and control design. Chapter 5, 10 and 11 from ‘Automatic Control Systems’, 10th Edition by Farid Golnaraghi and Benjamin C. Kuo
- Challenges of future power system with high penetration of inverter-based resources https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nh22PgScCQ&t=2844s https://lowcarbonconversations.libsyn.com/episode-2-a-tricky-balance
- Digitalisation of Energy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xpoTZP8Aew
- Generation of electricity by wind turbines https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KE65O44q9o
- Operation and characteristics of Thyristors and IGBTs Chapter 23 and 25 from ‘Power Electronics: Converters, Applications, and Design’, 3rd Edition by Ned Mohan, Tore M. Undeland, William P. Robbins
- Operation of synchronous generators https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8zJKXkU_yM
Library
Microsoft Teams for lectures
Information and instructions for using Microsoft Teams.
updated 29 August 2024 - for students starting in October 2024
Advice on laptops
The Department runs a Bring-Your-Own-Devices (BYOD) scheme. Electrical and Electronic Engineers need excellent skills in using computers for programming, controlling equipment and many other tasks. There is no better way to become proficient than by managing your own laptop, including all the software installed on it.
Financial assistance may be available from the College to support purchasing a laptop https://www.imperial.ac.uk/students/fees-and-funding/financial-assistance/student-support-fund/
What laptop to choose?
Our recommendation is to buy a laptop with the following specifications:
- Intel i5/i7 CPU
- 8/16GB of RAM
- 512GB hard drive
- 13”/15” screen
We do not make official recommendations on the specific make of laptops. When choosing your laptop processing power is less important than weight (light) and battery life (long). The more RAM you have, the better. An SSD hard drive can speed up some processes but is not essential. A touch screen can be useful for annotating notes but is also not essential.
The Department’s laptop loan scheme uses:
HP EliteBook 840G5, 16GB of RAM, 512GB SSD drive, 15” display
Mac users can consider the MacBook Pro 13”, 16GB of RAM, 512GB SSD drive.
Which operating system?
This depends solely on personal taste, but if you bring a MacBook make sure to install both OS X as well as Windows 10. We advise you run an English Windows 10 version on any laptop. Every student can request a key for their own license to Windows 10 educational version from ICT (via software shop). Help will be available for installing and converting operating systems. Windows is more compatible with a lot of the software we use. Also, some software packages are incompatible with the new M1/M2 chip Macbooks.
What about Software?
We use Office 365 at Imperial College. It is free to all students and can install on up to five devices. In addition, we offer students a wide range of free software to support their work. The ICT resources for new students pages have information about the available software packages.
Do I need a desktop as well as a laptop?
You are strongly advised against purchasing a desktop machine. Instead, you may want to buy a lightweight external monitor and connect your laptop to it. This configuration is much more portable and useful than a desktop machine.
Do I need a printer or other computer peripherals?
Scanning, photocopying and printing services are available in public areas, including the library. You access the printers and purchase print credits using your College ID card and details. If you intend to print lots of paper copies, it may be cheaper if you use your own printer.
Do I need to subscribe to cloud-based storage?
You do not need to pay for your own cloud. Instead, you will be provided with cloud-based space on Microsoft One Drive.