Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering

Overview

The Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering (BSCE) is housed within the Electrical, Computer, Software & Systems Engineering (ECSSE) department, and offers its students a chance to develop practical engineering knowledge, skills, and ways of thinking by working with hands-on projects ranging from autonomous aircraft to energy-efficient automobiles. The program combines real-world system design and development practices with a thorough grounding in the fundamentals of computer engineering, including aspects of electrical and software engineering, such that graduates enter the workforce ready to make a contribution and a difference.

The BSCE program focuses on embedded, real-time, computer systems: The kinds of systems at the heart of technologies from mobile phones and handheld computers to the control systems of modern aircraft and spacecraft. Embedded controllers take information from the physical world, such as an airplane’s altitude or the amount of light entering a lens, and use a microprocessor to generate control signals to component devices, such as that airplane’s control surfaces or a camera’s aperture opening. Starting from the program’s introductory class, you’re given an opportunity to work with embedded systems on platforms such as a small, mobile robot. Continuing through the program, you learn the basics of how such devices work, how information is represented in them, and how to effectively design such systems to meet real-world constraints on power and timing, as well as learning how to use the latest computer-based tools for designing and implementing digital logic and embedded systems. The program culminates in a two-semester capstone design sequence in which you’ll work with a team of other student computer engineers, software engineers, and electrical engineers to specify, design, build, and demonstrate a working system, or even system of systems, often for a real-world “customer.”

The detailed objectives of the program are that our graduates:

• Effectively analyze, design, and implement computer systems, including embedded, real-time, and safety-critical computer systems;
• Demonstrate professionalism in their work and grow professionally through continued learning and involvement in professional activities;
• Contribute to society by behaving ethically and responsibly;
• Communicate effectively in oral, written, and newly developing modes and media; and
• Assume a variety of roles in teams of diverse membership.

The Computer Engineering program is accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (111 Market Place, Suite 1050, Baltimore, MD 21202-4012; Telephone: (410) 347-7700, http://www.abet.org).

Advantages

Why a Computer Engineering degree from ERAU?

The sequence of design culminates in a near real world capstone design experience: Students, working in multidisciplinary teams of engineers with a core of computer, electrical, and software engineers, determine a customer’s requirements for a system, convert those to system specifications, perform the design of a system to meet the requirements using a formalized process from industry, implement and build the system, and then test the system to ensure that it meets the customer’s requirements, fully documenting the process along the way. Capstone design students get not only a chance to show their technical expertise in designing digital systems, but also their proficiency in managing the process and communicating with each other and the “customer.” Employers come back to ERAU year after year for program graduates both because of the technical skills and because of those graduates’ ability to enter the workplace familiar with design, development, and quality assurance processes, with industrial-strength documentation, and with working with teammates to bring a project to a successful conclusion.

The BSCE program has an expert faculty, many with industrial experience, and instruction takes place in small classes with state-of-the-art facilities, including a wide range of hardware and software development environments. Being located at Embry-Riddle allows the student to take advantage of knowledge and expertise on campus of a vast array of aviation and aerospace matters. And beyond the projects in the curriculum, student projects are available through professional organizations like the Student Branch of the IEEE (Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers) or competition hosts like AUVSI (Association of Unmanned Vehicle Systems International).

Requirements

*Students in the Computer Engineering program are encouraged to take CS 225 during the first year, postponing COM 219 until the second year.

**Specified electives are courses to be selected, with the approval of the Program Coordinator, to support acquiring a minor, an identified concentration in a knowledge domain (e.g., aerospace, aviation, business, communications, human factors, mathematics, etc.) or further depth in computer engineering or related disciplines.