Student Profiles
Hassan Ftouni studied MSc Wireless Communication Systems 2010/2011
Life ends, but knowledge never! After finishing my BSc degree in Communication Engineering, I was looking for Postgraduate study that extends my knowledge, and allows me to have a deep insight into the field of wireless communications. Choosing Brunel University to continue my further study, "MSc Wireless Communication Systems" wasn't a coincidence, as Brunel University had a high reputation in the department of engineering compared to other universities in the UK.
In addition to Brunel high reputation in engineering, just by looking at the topics of the eight modules which they taught on the course, you can know how much the course is important and useful. These modules starting from "Advanced Digital Communication" to the "Workshop", and ending with a dissertation, provide you with the latest and most important information that an engineer needs to enter the field of wireless communications. Moreover, throughout my studies at Brunel University, I deal with highly professional Professors and lecturers that were able to give you the information you need in an easy and flexible way. You are provided with full access to the latest laboratories during the "Workshop" module, to ensure that you have not just gained theoretical knowledge, but also technical experience by working with the most relevant software used by telecom companies, such as OPNET, MATLAB, etc.
In my final year project I tried to solve a common problem that Wireless LANs suffer from, which is "hidden nodes". I looked at a new method aiming to increase the performance and eliminate the hidden nodes in WLANs. The new method was called "Hybrid Time division and Carrier Sense Multiple MAC for 802.11 WLANs", which uses the combination of two access methods, TD and CSMA/CA. As a final result the new method was successful since it gave the required results by eliminating hidden nodes, and improving the performance of WLANs network.
My degree was very useful, rather than choosing immediate employment in the telecom world, it allowed me to get a lot of offers to PhD scholarships in Europe, and my applications to these scholarships are still in progress. Moreover, the knowledge gained from the modules I studied enabled me to competently answer many of the interview questions, on the interviews to date that I have attended.
As a 2011 Brunel graduate, I would proudly encourage any student wanting to continue his studies, to undertake an MSc at Brunel, because of the excellent academic content and structure and modern facility infrastructure.
Syed Wasil Ali: Graduate in MSc Wireless Communication systems
Job Title: Hardware manager
I got my post-graduate degree in MSc in Wireless Communication Systems and I graduated in 2011.
My bachelor’s degree was in Electronics Engineering and my BSc dissertation was on smart antenna system. In this project I have also got the first prize. This encouraged an interest in wireless communications, and I decided to do my Masters in this field. The best thing I have found studying at Brunel, is that the course content for Wireless Communication Systems MSc was not only attractive, and up to date, but also had a blend of future technologies like (4G) LTE and Wimax systems.
My decision to join Brunel University was correct, as I truly enjoyed and learned there. Each module gave me in-depth and advanced knowledge, both in the lectures, and the labs, the latter by performing practicals, which made the theoretical concepts much clearer.
The Professors are very friendly and teach in good way. You enjoy your 90 minutes of lecture, and this results in better learning and understanding of the subject. During the lectures you can ask questions as many as you like. Staff are happy to clear any confusion you have. They are also available after the lectures, always there to help you out, to discuss related topics, give you advice and helpful material to understand more in depth about the course.
Concerning the Placement and Careers Service, I have used this Service which helped me both find and getting a job. For the engineering School there was a guy called Raj Sidhu. He helped me in altering my CV and gave some handy tips, and as a result of that my CV turned out to be very strong and attractive. After that I started getting calls for interviews and got selected for a job in my very first interview and currently I am working for them.
My final year project was hardware based, and was on a Smart Home Automation system. The main idea behind this project was to design a system that should be energy efficient, and also smart enough to control home appliances and gadgets. The whole system was wireless, as I used the ZigBee technology which is IEEE 802.15.4 standard. I built some motion sensors, temperature sensors, light control systems, CO2 detector and a central unit (remote control) or smart control, that was responsible for controlling and communicating with the appliances and gadgets wirelessly. The whole system operates on batteries.
My MSc dissertation was quite challenging, commencing more than half way through a one year course, that is why needed to be selective. Choosing a hardware based project was challenging for me. But because of the full support of my supervisor I was able to complete my project on time, and also won the IEEE best project of the year prize !
The course really helped me, as on the basis of my degree and final year dissertation I got the job in 15 days after submitting my dissertation.
My job title is Hardware Manager, and I am responsible in designing and building the product from scratch right up to its final shape. It is a mixture of electronics and electrical as we make smart electric meters and also wireless communication, as these meters talk to each other wirelessly using the same technology that I have used in my final year project i.e. IEEE 802.15.4 standard also known as ZigBee.
I have learned skills and techniques that now I am using it in my practical field. The most important thing in technology that I have learned during the course, and used in my dissertation is ZigBee, and now I am using it in industry which is helping me a lot in solving problems and moving forward.
To conclude, I would highly recommend Brunel University to the people who want to learn and built up there career. It is great place to develop your self in your field as well as communally and culturally.
Vangelis Kanoutas graduated on MSc Wireless Communication Systems in 2010
Following the completion of a Computer Science B.Sc. in Greece I wanted to develop an expertise in the area of the wireless networks technology at a leading institution, without however leaving my hometown Thessaloniki. It was therefore key to select a university that would not only offer a solid academic curriculum in this specific topic, but would also provide outstanding long-distance academic support. Brunel`s M.Sc. in Wireless Communications Systems provided all that and much more.
Anyone looking at the 8 specific modules of the degree would acknowledge that the most important topics of this specialization are covered; from network technologies to communication security, students obtain not only a theoretical understanding, but also a thorough appreciation of their practical applications in this industry today, and in the future. There are many reasons why this is achieved. Firstly, the lecturers are very supportive & knowledgeable so they can deep-dive in particular subjects. What` s more, the reading materials are in line with the latest technological developments and this is really important in such a fast-moving industry. Furthermore, the solid organization of the program provides a seamless learning curve despite the intensive pace of each course. Based on all the above graduates become confident to enter the job market & work on advanced topics in the field of wireless networks, which was the case for me also.
My M.Sc. graduation gave me the opportunity to work as a supervising professor at the Technological Institute of Thessaloniki for two years. At the moment I am the co-owner of IP Partners, a start-up company I have founded together with two other graduates of the same program – Christos Zachos and Thomas Dragogias. One of the first engagements of our company was to fully digitize a secondary school in terms of interactive technologies, WiFi access to all pupils, remote security surveillance, etc. and set a pioneering example in the whole of Europe. Furthermore we are working on a project that aims to apply in a real environment the theoretical aspect of our dissertations. The latter had to do with the operation of a Hybrid Wireless Network combining the Mesh Networking technology with that of Sensor Networking using ZigBee Nodes. This project could have a practical implementation on the wireless coverage of the city center of Thessaloniki, as well as on the development of a wireless fire security network of the nearby Seich-Sou forest.
As a 2010 alumni I would strongly recommend Brunel for its expert and encouraging faculty, state of the art technological infrastructure, excellent academic content and international student-body diversity.
Ahmed Al-Rawi graduated in the MSc in Wireless Communication Systems in October 2007
"I was looking for a course in wireless communication, and Brunel seemed the only university giving such a course relevant to my needs. I chose wireless communication for two reasons : firstly, wireless is considered as the new burgeoning means of communications (mobile, satellite, Bluetooth, etc) leading to a very high demand for people with skills in this field, secondly the ambiguity and complexity surrounding wireless techniques, this means there are still many enhancements and improvements needed, which makes this field more challenging and interesting. So I set my sight on taking a course in this field and Brunel was the only university which appeared to provide such a course. Other factors made me choose Brunel e.g. its location being very close to where I live, and the availability of transportation from and to the university. These factors and many recommendations from friends and co-workers made me decide on visiting the university This visit , where I talked to the Course Director, about the course content was enough to convince me without any doubts to join Brunel, I felt that the course materials were very interesting and covered many of the modern wireless techniques in depth, which gave students a solid foundation in this field. Also the Course Director’s enthusiasm in spending time and explaining the course contents to me in detail, was an obvious indication of how excellent, dedicated, and capable the Course Director and lecturers were.
I can’t emphasise too much how satisfied I was with the quality of the available facilities and, more importantly, the calibre of the course lecturers was second to none. Truly, the lecturers were of a really high standard in terms of their ability to deliver the course materials with ease to all students, and several factors did not make this an easy task e.g. All the course materials covered quite new techniques and most of them have not been even standardised, and also, the students in my cohort were from a broad range of different educational backgrounds, and simply because “wireless” was new, none of us had any previous knowledge in this field. Apart from the lecturers’ scientific abilities, they were very supportive from day one, they helped us in every possible way, like giving us extra time when needed, their doors were always open for all the students, and their endless questions and queries, which helped us digest the course materials with more ease.
In my final project I tried to tackle one of the many existing wireless issues, so I chose “Mutual Coupling in Multi-Input-Multi-Output Systems” known as “MC in MIMO Systems”, this phenomenon tends to affect the performance of the wireless system when using multi antennas to transmit and receive data. In theory the quality and quantity of the wirelessly transferred data will increase when using more than one antenna at both sides (transmitter and receiver), but this is not always true in real life due to the MC effect.
I managed to graduate with distinction which helped me to get many opportunities e.g. I was accepted in more than one fully sponsored PhD and EngD scholarships, also I was fortunate enough to be given the chance to choose between a few job offers, here in Britain and abroad, some of these scholarships and job offers were from very well known companies and many of my lecturers helped me so much, by offering me the chance to apply for scholarships.
Currently, I am working as the International Sales Manager of a Telecommunication company called Samar Telecoms, the company based in Jordan, and I’m running the company branches in London (UK) and New Orleans (USA). As you can guess, this involves a lot of travelling and quite challenging tasks, like opening new accounts with new international customers, and supervising new projects from start to finish involving meeting tight deadlines. The bottom line for me is that it is the kind of job which allows you to be creative and innovative, challenging, gives the chance to meet new people from different backgrounds on regular basis, visiting new places, solving ongoing problems...etc. Despite being busy all time, but the more I get involved in this job and wireless environment, in general, the more I enjoy what I’m doing, it makes me feel I’m using my skills and knowledge which I gained from the MSc course in the best possible way.
In summary, looking back at Brunel I can positively say many things: the course content and materials are so exciting and interesting, in respect to teaching, we dealt with new techniques in areas that have many unresolved issues, and job wise, most governments, companies, and individuals are now shifting toward using wireless communication which means that more jobs are becoming available for people working in this field. Honestly, I do recommend this course for anyone looking for ajob in which they can add something, maybe solve one of the many existing problems, and in respect to the course, imagine how exciting it would be for you to sit in the lecture room talking to your lecturer and colleagues about an invention or an issue which has just occurred a few days ago, which happened to us quite few time during the course!"
Dionysios Skordoulis is a graduate of the Wireless Communication Systems MSc and is currently pursuing a PhD at Brunel
"The Wireless Communications Systems course is managed by the School of Engineering and Design, a school well known for its achievements and reputation all around England. My background is mainly on IT, as I graduated with a BSc in Computer Science with Distributed Systems.
The reasons that I was attracted to this course and to this University are many and since I joined the course the reasons have increased. The concept of 'wireless' in communications and networks has been very 'hot' in recent years. The demand to fill jobs in this area has increased a lot. Since I was interested in Networking I decided to search for a degree that would broaden my knowledge to match this interest. Trying to find a University in the SE region of England that ran such a course, I discovered Brunel's home page. I was very interested having read the course outline and also that it was the first year of being taught at Brunel.
I and my fellow students came from different backgrounds, some graduated in Engineering and others in Computing. At the beginning this mixture troubled me, but since I started this course I realised that both skills are necessary, since wireless communication is based on both computing and engineering. Now, we help each other and we share our knowledge through group projects and meetings. Being in a room with 22 other students I found myself more involved with the lesson since the relationship with our professors is closer. The lecturers are very friendly. They not only focus on the material that is being written in textbooks, but they also point out to us new technologies that they have been carrying out in their research and techniques they've learned while they were employed in the industry.
Brunel University is massive in terms of surroundings. New laboratories with high-tech hardware and software have been built. These facilities are available to any student at anytime we wish to use them as part of our projects. There is a library which holds a big collection of textbooks and journal that are updated frequently, classrooms that contain digital projectors and media equipment, something that makes the lecture more interesting and interactive, a gym, basketball courts, football pitches and other facilities for any other sport you can imagine. A new refectory building providing high quality food and even 3 bars and a night club where you can entertain your self, a local shop, a bank, a medical service, superb accommodation and other facilities that I haven't even discovered yet. Beside the facilities, I've also come across great services too. Everyday seminars are conducted by experienced people who present to us new emerging technologies, marketing issues, new perceptions in the industry or advising us on subjects such as time management, reducing stress, writing skills, passing an interview, etc. Also there are plenty of societies that you can join based on your religion, ethnicity, sport activities or other interests.
These are a fraction of the reasons I like to be a student at Brunel University. By reading all the above I feel like I am trying to promote this University the same way as somebody employed by the Marketing department but I'm not. I'm just a student like everybody else who has been amazed with what this course and in whole what this university can provide you during your studies. I'm enjoying being a student here so much that I'm looking forward to extend my studies by doing a PhD."
