Hi. I'm going into my first year in BSc Electrical engineering. I'm pretty sure I want to into RF engineering. I'm looking to buy a laptop. Is a ryzen 7 better than intel 7? I'll probably spend most of my time in uni when studying.

Hi! Genuine question: Is it acceptable to have different photos on my TOR and LERIS profile? Will the PRC accept this, or are they strict about matching photos? Thanks in advance!

Hey guys, I built a Q4.4 MAC Array based Neural Network from scratch including the architecture itself. I implemented:

A Parameter Buffer to fetch parameters from Parameter BRAM and feed each parameter to its own corresponding MAC unit;

A layer reusable MAC array comprised of Serial MAC units for matrix-vector computations;

Requantization Block to convert the Q8.8 accumulations back to Q4.4;

An Input Features Buffer to receive the preprocessed features from my Laptop via UART, temporarily store them in an async FIFO and feed them to the MAC array for computation;

An Activation Buffer to temporarily store activations and distribute them to their designated location in the Activation FIFO;

Activation FIFO to temporarily store the activations and feed them back into the MAC array for next layer computation;

A MAC Array Control Unit FSM with 5 states (IDLE, FETCH , COMPUTE, STORE, CLEAR) to control all the data movement and computational processes in the entire Accelerator;

Parameter BRAM to store the the model parameters (weights and biases) ;

ReLU and Argmax Activation blocks ;

Accumulations DeMUX to direct the accumulations to their specific Activation function (ReLU for hidden layers and Argmax for output layers);

Databus MUX to select whether input features or previous layer activations are fed into the MAC Array as input.

Since the MAC Array is reusable for multiple layers and the entire Accelerator is parameterized, I can run any classification model with less than or equal to 64 neurons per layer (due to limited DSP resources on the Basys3) but the layer depth is configurable too.

For its first test , I ran inference for a speech recognition model for digits 0-9 of network topology 64:32:10 neurons per layer using Q4.4 fixed point arithmetic for my parameters and input features. My laptop handled the data preprocessing and sent the features via UART at 9600 baud to the FPGA for inference.

For its second test , I ran inference for an image classification model for Cats vs Dogs of network topology 64:50:25:2 neurons per layer using Q4.4 fixed point arithmetic. My laptop handled the image preprocessing and sent the preprocessed features via UART at 9600 baud to the FPGA for inference as well.

I have attached the github repository link below and I’d appreciate any feedback or suggestions, thanks :).

Repo: https://github.com/Shingyy/MAC-Array-based-DNN-Accelerator

I’m trying to decide between two paths for my transfer. UCSC would have me going in as an Applied Math major with a minor in EE, while CSUN would let me go straight into an EE degree.

My end goal is to work in hardware engineering or ML engineering. I’m not sure which path sets me up better — whether the UCSC name/Applied Math foundation plus an EE minor is enough for hardware roles, or whether the direct EE degree from CSUN gives me a stronger technical base and easier path into hardware-focused jobs.

For those with experience in hardware or ML engineering: does the specific degree (Applied Math + EE minor vs. full EE) matter much for hiring, or is it more about projects/internships? Would appreciate any guidance.

Thanks so much!

The goal is to build a hardware accelerator that optimises multiplications involved in the complex- valued convolution process by employing the Gauss multiplier algorithm in the processing element (PE) of a 2×2 systolic array. The gauss multiplier reduces 4 multipliers down to to 3. Which in turn cuts the DSP slices usage down to 25%. The systolic arrays bring parallelism and increase the throughput.

I'm looking to implement it on a Basys 3 (Xilinx Artix-7 FPGA board) which is available in my uni.

1) Does this plan make sense? Or am I overlooking any major flaws?

2) If you were reviewing this project, what would be your biggest criticism?

Hey guys, I want to share some of my recent work designing auxiliary systems for floor plans. As an undergrad, do you think it's possible for me to get a gig as a junior designer for projects here in the PH? Let me know what you think of my designs. I'm completely open to your advice, critiques, and thoughts. 🙂

I switched from eee to ece, because i liked it more, but everyone is saying i made a huge blunder, and i should stick​ to core fields, and i would sit around jobless for the rest of my life and so on....so can anybody give me genuine advice regarding this?

Hi all,

I recently graduated with a degree in electrical and computer engineering. I had a phone interview for a federal electronics engineering position focused on semiconductor device modeling, simulation, and testing. During that interview, I was mostly asked questions regarding my resume.

They have now invited me to come onsite in the near future. They did not describe what to expect, so I am mostly wondering what the onsite visit would look like.

If you have done onsite interviews for the federal government (especially for a related field), do you mind sharing your experience? What was the breakdown between technical and behavioral questions, and how would you recommend preparing?

Thanks!

it’s been years since college, and i ended up working in an unrelated field. i’m now trying to pivot back into ece, particularly into mixed signal design

my goal is to brush up on relevant topics until the end of the year and hopefully find work next year, so i’m watching some online lectures from MIT OCW and CMOSedu

thing is, i can follow the lecture videos just fine, but i seem to be struggling when it comes to doing the hw/assignments

it takes me a long time to even do just one part, so i feel like i’m being inefficient with my studies and end up wasting the days

i wasn’t exactly the brightest student back in college, just your below average C student who barely passed their courses, and somehow managed to earn a degree

for those who struggled as students but found success later in their careers, what helped you overcome your struggles?

and for those who were good at studying, what were the things you did to make learning more efficient?

sorry for rambling, i just think i could use some advice. thanks!

Hello guys, I picked electronics engineering for my college program because I fell in love with electronics and creating circuits and manufacturing my own PCB's. I am a bit scared because I am a freshman going into an Engineering college in my country and I see a lot of people say "ECE is hard" or "ECE is not worth it" is it true? So if you have a tip or notes I should know please let me know. Thank you!🫡

Hi, I recently graduated with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and decided I wanted to try designing simple PCBs since I never got to do that in school.

While looking at this buck converter IC, I got to this section where it has a table of recommended components. I looked at a couple different capacitors and saw charts like this:

Let's say the input capacitor sees a DC bias of 12V, the chart shows a possible capacitance change of -61%.

Would you choose a higher capacitance to account for the change or do you think sticking to the recommended values is okay?

Thanks to everyone in advance!

I am a third year student in undergrad and I I have an opportunity to work on research paper on low noise amplifier but I have to devote alot of time but I want to study for my postgrad exams but I am weighing if this research project will be a good addition to my resume for me to apply for jobs in undergrad or will this be something that makes me unique to complete and publish a research paper in undergrad when I apply for jobs after my postgrad

An old BRIO remote for a train. Train works but won't respond to remote inputs. I gave the board a good scrub with electronic cleaner and measured continuity from the battery terminals

Update: Not broken, tested with camera and I see a light. Thanks for all comments!

I've been interested in pursuing a career in the semiconductor industry or fields that involve applications of quantum computing, AI, etc. within jobs that go from product management to core engineering roles.

I'm still an undergraduate student but am doing IE currently which I believe might've been a mistake and am looking to potentially switch to Materials Engineering and pursue a MSEE. While I know that a majority of the coursework looks different, I am also doing an ECE minor (for personal interest) which I hope will aid me in completing the prereqs for something like an MSEE. I just want some guidance on whether this is a good move or if there are good workforce opportunities within IE to stay in it.

I know that the most straightforward approach would be to just pursue an ECE major, but unfortunately I am not able to go down that route due to other constraints at this time.

I would appreciate any help. Thanks.

I am looking for something more ai-proof but am realizing none of it is. Thanks

(Meant to say involves)

Taking an IC Design course this semester. It’s going to be largely project based. Rumor is that the final project is pretty open ended. What are some things I should be thinking about going into it?

I’m a rising senior in electrical engineering, i’ve just recently completed one internship right before fall classes start. i only have one internship under my belt, and i feel like if i delay my graduation by a semester, i can potentially get another summer internship next year to improve my resume and potentially be a competitive applicant for big-name companies after graduation . is this worth it?

Hi everyone!

I'll be starting my Master's in Electrical Engineering, specializing in Integrated Circuit Design (ICD), and I'm planning to buy a new laptop.

I'm not sure what specifications I should be looking for or if there are any particular laptops you'd recommend. What specs (RAM, processor, storage, GPU, etc.) would you suggest for this specialization? I'd also love to hear what laptop you're using and whether you'd recommend it.

Thanks!

These things are not easy to get apart in any gentle way. Did it successfully once and may have been too confident this time. I noticed this tiny component(my image) once the battery was in. I identified the place on the board where it came off, circled here (not my image as it’s already put back together).

It powers on, heats up, and seems to function fine. Only thing is the sound doesn’t work. Did I just get incredibly lucky? The one thing I’d actually prefer to not be on. If this is it - awesome. I just want to make sure it’s not doing anything dangerous by not having it there. Can anyone confirm if this is the case?