The work in the Communications Group spans the following three fundamental areas:

• Digital communications: Digital communications is the process of reliably transporting digitized information from one place to another using robust signal processing and coding principles.
• Communication networks: A communication network is a set of equipment and facilities that provides the transfer of information between users located at various geographical points.
• Multimedia processing: Multimedia processing involves the integration and processing of diverse media sources such as video, audio, and graphics for the purpose of more effectively and efficiently communicating the content to a given receiver.

Courses

Several undergraduate communication courses in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department are offered by professors in the Group. The courses can range from the theoretical (such as linear system theory and probability) to the more practical. For those of you currently taking and/or considering selecting communication course electives, the following list of reasons to love your communication courses by some of our graduate students may be of interest:

Top 10 Reasons to Love Your Communication Courses

By Communication Group Graduate Students (uncensored! and in no particular order)

1. Because if you know what QPSK, DPSK, QAM, GMSK, TDMA, CDMA, OFDM, DSP, FFT, DFT, DCT, MPEG, SDH, ADSL, OSPF, BGP, ATM and SONET stand for and use them regularly during interviews you will sound like you really know your stuff. They're also great for impressing members of the opposite sex.
2. Because they're better than your math courses!
3. Because from inter-networking to wireless technologies to multimedia communications to digital signal processing, COMM IS IN! Your comm courses are your ticket to surfing the communications wave of today and tomorrow - make no mistake, the wave isn't going to stop and it sure beats drowning :)
4. You know *exactly* how bad your chances are at the casino .. and have some good ideas on how the beat the odds.
5. Carl Fredrich Gauss becomes your hero and his white noise becomes music to your ears !
6. You will never look at balls, urns, playing cards or games of chance in quite the same light.
7. All the system-level analysis you learn has advantages. You learn the magic of solutions by block diagram (Example: need to synchronize two signals? Just draw a box that says "synchronizer").
8. They are essential if you want to get a (high paying) job in the telecommunication field, one of the fasting growing field in engineering.
9. They are taught by knowledgeable, friendly, and enthusiastic professors from the Communications Group and are exciting and challenging!
10. The basic concepts that one learns from the Comm Courses, such as probability, signal processing, communications theory, and traffic theory, among others are all very important for one to pursue a graduate studies in the field. Also, from my personal experience, understanding of these basic concepts is often tested during the job interview process.

Undergraduate Labs

The ECE416 and ECE417 communication labs are currently being updated! For details of specific experiments, please refer to the appropriate course information provided by the instructor.

Summer Employment Opportunities

In the past, many of our professors have hired summer students to help with research activities such as experimentation, implementation, testing and simulation of algorithms, protocols and ideas. Experience working in the Group can provide students with the opportunity to meet graduate students, learn about more specific topics and technologies in the area, and gain better perspective on what communications research is. Jobs are focused on specific projects and are offered by individual professors. Availability varies from year to year.

Graduate Studies

Undergraduate students interested in pursuing graduate studies in the Communications Group should visit the Graduate Studies Handbook for application procedure and admission policy information. If you're not sure whether you should pursue graduate studies, the following list of reasons for higher education (written by our own graduate students) may help you make your decision:

Top 10 Reasons to Pursue Graduate Studies in the Communications Group

By Communication Group Graduate Students (in no particular order)

1. The members of the Communications group at U of T undertake research in a very diverse set of areas. Regardless of your particular interests, this breadth will have a very positive and eye-opening effect on your work and professional growth.
   
2. Through your graduate studies you will learn invaluable skills such as designing, managing, and executing your own project plan, identifying and focussing only on relevant details in a vast sea of information, and selling your ideas and work to a highly technical community. Even in industry these skills are in high demand - the difference in terms of salary may not seem worthwhile, but in terms of quality of work, level of responsibility, and promotability, therein lies the value graduate work.
3. The Communications Group has high quality professors who conduct research in various fields of communications such as multimedia and networking, wireless systems, and signal processing. As a grad student I've seen over the last few years, that graduates of the Group have been able to find good jobs in universities, companies and research labs.
4. Practically speaking, the salary is higher when you have a graduate degree.
5. Graduate studies in communications provide a theoretical basis for all data communications networks and systems. Study of these fundamental ideas allows graduates to innovate in comm system design and provides insight for possible later implementation.
6. The U of T Comm Group has a large list of innovators on faculty, well known for their contributions to their areas. Their collective experience spans the three main subdivisions of communications.
7. This group has a large and dynamic population of graduate students. This provides an opportunity to interact with researchers in all areas of communications and gain an appreciation for the breadth of the thought in the communications area.
8. U of T attracts some of the best students and faculty from around the world. You will be studying in an environment with internationally recognized researchers, alongside tomorrow's leaders in the field.
9. You can learn how to conduct research and study in an environment where you can experience the joy of learning (and don't have to worry about marks).
10. You will have a greater number of job opportunities upon graduation.