Master’s Programme Handbook

Technical Informatics

September 2002
This handbook has been prepared under supervision of the Director of Studies in Technical
Informatics of the faculty of Information Technology and Systems (ITS) of Delft University of
Technology.

Edition:

September 2002

Address of the faculty of Information Technology and Systems:

Delft University of Technology

Faculty of Information Technology and Systems
Mekelweg 4
2628 CX Delft

Student Counsellors:

[Link]. R.J. Diependaal Mekelweg 4 room LB 02.270

phone: 015 27 83802
e-mail: [Link]@[Link]

Mrs. drs. M.W.I. van Kraaij Mekelweg 4 room LB 02.250

phone: 015 27 85158
e-mail: [Link]@[Link]

Mrs. drs. D.I. Stadler Mekelweg 4 room LB 02.260

phone: 015 27 84645
e-mail: [Link]@[Link]

Director of Studies:

[Link]. F.W. Jansen Mekelweg 4 room HB 12.280

phone: 015 27 85517
e-mail: [Link]@[Link]

Manager of Studies:

[Link]. J.F.M. Tonino Mekelweg 4 room HB 08.270

phone: 015 27 85807
e-mail: [Link]@[Link]

2
Preface

This guide is meant as an information source for all students who wish to take one of the three
variants of the Master’s programme in Technical Informatics offered by the faculty of Information
Technology and Systems at Delft University of Technology: Software Technology, Media and
Knowledge Engineering, and Computer Engineering.

The guide is also addressed to students who are about to take their ‘kandidaatsexamen’ and
who wish to continue their studies according to the old programme. For these students the old
programme and its rules and regulations are attached in the Appendix of this guide. That part is
in Dutch.

The main part of this guide, which has been written in English, gives a condensed overview of
the three variants of the Master’s programme mentioned above. There may be issues in the text
that are not treated in depth. In case students are left with questions, they may contact the
Director and Manager of Studies by phone or e-mail.

Apart from an overview of the Master’s programme, this guide also contains a complete list of
all specialisation courses offered by any of the research groups participating in the programme.

Students who find it hard to choose between the variants of the Master’s programme are invited
to contact one of the Student Counsellors. Information sessions are held each spring to inform
students about the MSc programme, its variants and options for specialisation. Furthermore, all
students who are completing the Bachelor’s degree will be invited by the Manager of Studies in
order to discuss their possibilities.

Good luck with your choice!

The Director and Manager of Studies in Technical Informatics

3
4
5
6
1 The Bachelor’s-Master’s Structure

1.1 Introduction

In the academic year 2002-2003 the so-called Bachelor’s-Master’s structure will be officially
introduced. For the Technical Informatics programme a new curriculum has been developed in
order to implement the new structure. The new curriculum was introduced in September 2001. It
consists of a 3-year Bachelor’s programme and a 2-year Master’s programme that has three
possible variants, viz. Software Technology (ST), Media and Knowledge Engineering (MKE),
and Computer Engineering (CE). The last two variants will be offered in cooperation with
Electrical Engineering.

Technical Informatics offers a Bachelor’s programme having two possible variants: Software
Technology (ST) and Media & Knowledge Technology (MKT). Students who have completed
one of these Bachelor’s programme variants will be awarded the Bachelor’s degree in
Technical Informatics.

The ST variant of the Bachelor’s degree in Technical Informatics gives entrance to the ST and
CE variants of the Master’s programme, whereas the MKT variant of the Bachelor’s degree
gives entrance to the corresponding MKE variant of the Master’s programme. At successful
completion of the Master’s programme the student is awarded the Master of Science degree in
Technical Informatics. It is the policy of the TU Delft to treat the three Master’s variants as
separate Master’s programmes.

As a consequence of the introduction of the Bachelor’s-Master’s structure, there is no longer a

need for a separate, international Master of Science programme. Indeed, the new structure is
meant to enhance the national and international mobility of students. Therefore, the
international programme will be combined with the new Master’s programmes. The language of
instruction will then be English. If a student has serious difficulties with taking an exam in
English, he can contact the course instructor or his mentor so a solution can be sought.

1.2 The structure of the Master’s programme

The first year of each programme variant includes a common core of at least 11 and at most
21 credit points. This common core is compulsory for all students taking that particular
programme. Common core courses can also be chosen by students doing another variant of the
programme.

Furthermore, the programme includes free electives: 12-16 credit points can be used for units
of study such as a work experience, international exchange programme, courses offered by
other universities or within the TU Delft, but preferably by another department, social studies
courses, or a minor like sustainable energy (see Section 1.8) or marketing for engineers.

For each variant there is a list of specialisation courses, offered by the research groups
concerned, from which the student chooses the rest of the individual study programme in
consultation with the contact person of one of the groups or with the Master’s thesis advisor. Of
course, these specialisation courses can also be chosen by students in other programme
variants.

7
For all variants except Computer Engineering, the second year consists of a research
assignment of 10 credit points and a thesis project of 32 credit points. Instead of the research
assignment, Computer Engineering students choose additional specialisation courses and free
electives in such a way that in total they spend 19 credit points on specialisation courses and 12
credit points on free electives (see Section 4.4).

The research assignment is often a literature study preparing the student for the thesis
assignment. Alternatively, the research assignment may also be part of a minor, where a minor
is to be understood as a coherent package of study units (using the free elective credit points)
from another academic discipline. Note that in case the research assignment is part of a minor,
its function as a single study unit of 10 credit points cannot be changed.

1.3 Programme objectives

The objective of the Master of Science Programme is to educate students to become

professional computer scientists who have the knowledge, capabilities and attitudes needed to
take part, alone or in cooperation with other specialists, in solving problems in society, science,
or in private or public institutions. The graduated Master of Science has the ability to continually
update his/her professional knowledge, and to independently acquire knowledge from related
fields within his discipline.

1.4 Admission to the Master’s programme

The Master of Science programme in Technical Informatics is an advanced programme in the

sense that a thorough basic academic knowledge in this discipline is a prerequisite. Holders of a
Bachelor of Science degree in Technical Informatics or one in a related discipline may apply for
admission in the Admissions Office of TU Delft. The degree of Bachelor of Science in Technical
Informatics of TU Delft gives automatic entrance to the programme.

In general, holders of a Dutch HTO diploma in Technical Informatics are required to take the
special HTO bridging programme of the TU Delft before they can be admitted to the Master’s
programme. This bridging programme is expected to have a size of 30-42 credit points. It will
mainly focus on mathematics. HTO students who wish to apply for the Master’s programme
should contact one of the Student Counsellors.

A selection procedure applies to all students having other prior education.

With respect to the admission procedure, the following two points are important:

• In the new Bachelor’s-Master’s structure it is, in principle, not possible for students to
start on the Master’s programme if they have not completed the Bachelor’s
programme. Students of TU Delft who have almost completed their Bachelor’s degree
may get permission to start on the subsequent Master’s programme. Permission is
only granted in cases where a small number of credit points of study units which are
not essential to the chosen variant of the Master’s programme is missing.
• For students in the old 5-year programme who wish to start on the new Master’s
programme, the admission procedure will be applied less rigidly. Even if they have not

8
 completed their ‘kandidaatsexamen,’ they will be admitted to the Master’s programme
in most cases.

1.5 The individual study programme

Students who are admitted to the Master’s programme in Technical Informatics have to design
an individual study programme. The procedure is roughly as follows:

• The student chooses one of the three variants of the programme: ST, MKE or CE, and
then selects one of the areas of specialisation offered by the groups participating in
the chosen variant.
• The student makes an appointment with the contact for the group or the coordinator of
the chosen variant to discuss the specialisations possible within this variant. The
contact person or coordinator will propose a possible Master’s Thesis Advisor.
• The student creates a first draft of his or her individual programme according to the
prescribed rules (see Section1.2), and discusses this programme with his or her
contact person or Master’s Thesis Advisor.
• The individual programme is submitted for approval to the Examining Board.
• After approval of the individual programme, the student can safely start with the
specialisation courses and free electives in his or her individual study programme.

Note that it is not possible for a student to design the individual study programme without
consultation of the contact person of the chosen group, or Master’s Thesis Advisor.

Students who find it hard to choose between the variants of the Master’s programme are invited
to contact one of the Student Counsellors. Information sessions are held each spring to inform
students about the MSc programme, its variants and options for specialisation. Furthermore, all
students who are completing the Bachelor’s degree will be invited by the Manager of Studies in
order to discuss their possibilities.

1.6 The old curriculum

Students who are nearing their ‘kandidaatsexamen’ may continue to take the old programme.
They are also allowed, however, to continue their studies by taking one of the variants of the
new Master’s programme. In both cases their individual study programmes should comply with
the requirements for these programmes. With respect to the old programme, students are
referred to the Appendix of this handbook.

Students who have not yet passed their ‘kandidaatsexamen’ and have not yet started on the 4 th
year of the old programme are advised to switch to the new Bachelor’s-Master’s structure. For
these students this choice has few consequences. The admission criteria of the Master’s
programme will be applied more liberally to them. Furthermore, apart from the required common
core of the Master’s programme variants, the new programme offers more possibilities (see also
Section1.2).

9
1.7 Internationalisation and practical training

There are many possibilities to go abroad for practical training, taking courses, or for a Master’s
thesis project. In many cases the coordinator of the research group of your choice has
international contacts. In fact, quite a lot of students go abroad for a couple of months. The
Section Internationalisation and Practical Training of the faculty ITS helps students who are
interested in a stay abroad. The section has an extensive web site (see below).

Contact person: J. de Vries

room: HB 00.700
phone: 015 27 85952
e-mail: [Link]@[Link]

Web site: [Link]/stages

1.8 Technology in Sustainable Development (TiDO)

Graduates with a Master of Science degree from TU Delft have to be prepared to work in
society as designer, researcher or manager. In the next decades they will be confronted with
technological challenges related to sustainable development. This implies that these engineers
have to be acquainted with the interplay between sustainable development and the applications
of science and technology. For this purpose, the special program Technology in Sustainable
Development (TiDO) has been started recently at TU Delft, to prepare interested students more
thoroughly in the area of sustainable development, environment and technology.
This program consists of four electives in the area of sustainability and a course in an
interdisciplinary subject. These courses can be fitted in the free electives of the Master’s
programme. Moreover, students following this program are supposed to do a Master’s thesis
project related to sustainable development. Students who have successfully completed this
program will receive a special endorsement on their [Link]. certificate.

Contact person: [Link]. F.W. Jansen

room HB 12.280
phone: 015 27 85517
e-mail: [Link]@[Link]

10
2 Master’s Programme in Software Technology

2.1 Introduction

Software Technology is about designing software for technical systems. Examples range from
software for small real-time embedded systems like heartbeat monitoring in watches, to large
complex control systems as those being used in the New Waterway Storm Surge Barrier, the
final element of the Delta Project. Software Technology engineers design communication
protocols by which computers communicate, adapt complex algorithms to work on parallel or
distributed systems, or develop logistic algorithms for practical planning problems. But the field
of Software Technology is certainly not limited to these examples: the field that investigates how
complex software systems should be specified, designed, implemented, and verified or tested,
which is the domain of software engineering, also belongs to it.

Programme coordinator: [Link]. J.F.M. Tonino

room: HB 08.270
phone: 015 27 85807
e-mail: [Link]@[Link]

2.2 Participating Research Groups

The programme is organized by the following research groups:

• Software Engineering (SE)

Contact person: ir. F. Ververs
room: HB 08.140
phone: 015 27 87088
e-mail: [Link]@[Link]

Web site: [Link]

• Parallel and Distributed Systems (PDS)

Contact person: [Link]. D.H.J. Epema
room: HB 08.280
phone: 015 27 83853
e-mail: [Link]@[Link]

Web site: [Link]

• Information System Engineering (ISE)

Contact person: [Link]. J.L.G. Dietz
room: HB 09.060
phone: 015 27 87822
e-mail: [Link]@[Link]

Web site: [Link]/ontwerpen/index_en.htm

[Link]/ISBIS/isbis_en.htm

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 • Optimization Technology (OT)
Contact person: [Link]. C. Roos
room: HB 07.100
phone: 015 27 82530
e-mail: [Link]@[Link]

Web site: [Link]/~roos/[Link]

• Computer Graphics and Man- Machine Interaction (CG-MMI)

Contact person: dr. W.F. Bronsvoort
room: HB 12.040
phone: 015 27 82533
e-mail: [Link]@[Link]

Web site: [Link]

2.3 Main Research Themes

Software Engineering (SE)

Important subthemes in this area are software architecture, and real-time and embedded
software development and verification. Software architecture is about the high-level structure of
a software system which is such a level of abstraction that the system can be viewed as a
whole. Real-time systems include applications where timing is important like in control systems.
An interesting research question in this area is how these kind of systems can be verified by
formal methods. The theme of embedded systems has also become more and more important
since the use of dedicated hardware has significantly increased in the last decades.

Parallel and Distributed Systems (PDS)

The research in this group includes the specification and implementation of parallel and
distributed languages and programs, wide-area computing, ubiquitous computing, and
performance analysis. The first theme is of a more theoretical nature. It also includes as a
special topic collective agent-based systems, where agent cooperation and multi-agent planning
is studied. Wide-area computing deals, e.g., with the question of how to use the vast amount of
(idle) computers all over the world by means of the Internet. Ubiquitous computing tries to make
computing power available throughout the physical world. And performance analysis, at last,
tries to model and predict the performance of parallel and distributed programs.

Information System Engineering (ISE)

The object of interest of the section ISE is information systems in organizations. Viewed from
the perspective of function, these systems support the business actions of human actors as well
as the coordination of these actions. Viewed from the construction perspective, information
systems are discrete event systems, realized by means of ICT (information and communication
technology). The continuous alignment of both perspectives on information systems constitutes
the scientific problem addressed by the section ISE. The topics, currently investigated in
research projects, include information systems modelling and architectures, component-based
systems engineering, digital longevity, and internet technology.

Optimization Technology (OT)

Although the field of optimization technology comes from mathematics, it is very relevant to
software technology: in this field, algorithms are being developed to solve algorithmically hard

12
problems, like transportation, scheduling and routing problems. Since finding exact solutions of
instances of these problems is not feasible in general, the focus is on the development of
efficient approximation algorithms. Here lies an opportunity for cooperation between
mathematicians and software technologists: the first develops the theory, the latter turns it into
an efficient implementation.

Computer Graphics and CAD/CAM (CG/MMI)

The group CG/MMI contributes to two Master’s programmes: those in Software Technology and
Media and Knowledge Engineering. For software technologists the following research topics are
important. Feature modeling studies a method to model 3D objects for product design and
manufacturing where also distributed settings using the web are considered. Data visualization
is about how to visualize the vast amount of data emanating from, e.g., modern medical and
astronomical scanners. Parallelisation of photo-realistic rendering is another research theme of
the group.

2.4 Composition of individual study programme

Schematically the individual study programme looks as follows:

first year: 42 credit points (cp) second year: 42 credit points

Common core Specialisation Free electives Research Thesis project
courses assignment
16 cp 10-14 cp 12-16 cp 10 cp 32 cp

Note that you must accumulate a total of at least 84 credit points in the first and second year.

2.4.1 Common Core (16 credit points)

The following courses are compulsory for all Software Technology students. Note that if you
have successfully completed any of the following courses before entering the Master’s
programme, you must replace it by one of the specialisation courses.

code course credit points course schedule

IN4002 Distributed Systems 4 0/0/4/0
IN4020 Compiler Construction 4 0/0/2/2
IN4023 Object Oriented Languages and Techniques 4 0/4/0/0
IN4024 Real-time Systems 4 4/0/0/0

2.4.2 Specialisation courses (10−14 credit points)

Specialisation courses offered by SE

IN4073 Embedded Real-Time Systems 4 0/0/0/4
IN4072 Systems and Software Verification (Model Checking) 4 0/0/4/0

13
Specialisation courses offered by PDS
IN4026 Parallel Algorithms and Parallel Computers 4 0/2/2/0
IN4049 Introduction to High Performance Computing 4 2/2/0/0
IN4027 Cooperative Agent Based Systems 3 0/0/0/2
IN4077 Computational Logic and Satisfiability 4 2/2/0/0
IN4078 Performance Modeling of Par. and Distr. Sys 3 0/0/3/0

Specialisation courses offered by ISE

IN4038 ICT Management 3 4/0/0/0
IN4067 Information Security 3 0/0/0/4
IN4028 Business ICT Optimization 3 0/0/4/0
IN4079 Digital Longevity1 3 2/2/0/0
IN4080 Information Retrieval 3 0/0/2/2
IN4071 Internet Technology 3 0/0/0/3

Specialisation courses offered by OT

IN4077 Computational Logic and Satisfiability 4 2/2/0/0
IN4082 Local (Heuristic) Search Methods 4 2/2/0/0
IN4081 Randomized Algorithms 4 2/2/0/0

Specialisation courses offered by CG-MMI

IN3022 Computer Graphics 3 3/0/0/0
IN4003 Geometric Modelling 4 4/0/0/0
IN4008 Data Visualization 4 0/0/3/0

2.4.3 Free electives (12−16 credit points)

The free elective credits can be used for units of study such as a work experience, international
exchange programme, courses offered by other universities or within the TU Delft, but
preferably by another department, social studies courses, or a minor like sustainable energy
(see Section 1.8) or marketing for engineers.

2.4.4 Research assignment (10 credit points)

The research assignment often is a literature study preparing the student for the thesis project.
Alternatively, the research assignment may also be part of a minor, where a minor is to be
understood as a coherent package of study units (using the free elective credit points) from
another academic discipline. Note that in case the research assignment is part of a minor, its
function as a single study unit of 10 credit points cannot be changed.

2.4.5 Thesis project (32 credit points)

The thesis project is the final part of the Master’s programme. During this project the student
has to show that he or she is able to solve a research or engineering problem. The project has
to be carried out using project management: at the start the student makes a plan in

1
This course will be offered in the academic year 2003-2004.
14
cooperation with his or her Master’s thesis advisor. In the plan, several aspects of the thesis
project are defined: the assignment, the frequency of interaction with the advisors, the
milestones of the project, the resources and facilities offered by the faculty, etcetera. During the
project students must stick to their plan. Of course, under certain circumstances, students may
adjust the plan during the project.

At the end of the project the student submits his Master’s thesis, which is to be written in
English, and makes an oral presentation of his or her work to the Thesis Committee. Based on
the thesis, the presentation, and the project performance the Thesis Committee announces the
final mark.

15
3 Master’s Programme in Media and Knowledge Engineering

3.1 Introduction

In today's society more and more digital data become available as a result of a variety of
electronic, biochemical, medial, industrial and other sensing devices and communication
systems (Internet, TV, PC, telecommunications). Examples of such data are audio and speech
signals, digital images and video, text, and biomolecular data. To interact with machines that
handle and process these volumes of data and to interact with the data itself, one needs
intelligent representation, processing, reasoning and user interfaces. Media and Knowledge
Engineering educates students to become engineers who are able to design and build
intelligent systems for information and knowledge processing and who are able to design,
realize and test properly working intelligent user interfaces.

Programme coordinator: dr. E.A. Hendriks

room: HB 11.030
phone: 015 27 86269
e-mail: [Link]@[Link]

3.2 Participating Research Groups and contact persons

The programme is organized by the following research groups:

• Information and Communication Theory (ICT)

Contact person: [Link]. M.J.T. Reinders
room: HB 11.300
phone: 015 27 86424
e-mail: [Link]@[Link]

Web site: [Link]

• Data and Knowledge Systems (DKS)

Contact persons: [Link]. H. Koppelaar
room: HB 12.300
phone: 015 27 83737
e-mail: [Link]@[Link]

[Link]. L.J.M. Rothkrantz

room: HB 12.060
phone: 015 27 87504
e-mail: [Link]@[Link]

Web site: [Link]

16
 • Computer Graphics and Man- Machine Interaction (CG/MMI)
Contact person: dr. W.F. Bronsvoort (Computer Graphics and CAD/CAM)
room: HB 12.040
phone: 015 27 82533
e-mail: [Link]@[Link]

[Link]. C.A.P.G. van der Mast (Man-Machine Interaction)

room: HB 10.120
phone: 015 27 82549
e-mail: [Link]@[Link]

Web site: [Link]

3.3 Main Research Themes

(Multi)media (ICT)
This theme deals with the processing and interpretation of media data and with the generation
of media. Examples are how to extract information from the data (e.g. for efficiently searching
(visual) databases) and how to efficiently represent data for storage and trans mission (coding).

Knowledge Engineering and Artificial Intelligence (DKS)

Knowledge Engineering deals with techniques for representing and processing knowledge to
enhance the interpretation of data and to infer new knowledge and actions from this data inter-
pretation. The use of data bases is also important in this area.

Human-Computer Interaction (CG/MMI)

Human-computer interaction (HCI) is an interdisciplinary area focussing on the analysis, design,
evaluation, engineering and deployment of all kinds of user interfaces with the view of optimal
performance of the user. Topics are among others assignment analysis, interaction styles, the
design process, models of the user, dialog models and notations, evaluation techniques,
implementation tools and languages. Special new devices (multimodal, virtual reality, two-
handed input, etc.) and new multi user applications are studied.

3.4 Composition of individual study programme

Schematically the individual study programme looks as follows:

first year: 42 credit points (cp) second year: 42 credit points

Common core Specialisation Free electives Research Thesis project
courses assignment
16 cp 10-14 cp 12-16 cp 10 cp 32 cp

Note that you must accumulate a total of at least 84 credit points in the first and second year.

17
3.4.1 Common Core (16 credit points)

The following courses are compulsory for all MKE students. Note that if you have successfully
completed any of the following courses before entering the Master’s programme, you must
replace it by one of the specialisation courses.

code course credit points course schedule

IN4017 Multimodal Interfaces and VR 4 0/0/2/2
IN4010 AI Techniques 4 2/2/0/0
ET4089 Digital Signal Coding 4 4/0/0/0
IN4036 Multimedia 4 2/2/0/0

3.4.2 Specialisation courses (10−14 credit points)

Specialisation courses offered by ICT

ET4161 Information Theory 3 0/0/0/3
ET4087 Cryptography 3 0/0/3/0
ET4085 Image Processing 3 0/3/0/0
ET4234 Machine Intelligence 3 3/0/0/0
ET4157 Wavelets en Filter Banks 3 0/0/3/0
ET4083 Static Signal Processing 3 0/2/0/0
TN3541 Data Analysis 2 0/2/0/0
TN3534 Pattern Recognition 2 0/0/2/0

Specialisation courses offered by DKS

IN4010 AI Technology 4 2/2/0/0
IN4012 Real-time AI and Automated Speech Recognition 4 0/0/2/2
IN4013 Expert Systems in Technical Environments 4 0/2/2/0
IN4015 Neural Networks 4 0/0/2/2
IN4041 Database Design 3 0/4/0/0
IN4042 Distributed Database Systems 2 0/0/2/0

Specialisation courses offered by CG/MMI

IN4003 Geometric Modeling 4 4/0/0/0
IN4006 3D Computer Graphics and VR 3 0/2/0/0
IN4005 Industrial Automation 3 0/0/0/3
IN4008 Data Visualization 3 0/0/3/0
IN4034 Design of Highly Interactive Systems 3 0/2/0/0

3.4.3 Free electives (12−16 credit points)

The free elective credits can be used for units of study such as a work experience, international
exchange programme, courses offered by other universities or within the TU Delft, but
preferably by another department, social studies courses, or a minor like sustainable energy
(see Section 0) or marketing for engineers.

18
3.4.4 Research assignment (10 credit points)

The research assignment often is a literature study preparing the student for the thesis project.
Alternatively, the research assignment may also be part of a minor, where a minor is to be
understood as a coherent package of study units (using the free elective credit points) from
another academic discipline. Note that in case the research assignment is part of a minor, its
function as a single study unit of 10 credit points cannot be changed.

3.4.5 Thesis project (32 credit points)

The thesis project is the final part of the Master’s programme. During this project the student
has to show that he or she is able to solve a research or engineering problem. The project has
to be carried out using project management: at the start the student makes a plan in
cooperation with his or her Master’s thesis advisor. In the plan, several aspects of the thesis
project are defined: the assignment, the frequency of interaction with the advisors, the
milestones of the project, the resources and facilities offered by the faculty, etcetera. During the
project students must stick to their plan. Of course, under certain circumstances, students may
adjust the plan during the project.

At the end of the project the student submits his Master’s thesis, which is to be written in
English, and makes an oral presentation of his or her work to the Thesis Committee. Based on
the thesis, the presentation, and the project performance the Thesis Committee announces the
final mark.

19
4 Master’s Programme in Computer Engineering

4.1 Introduction

Computer Engineering is the engineering discipline that deals with the usage and development
of Software and Hardware of computing systems (computers). It covers computers and
computing devices from embedded computers to personal computers, and from mainframes to
supercomputers. Computer engineering is widely considered to be one of the most dynamic
fields in terms of market growth. Every year, every person in this world buys at least one
product that has been designed by a computer engineer. The students joining the Computer
Engineering group will learn the theory and practice of system software, including programming,
operating systems, compilers and computer networks. They will become experts in computer
architecture, and in the implementation and development of computer hardware. In addition, the
state of the art in design software tools for synthesis, physical design, VLSI, testing, and
performance analysis will be addressed by the programme. In order to prepare our students to
become world-class engineers, we provide them with strong theoretical and practical
knowledge. In order to ensure that our graduates can contribute to the industry, we devote a
large part of the programme to practical software and hardware design experiments and
prototyping.

Programme coordinator: ir. G.N. Gaydadjiev

phone: 015 27 86168
e-mail: [Link]@[Link]

4.2 Participating Research Groups and contact persons

The program is organized by the following research groups:

• Computer Engineering (CE)

Contact persons: dr. K. Bertels
room: HB 15.240
phone: 015 27 81632
e-mail: [Link]@[Link]

ir. G.N. Gaydadjiev

room: HB 15.320
phone: 015 27 86168
e-mail: [Link]@[Link]

Web site: [Link]

• Parallel and Distributed Systems (PDS)

Contact person: [Link]. D.H.J. Epema
room: HB 08.280
phone: 015 27 83853
e-mail: [Link]@[Link]

Web site: [Link]

20
 • Software Engineering (SE)
Contact person: ir. F. Ververs
room: HB 08.140
phone: 015 27 87088
e-mail: [Link]@[Link]

Web site: [Link]

• Circuits and Systems (CAS)

Contact person: [Link]. N. van der Meijs
room: HB 17.300
phone: 015 27 86258
e-mail: nick@[Link]

Web site: [Link]

• Telecommunication Networks (TN)

Contact person: [Link]. P. Van Mieghem
room: HB 19.270
phone: 015 27 82397
e-mail: [Link]@[Link]

Web site: [Link]

4.3 Main Research Themes

Computer Engineering (CE)

The Computer Engineering laboratory performs research in the determination, development,
and integration of both software and hardware required to build a computing system. More
specifically, we focus on the definition of system requirements, from embedded to general-
purpose systems, their architecture and implementations, and the study and development of
tools and software for improving the analysis and synthesis of computing systems. More
precisely, we are actively involved in: Computer architecture and machine organizations;
Mapping of application and algorithm requirements to architectures of embedded systems (e.g.
multimedia); Compiler technology capable of directing system requirements to architectural
definition and of improving implementations; Architectural synthesis tools for semi-automatic
implementation of architectures; Computer arithmetic and VLSI, VHDL logic design.

Parallel and Distributed Systems (PDS)

The research in this group includes the specification and implementation of parallel and
distributed languages and programs, wide-area computing, ubiquitous computing, and
performance analysis. The first theme is of a more theoretical nature. It also includes as a
special topic collective agent-based systems, where agent cooperation and multi-agent planning
is studied. Wide-area computing deals, e.g., with the question of how to use the vast amount of
(idle) computers all over the world by means of the Internet. Ubiquitous computing tries to make
computing power available throughout the physical world. And performance analysis, at last,
tries to model and predict the performance of parallel and distributed programs.

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Software Engineering (SE)
Important sub-themes in this area are software architecture, and real-time and embedded
software development and verification. Software architecture is about the high-level structure of
a software system which is such a level of abstraction that the system can be viewed as a
whole. Real-time systems include applications where timing is important like in control systems.
An interesting research question in this area is how these kind of systems can be verified by
formal methods. The theme of embedded systems has also become more and more important
since the use of dedicated hardware has significantly increased the last decades.

Circuits and Systems (CAS)

Research and education at the laboratory for Circuits and Systems center around design
methodologies for circuits and systems, at different levels of abstraction. Current efforts include:
Signal processing algorithms, in particular sensor array signal processing ("smart antennas"),
with emphasis on the underlying structured matrix computations; Signal processing
architectures, for the execution of such algorithms. These typically center around the (pipelined)
CORDIC processor.
Ather efforts include: System theory, in particular of time-varying and nonlinear systems.
Development of a framework for CAD tools: For VLSI circuit design, including VHDL synthesis,
layout synthesis, and design verification. Circuit component modelling and layout extraction with
emphasis on the parasitic effects.

Telecommunication Networks (TN)

The research of the Telecommunication Network Group at Delft focuses on network concepts
for multimedia in the broad sense. The evolution towards new Internet-like architectures with full
QoS-awareness is a main focal point. Important research themes: Impact of Quality of Service
(QoS); Dynamic and distributed Routing; Active Networks; Performance evaluation of routing
instances via random graphs; Properties of Internet Topology; Queuing analysis of arrival
processes with heavy-tailed distribution; Aspects of Mobile Communication Networks and Ad
Hoc Networking.

4.4 Composition of individual study programme

Students are free to plan the sequence of courses. To qualify for graduation, students should
accumulate a total of at least 84 credit points (cp). It is suggested that 42 cp are taken each
year and it is also suggested that the compulsory courses are followed and completed in the
first year of the study.
The programme’s 84 cp, as indicated in the table below, are divided among the compulsory
courses (21 CP), specialisation courses (19 CP), free electives (12 cp), and the MSc thesis
project (32 cp).

Compulsory courses Specialisation Free electives Thesis project

courses
21 cp 19 cp 12 cp 32 cp

A possible study schedule can be as follows:

• 1st year do 21 cp worth of Compulsory Courses + 9 cp of Specialisation Courses + 12

cp of Free Electives
• 2nd year do 10 cp worth of Specialisation Courses + 32 of MSc project

22
The specific courses, credit points per course, MSc project and some useful comments are
presented in 4.4.1, 4.4.2, 4.4.3 and 4.4.4.

4.4.1 Compulsory courses (21 credit points)

The following courses are compulsory for all CE students. Note that if you have successfully
completed any of the following courses before entering the Master’s programme, you must
replace it by one of the specialisation courses.

code course credit points course schedule

ET4246 Introduction to Computer System Engineering 1 1/0/0/0
ET8019 Computer Arithmetic 6 3/3/0/0
ET4074 Modern Computer Architectures 3 3/0/0/0
IN4020 Compiler Construction 4 0/0/2/2
IN4026 Parallel Algorithms and Parallel Computers 4 0/2/2/0
ET4054 Methods and Algorithms for System Design 3 0/3/0/0

4.4.2 Specialisation courses (19 credit points)

The list below gives suggested specialisation courses. Depending on individual preference of
students and in consultation with the contact persons some other courses can be selected that
are not listed here.
The student can specialise in one of these three areas: software, hardware, or design tools.

ET4146 Advances in Networking 2 0/2/0/0

ET4078 Computer Architecture (Special Topics) 3 0/0/0/3
IN 4002 Distributed Systems 3 0/0/4/0
IN 4049 High-Performance Computing: An introduction 4 2/2/0/0
ET4247 High-tech Start-ups 2 3 0/0/3/0
IN4072 Systems and Software Verification (Model Checking) 4 0/0/4/0
IN 4024 Real-time Software Systems: An introduction 4 4/0/0/0
WM0710 Technology and Society 6 6/0/0/0
ET4076 Computer Systems Testing 3 0/0/3/0
ET4255 VLSI Design Automation 3 0/0/0/3
ET4066 VLSI Design Techniques 3 0/0/0/3

4.4.3 Free electives (12 credit points)

The free electives credits can be spent on: a work experience, a research assignment, an
international exchange programme, courses offered by other universities or within the Delft
University of Technology, but preferably by another department, social studies courses, or a
minor like sustainable energy (see Section 0) or marketing for engineers.
International Master of Science students can use their free elective credits for the Integrated
Design Project (IPP).

2
This course will start in the academic year 2003-2004.
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4.4.4 Thesis project (32 credit points)

The thesis project is the final part of the Master’s program. During this project the student has to
show that he or she is able to solve a research or engineering problem. The project has to be
carried out using project management: at the start the student makes a plan in co-operation with
his or her Master’s thesis advisor. In the plan, several aspects of the thesis project are defined:
the assignment, the frequency of interaction with the advisors, the milestones of the project, the
resources and facilities offered by the faculty, etc. During the project students must stick to their
plan. Of course, under certain circumstances, students may adjust the plan during the project.

At the end of the project the student submits his Master’s thesis, which is to be written in
English, and makes an oral presentation of his or her work to the Thesis Committee. Based on
the thesis, the presentation, and the project performance the Thesis Committee announces the
final mark.

24
5 Description of courses and practical work

ET4054 : Methods and Algorithms for System Design

Instructor : [Link]. P. Dewilde and [Link]. T.G.R. van Leuken
Credit points : 3
References : De Micheli, Synthesis and Optimization of Digital
Circuits
Exam : oral exam

Content : System design is the central topic of this course.

Note : this course is mandatory for the [Link]. direction in

Computer Engineering

ET4066 : VLSI Systems Design

Instructor : [Link]. R. Nouta
Assistance : ir. J. Liedorp, H.J. Lincklaen Arriëns
Credit Points : 3

Course Material : Introduction to VHDL by R. Nouta

Selected Handouts on other languages.

Examination : Design Report

Objectives : The aim of this course is to bring the student in

contact with the modern digital system design path.
Modern design starts from a C-based description
(ART-C, System-C or Handel-C) through compilation
to VHDL through synthesis tools to an FPGA
implementation. The available tool suite includes all
this and also an architecture synthesis tool. We
demonstrate the power of the various tools by
applying them to examples which are usually based
on elementary signal processing applications.
The lectures are mainly a general introduction and
include a discussion and demonstration of the
design tools. Early on in the course, the
students will start using the tools by means of a well-
defined student design project that uses part (or all)
of this design path. Some digital circuits (basic
arithmetic structures used in signal processing
applications like digital filters) are being studied as
examples. Also aspects like pipelining and
parallelism are included. Students finish
their project by writing a design report.

ET4074 : Modern Computer Architectures

Lecturers : dr. B.H.H. Juurlink and dr. K.L.M. Bertels
Teaching assistants : I. Antochi MSc.
D. Crisu MSc.
25
Credit points : 3
Study material : J.L. Hennessy and D.A. Patterson, Computer
Architecture: A Quantitative Approach, 2 nd edition.
Lectures : 24 hours
Examination : examination consists of two parts
- every student has to give a presentation on a
subject of his/her choice
- for the second part there are two possibilities.
Either the student writes a paper on a subject of
his/her choice, or he/she conducts a small project.
Examination material : will be announced during the lecture
Prerequisite : ET2 043 or an equivalent introductory course on
Computer Architecture.

Content : Studying the architectures and organizations of the

newest microprocessors on the market and the
latest developments in computer architecture
research. Quantifying design decisions in terms of
performance and cost. Subjects: Basic principles,
pipelining and pipelining consequences. Multiple-
issue (VLIW and superscalar) processors.
Multimedia SIMD extensions. Out-of-order
execution. Branch prediction. Speculative execution.
Design of advanced memory hierarchies.
Prefetching.

ET4076 : Computer Systems Testing

Lecturers : ir. G. N. Gaydadjiev and dr. ir. S.D. Cotofana
Credit points : 3
Study material : Bushnell, M.L., Agrawal V.D., Essentials of
Electronic Testing for Digital, Memory and Mixed-
signal circuits.
Lectures : 12 hours theory, 12 hours problem solving
and practice
Examination : 2 tests and assignment
Exam. Material : n/a
Prerequisite : ET8 019 (Computer Arithmetic), basic software
engineering knowledge

Content : Logic simulation; Fault Models & Simulation:

stuck-at and bridging faults; redundancy,
sensitisation, fault propagation, fault equivalency,
fault domination. Fault simulation: serial, parallel,
deductive en concurrent. Test Pattern Generation
(TPG): fan-out, backtracking, D-algorithm,
implications, PODEM and FAN algorithms, cost
functions, ATPG, Built-In Self Test (BIST). Fault
Detection: fault masking, fault localisation, test
experiments. Memory testing: fault models, address
en memory array faults, march algorithms. Design
for Testability (DFT): testability measures, scan
26
 design, boundary scan (JTAG), JTAG experiments.
Additional test methods: IDDQ, Delay testing

Remarks : The practical exercises are based on Computer

Arithmetic course designs

ET4078 : Computer Architecture (Special Topics)

Lecturers : ir. J.S.S.M. Wong and prof. dr. S. Vassiliadis
Credit points : 3
Study material : Syllabus
Lectures : 24 hours lectures
Examination : assignments
Examination material : readers + assignments
Prerequisite : ET2010 or and equivalent introductory course on
Computer Architecture
Content : The purpose of this course is to familiarise students
with the most recent developments in the field of
computer architecture. The emphasis is on new
processor design concepts. The course consists of
three parts:
- First, the architecture of embedded processors
and related subjects will be discussed. More
specifically, the processing aspect will be dealt
with in more detail. Within this framework, the
emphasis will be on multimedia processing,
applications, and standards like JPEG and
MPEG.
- The second part of the course focusses on the
organization, design, and implementation of
modern processors in relation to parallelism.
Within this framework, the following subjects will
be discussed: superscalar, VLIW, and data
parallel (vector) processor architectures. For
example, instruction-level parallelism techniques
will be discussed that were used in the
development of Intel Pentium,
IBM/Motorola/Apple PowerPC, and other
advanced processors.
- Finally, in the third part of this course, design
techniques related to reconfigurable computing
will be discussed. More specifically, the subject
of "dynamically software controlled
reconfigurable (FPGA) hardware" will be
discussed in more detail. The influence of such
approaches on the future of computer
architecture will also be discussed.

ET4083 : Statistical Image Processing

Lecturers : [Link]. J. Biemond
Study points : 3
Lectures : 2 hours a week

27
Content : Role of random signals , correlation and power
spectral density in statistical signal processing;
modelling, detection and estimation of parameters
and signals in the presence of noise; linear filtering
theory: Wiener and Kalman filters; adaptive noise
cancelling; estimation of autocorrelation and power
spectral density; applications in the area of signal
processing and telecommunications

ET4085/ ET8005 : Image Processing

Coordinators : [Link]. E.A. Hendriks and [Link]. L. van Vliet
Study points : 3
Study material : K.R. Castleman, Digital Image Processing. Prentice
Hall, 1996 and Lecture notes: Fundamentals of
Image Processing
Lectures : 4 hours a week and 4 hours lab work obligatory
Examination : written
Follow-up courses : core curriculum electrical engineering

Content : The course starts with the basic principles of

processing visual images with digital computers:
spatial frequency, 2-D linear systems, sampling and
quantisation. Next follows a short introduction to
image coding and image restoration. The emphasis
is placed on automatic image analysis procedures
(measurements in images for pattern recognition and
vision). Much attention is paid to the techniques for
image segmentation (partitioning the image into
segments), followed by a discussion of the
techniques for measuring geometry, shape, colour,
and texture. Medical, remote sensing, and industrial
(robot vision) applications are discussed as
illustrations of the applicability of image analysis. A
Matlab/DIPimage based lab work of 4 hours is part
of this course. The objective of the lab work is to
give the student insight in possibilities and limitations
of state-of-the-art image processing.

Note : References from literature: See

[Link]/html/education/courses/et4-085

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ET4087 : Cryptography
Instructor : [Link]. J.C.A. van der Lubbe
Credit points : 3

ET4089 : Digital Signal Coding

Coordinators : [Link]. R.L. Lagendijk, [Link]. J. Biemond and
[Link]. R. Heusdens
Credit points : 3
Course material : 1) Lecture notes: J. Biemond, R.L. Lagendijk
Digitale Signaalcodering. TU Delft, 2000
2) Lecture notes: overhead sheets
References from literature : 1) N.S. Jayant, P. Noll. Digital Coding of
Waveforms. Prentice Hall, 1984.
2) A. Gersho, R.M. Gray. Vector Quantization and
Signal Processing. Kluwer Academic Publ. ,
1992
3) R. Veldhuis, M. Breeuwer. An Introduction to
Source Coding. Prentice Hall, 1993.
Lectures : 4 hours a week,
optional: computer exercises at home (4hrs/week)
Computer use : the theory taught in class is supported by an
extensive software package developed by the group
(see: [Link] This
package implements most known compression
techniques as well as several standards.
Exercises and Manual are provided on the web site.
Examination : written
Prerequisites : Stochastic processes (ET3502)
Follow up courses : Information Theory (ET4161), Statistical Signal
Processing (ET4083), Transm. Syst. Techn.
(ET4036), Inf. Transm. Techn. (ET4027), Error-
Correcting Codes (ET4030) and Cryptography
(ET4087)

Objectives : This course concentrates on the efficient and

compact representation of audio-visual information in
a digital format. To this end a number of relevant
compression and reduction techniques are
described.
Applications are found in telecommunications:
multimedia, digital TV, HDTV, as well as in signal
and image processing.

Content : 1. Characteristic properties of audio-visual signals

2. Data compression and reduction
3. Information theoretic limitations
4. Sampling and reconstruction of band-limited
signals
5. Scalar quantization

29
 6. (Differential) Pulse Code Modulation
7. Vector quantization
8. Subband coding and filter back design
9. Transform Coding: KLT, DWHT, DFT, DCT
10. JPEG-DCT still picture coding standard
11. Video formats and services
12. Motion estimation
13. Hybrid motion-compensated DPCM/DCT based
codec for (very) low bit rates: H261, H263
standards
14. MPEG video coding standardisation

ET4146 : Advances in Networking

Lecturer : [Link]. P. Van Mieghem
Credit points : 2
Course material : Book (course notes)
Prerequisites : ET3505 Telecommunication Networks

Content : This course focuses on the evolution towards

multimedia. Principles of the Internet (data/computer
world) and of ATM (the telephony/B-ISDN world) are
highlights. Although the emphasis lies on the
explanation of the network concepts, also current
developments are touched upon in order to give an
idea of the rapid developments in the area of
telecommunication.

Note : More details are found on

http:[Link]/educat/course/
et4-146/[Link]

ET4157 : Wavelets and filter banks

Instructor : [Link]. R. Heusdens
Credit points : 3

ET4161 : InformationTheory
Instructor : dr. A. Hanjalic
Credit points : 3
Form : lecturers 2 hours a week
Course material : to be announced
Examination : written

Content : This course is an introduction to Information Theory.

In particur it focuses on the theoretical conditions
required for optimal transmission and storage of
data. On the basis of simple concepts from
probability calculus, models are developed for the
information source and the communication channel
in general, and the theoretical base is created for
the development of techniques for source and

30
 channel coding. Application of the knowledge
acquired in the course is discussed for various
practical contexts, such as digital signal coding, copy
protection, etc.

ET4234 : Machine Intelligence

Coordinators : [Link]. E. Backer and [Link]. M.J.T. Reinders
Credit points : 3
Study material : reader handed out in the course
Lectures : 2 hours a week (lectures/ project development)
Lab projects : assessment through home assignments
Examination : project assignment
Prerequisites : Core curriculum electrical engineering, Computer
science, Mathematics, Applied physics, Aerospace
engineering
Follow-up courses : Data analysis, Pattern recognition, Artificial
Intelligence, Image Processing
References from literature : Principles of Data Mining, H. Mannilla, P. Smyth,
D.J. Hand, David Hand, MIT Press, ISBN
026208290X, 2001.
Pattern recognition, S. Theoridis, K. Koutroumbas,
Academic Press, ISBN 0126861404, 1999

Objectives : The course aims to provide the candidates with

1) insight in the Data Mining Process itself (business
understanding, data understanding, data
preparation, modelling, evaluation, deployment), 2)
the various problem types that are involved
(segmentation, concept description, clarification,
prediction, dependency analysis) as well as 3) the
variety of techniques and tools that are appropriate
for each problem type like clustering and rule
induction (concept description), discriminant
analysis, decision trees and kNN-rules
(classification), regression
analysis and trees, kNN and correlation (prediction)
and correlation, association rules and Bayesian
networks (dependency analysis).

Content : Generally, data mining (sometimes called data or

knowledge discovery) is the process of an analysing
data from different perspectives and combining the
data to obtain useful information or, more elegantly,
data mining is the non trivial process of identifying
valid, novel, potentially useful and ultimately
understandable patterns in data. Methods of
Machine Intelligence (smart learning and reasoning)
as well as all kinds of other useful methods will be
discovered. Blind application of data mining methods
may easily lead to the discovery of meaningless
patterns.

31
 This course covers fundamental techniques needed
for analysing huge amounts of data (for example
consumer transaction data) for relationships and
patterns often typed as classes, clusters,
associations or sequences in support of specific
(enterprise's business) goals and actions. We will
encounter methods of machine learning, pattern
recognition and statistics, like ANNs, Genetic
Algorithms, Clustering Algorithms, Decision Trees,
NN techniques, Rule Induction, Bayesian Networks,
Correlation and techniques for Visualization.
We will focus on practical cases that show how -
starting with an understanding of some business at
hand – one can use data mining results in that
business.
The course includes an individual take home
midterm and final test, and some projects in small
groups.

Note : We expect the students to have access to computer

facilities

ET4246 : Introduction Computer Systems Engineering

Instructor : [Link]. S. Vassiliadis, dr. B.H.H. Juurlink
Credit points : 1
Study material : Syllabus
Lectures : 8 hours
Examination : pass/fail exam

Content : This is a first year graduate [Link]. course and it is

intended to be an orientation and an introductory
course. It is intented for MSc students coming form a
plurarity of backgrounds including computer science
and electrical engineering. It is assumed that the
students may have different levels of knowledge an
may come from national as well international
institutions. More specifically, the intention of the
course is to describe in general terms what is
computer engineering and to provide more detailed
information on the specific interests of the groups
that give education and perform research pertinent
to computer engineering [Link]. program. In
particular, the computer engineering components
(tools, hardware and software) are described. It is
assumed that the student has no prior knowledge of
the subjects. This makes the course also an
introduction to the field terminology and current
trends. Regarding computer aided tools, this course
introduces the topics of logic synthesis, physical
design and testing. All the tools necessary to build
computing systems are presented. Regarding

32
 computer hardware, the course introduces the main
topics of, computer architecture, implementation and
realisation. Finally, regarding the system software
the topics of operating systems and compilers are
introduced.

ET4247 : High-tech Start-ups

Instructors : [Link]. S. Vassiliadis and dr. K. Bertels
Credit points : 3
Study material : Nesheim J.L., High tech start up - The complete
Handbook for Creating Successful New High Tech
Companies
Lectures : 16 (theory), 6 (presentations) and 6 (practice)
Examination : Evaluation of business plans and -presentations

Content : The primary goal of the course is to teach the

student how to be able to go from an idea to start,
manage and run a company. It introduces the
student to the fascinating world of entrepreneurs. A
secondary goal is to teach the student how to
"sell"his/her idea to a management/financial
audience. More specially, the course presents
strategies for the start-up phase of high tech
companies and discusses how to attract multi-round
financing. It covers, the specific ingredients required
to form a solid company and provides tips on how to
raise seed capital. It provides answers to questions
like: what do the venture capitalists like to see and
what are they expecting from a start-up company.
Numerous tips are discussed on how (and how not
to) to write and present business plans. It discusses
how successful start-ups are typically organised and
how they manage their cash flow. Furthermore, the
course provides directives in how to set-up the
management team that will guide and supervise the
development, marketing and sales of the product(s).
It gives an overview of intellectual property product
offering (IPO). A number of case studies of high-tech
start-ups will be presented. A number of start-up
executives and founders will be invited to describe
their personal experiences. Some venture capitalists
will present their point of view regarding their
expectations and all aspects of financing and
running of succesful start-up companies.

Note: This course will start in the academic year

2003/2004

33
ET4255 : Electronic Design Automation
Lecturer : [Link]. N.P. van der Meijs
Credit points : 3

Content : State of the art IC design is difficult because of the

complexity of scale (millions, and soon billions, of
transistors on a single chip) and because of the non-
ideal behaviour of the individual components (cross-
talk, delay, dissipation, non-linearity, etc.) whereby
both factors make the other worse. This complexity
can only be managed via advanced computer aids,
which of course (but unfortunately) are non-ideal
themselves. This course will show VLSI designers
what is going on inside these tools, why and how
these tools are non-ideal, and what a designer can
and can not expect from them. This is essential
knowledge for a successful designer today, and is
becoming crucial knowledge in the future.
A second goal is to provide an introduction to those
students that want or need to develop such tools
themselves. Many larger design sites have their own
Design Automation department, working in close
cooperation with their designers to solve unique
problems for which a solution does not yet exist.
Because of the ever-increasing integration density,
constantly bringing about challenging new design
automation problems, it is important for electrical
engineers to have such skills.
A third goal is to teach students how to use a
computer to solve challenging technical problems in
general. The field of Design Automation provides a
rich source of examples of applying fundamental
algorithms and data structures to real-world
problems.
The course will consist of a number of introductory
lectures, followed by a hands-on programming
assignment. In this lab, students will develop a real
computer program for a certain design problem. The
quality of the resulting program and of a
report/presentation by the student will (partly)
determine te grade.

ET8019 : Computer Arithmetic

Lecturers : ir. F.L. Muller and [Link]. S.D. Cotofana
Credit points : 6
Study material : Computer Arithmetic: Algorithms and Hardware
Designs, Behrooz Parhami, Oxford University Press,
NY, 2000, ISBN0-19-512583-5
Lectures : 42 hours (theory), 48 hours (tools, implementations,
design methodologies)
Test : Written exam and design marks

34
Knowledge : Digital systems I + II (ET1131, ET1027) or an
equivalent introductory course on logic design.

Content : This course covers computer arithmetic as applied to

general-purpose, application-specific and embedded
processors. The focus is on high-speed arithmetic
algorithms and on understanding their
implementation in VLSI and FPGA technologies. The
topics covered include:
Fixed and floating-point number systems, algorithms
and implementations for addition, subtraction,
multiplication, division, and square root,
floating-point operations, elementary function
approximation, low- power design, error analysis,
and interval arithmetic.
The course emphasises both theoretical and
practical aspects of computer logic design and is
divided into two parts that are
covered in two consecutive terms. The first part
is dedicated to the teaching of concepts, the second
to practical design experience.

IN4002 : Distributed Systems

Instructor : [Link]. D.H.J. Epema
Credit points : 3+1
Material : to be announced
Lectures : 0/0/4/0
Lab exercises : 40 hours
Lab : There are two exercises. In the first, a small
distributed application has to be implemented with
Remote Procedure Calls under Linux. In the second,
a distributed algorithm has to be implemented with
Java/Remote Method Invocation.
Examination : oral
Prerequisites : IN2200 Computer networks

Content : Introduction to distributed systems; communication:

client-server model, remote procedure calls and
remote method invocation; notions of time and
ordering of events; distributed algorithms for
termination detection, determining global states,
mutual exclusion, election, agreement; distributed
file systems; peer-to-peer systems; distributed
shared memory; atomic transactions and
concurrency control; scheduling in distributed
systems.

Notes : web address:

[Link]/vakken/IN4002/[Link]

35
IN4003 : Geometric Modelling
Contact person : dr. W.F. Bronsvoort
Instructors : dr. W.F. Bronsvoort and ir. F.H. Post
Credit points : 4
Study material : Lecture notes, sheets and practical manual.
Form : 4/0/0/0 lectures
Additional lab hours : 40
Exams : Written exams

Objectives : Geometric modelling, shape description of 3D

objects, is a basic method used in CAD/CAM, but is
also relevant to other technical applications such as
computer graphics and robotics. This lecture
covers modelling of solid 3D objects (solid
modelling) and of freeform surfaces (surface
modelling). The latest development, feature
modelling, is also discussed. Here, in addition to
geometric information, also functional information on
a product is stored in the product model. The
objective of this lecture is to teach students about
theory, implementation and applications of the
modelling techniques mentioned.

Content : Spatial data structures, implicit curves and surfaces,

constructive solid geometry, boundary
representations, conversions, model specification,
mesh generation, parametric curves and surfaces,
display algorithms, parametric modelling, constraint-
based modelling, features, design with features,
feature recognition, feature conversion and data
exchange.

Notes: The practical work involves programming exercises

for geometric problems and exercises with the
Pro/Engineer feature modelling system.

IN4005 : Industrial Automation

Instructor : ir. M. Sepers
Credit points : 3
Study material : M.P. Groover, Automation, Production Systems,
and Computer Integrated Manufacturing',
second edition, Prentice-Hall.
Form : Lecture
Additional lab hours : Numerical Control part programming with
Pro/ENGINEER (20 hours)
Offline robot programming with GRASP (20 hours)
Exams : Written examination.
Objectives : The lecture is intended to provide a technical survey
of the important topics in production automation and
related systems.
Content: Automation, Industrial Automation, Production

36
 Systems, Numerical Control, Direct Numerical
Control, Computer Numerical Control, Adaptive
Control, Robotics, Industrial Robotics, Group
Technology, Manufacturing, Computer Integrated
Manufacturing, Flexible Manufacturing Systems.

IN4006 : 3D Computer Graphics and Virtual Reality

Contact person : [Link]. F.W. Jansen
Credit points : 3
Study material : scientific papers
Form : lectures on different topics.
Lab hours : student selects a topic, reads the literature and
makes an implementation
Examination : a presentation and a small report
Prerequisites : IN3022 Computer Graphics
Objectives : to be able to read and understand scientific papers,
to write a small survey, and to select an interesting
topic for further research.
Content : Capita Selecta lectures: ray tracing, radiosity,
parallel rendering, architectures for real-time
rendering, image-based rendering, level-of-detail,
procedural models
Notes : The small project can be done in a small group
(2-4).

IN4008 : Data Visualization

Contact person : ir. F.H. Post
Instructor(s) : ir. F.H. Post, drs. P.R. van Nieuwenhuizen
Credit points : 3
Study material : Reader, overhead slides and instructions for
practical exercises.
Form : 0/0/3/0 lectures
Additional lab hours : 40 hours of practical work
Exams : Written examination
Prerequisites : IN3022 or similar course (recommended, not
required)

Lab work : Exercises with a dataflow visualization system (DX)

Objectives : Data visualization is the representation of large

quantities of data by computer-generated images.
The data sets can be results of numerical
computations or measurements (scientific
visualization), or other large data collections such as
databases (information visualization). The goal is to
improve interpretation and communication of data.
The emphasis of the course is on visualisation of
scientific and engineering data.

37
Content : Theory and general principles are discussed, and
illustrated by practical examples from many
application areas. Topics covered: models of the
visualis ation process; basic 3D computer graphics;
2D graphs and charts; generation, representation
and processing of data; colour and the use of colour;
volume visualization and medical applications;
visualisation of vector fields and flows;
feature extraction, and virtual reality.

IN4010TU : Artificial Intelligence

Instructor(s) : [Link]. H. Koppelaar and drs. dr. L.J.M. Rothkrantz
Credit points : 4
Study material : Russel & Norwig, "AI: a modern approach"
WWW site of authors is published at the end of the
Book
WWW homepage for practical exercises is
announced in the lectures
Form : 2/2/0/0 lecture and 40 hours practical
Additional lab hours : programming exercises
Objectives : Knowledge of the important AI technologies to
construct intelligent and reasoning agents.

Content : Knowledge representation, search, reasoning,

problem solving, heuristics for intelligent behaviour.
Course is based on the object-oriented "Actor/Agent
Paradigm".

IN4012 : Real-time Artificial Intelligence and

Automated Speech Recognition
Lecturer : [Link]. L.J.M. Rothkrantz
Credit points : 4
Lectures : two hours a week , practical work 40 hours

Content : Survey of automated speech recognition. Acoustic

language models. Application of hidden Markov
Models, Neural Networks and linguistic/statistical
parsers.
Applications of automated speech recognition in
telecom services, command systems and dictation
systems.

IN4013TU : Expert systems in a technical environment

Lecturer : [Link]. L.J.M. Rothkrantz and
[Link]. E.J.H. Kerckhoffs
Credit points : 4
Lectures : two hours a week and 40 hours practical work

Content : Survey of types of expert systems, including

38
 underlying principles and architectures. Design and
implementation issues are elucidated for expert
systems in technical environments.
In the second part of the course the combined
technology of expert systems, numerical computing
and neural networks is treated.
In the practical, an assignment is to build an expert
system with CLIPS.

IN4015TU : Neural Networks

Contact person : [Link]. E.J.H. Kerckhoffs
Instructor : [Link]. E.J.H. Kerckhoffs and
drs. dr. L.J.M. Rothkrantz
Credit points : 4
Study material : J.C. Principe, N.R. Euliano and W.C. Lefebvre,
Neural and Adaptive Systems / Fundamentals
through Simulations, Wiley
Form : 00/2/2 course
Exams : Written evaluations in June and August
Prerequisites : No specific prior knowledge required
Follow-up courses : IN4012TU Real-time AI and Automatic Speech
Recognition
: IN4017 Multimodal Interfaces and Virtual Reality

Objectives : Introduction to adaptive systems in general and

neural systems in particular

Content : Data fitting with linear adaptive systems, pattern

recognition, introduction to Arti ficial Neural Networks
(ANNs), multilayer perceptions (MLPs), MLPs as
classifiers, designing and training MLPs, function
approximation with MLPs, competitive networks,
recurrent networks, technical applications of ANNs.

Notes : The 40 hours additional lab work implies practical

exercises in Neural control (control of simulated
systems with neural networks)

IN4017 : Multimodal Interfaces and Virtual Reality

Contact person : [Link]. L.J.M. Rothkrantz
Instructors : [Link]. L.J.M. Rothkrantz,
[Link]. C.A.P.G. van der Mast and
drs. P.R. van Nieuwenhuizen
Credit points : 4
Study material : Collection of scientific papers
Form : 0/0/2/2 lectures
Additional lab hours : 0/0/20/20 hours of practical work
Exams : Report and oral examination about lecture contents
and practical work

39
Objectives : General introduction to multimodal interfaces and
virtual reality with an emphasis on building and
scripting interactive worlds and
dialog modelling for interaction with virtual humans.

Content : Introduction to the different aspects of multimodal

interfaces, verbal and non-verbal communication in
virtual worlds.
Subjects: virtual reality, virtual worlds, virtual
humans, 3D computer animation and modelling,
interaction and presence,
speech recognition, speech synthesis, dialog
modelling, talking
faces.
Practical work : Modelling of a dialog with a talking face (20 hours);
Modelling and scripting of an interactive virtual world
(20 hours)

IN4020 : Compiler Construction

Lecturer : dr. K.G. Langendoen
Credit points : 4
Study material : Book "Modern Compiler Design" by D. Grune et al.
(ISBN 0 471 97697 0) + lecture notes
Form : Lectures 0/0/2/2
Additional lab hours : 80 hours
Exams : Practical work (70%) + written exam (30%)
Prerequisites : C programming (required) + software engineering
(advised) + programming languages (advised)
Objectives : To acquire knowledge and hands-on experience with
modern compilers and the tools to generate them.
Content : Modern compiler construction is no longer restricted
to imperative source languages. This course takes
this as a starting point. The course consists of two
parts: 1) general structure of compilers, including
lexical, syntactical and semantical analysis, code
generation techniques and memory management
2) compilation of imperative, functional, logical,
object-oriented and distributed languages, including
code generation and run-time support for each of
these paradigms. The practical work consists of the
extension of a compiler for a small language with
new features for some of these paradigms, using
support tools.

IN4023 : Object Oriented Languages and Techniques

Lecturer : ir. C. Pronk
Credit points : 4
Period : 4 hours a week
Study material : reader; additional material will be announced later
Form : lectures + 40 hours lab work
40
Exams : by appointment; Task + lab s
Prerequisites : IN1110, IN1120, IN1310, IN2320
Objectives : This course will study foundations of object-oriented
and composition languages namely: type systems,
co- and contravariance, metaclasses and the meta-
protocol, various forms of inheritance, composition
mechanisms and composition calculi.
In the practical part we will compare several O-O
languages (Smalltalk, C++, Beta) and study new
developments in Software Engineering such as
Aspect Oriented Programming, eXtreme
Programming and Component Based Development.

Content : 1. OO-languages
- type systems
- co- and contravariance,
- metaclasses and protocols,
- reflection inheritance: single, multiple, mixing,
prototypes and delegation, actors
- Smalltalk, C++, Beta, Eiffel, Salsa, Actor
2. Composition Mechanisms
- The language Piccola
- Pi-calculus and the Pict language
- Architecture Description Languages
3. New Software Engineering Developments
- Aspect Oriented Programming; HyperJ
programming
- Agile Programming (XP, Scrub)
- Models for UML
- Generative Programming

IN4024 : Real-Time Systems

Instructor : [Link]. W.J. Toetenel
Credit points : 4
Form : Lectures and 40 hours lab work

Contents : Introduction to real-time systems. Overview of

concurrency aspects: Ada tasks, POSIX Treads
(C, C++), Java Threads. Time in programming,
timers and clocks in Ada, POSIX and Java. Time in
DOS. Real-time software architectures and real-
time software development. Scheduling issues.
Real-time software specification and verification.
Lab case study where students implement a
simple real-time control system.

IN4026 : Parallel Algorithms

Lecturers : [Link]. H.J. Sips and dr. C. Witteveen
Credit points : 4
Form : 0/2/2//0 lectures and 30 hour lab course

41
Lab course : The lab course consist of the implementation of
Number of parallel algorithms with a parallel
language and with a message passing
communication library.
Examination : written examination
Prerequisites : some programming knowledge (C)

Objectives : Knowledge and understanding of the most

important aspects of parallel computers, parallel
languages, and parallel algorithms; the ability to
implement some basic parallel algorithms.
Contents : Models of parallel computers, Communication
operations, Performance and scalability measures,
Sorting and sorting networks, Search algorithms,
Fast Fourier Transform, Parallel Programming,
Parallel Programming

IN4027 : Cooperative agent based systems

Lecturers : dr. C. Witteveen, [Link]. J.F.M. Tonino
Credit points : 3
Study material : Several research papers about topics selected by
the lecturers
Web page: Blackboard
Form : Student seminar 0/0/0/2
Grading : Writing a paper and active participation in the
seminar
Prerequisites : IN2013 Logic
Objectives : Knowledge about cooperation techniques in agent-
based systems. The skill of reading research papers
and presenting these to fellow students
Contents : In this course we discuss recent topics and results in
distributed
cooperative systems. In particular we deal with
autonomous self-interested (agent) systems that use
resources and plans to realize goals. Since
resources, plans and goals might easily give rise to
conflicts, such systems will need to cooperate in
order to achieve (some of) their goals. In particular
we will discuss distributed task allocation, coalition
formation processes, multi-agent planning, plan
merging and plan coordination techniques.
The course is a student seminar. Students therefore
will have to participate in preparing and presenting
lectures on the basis of research papers about the
topics selected; they will have to discuss research
questions and they will be asked to prepare a
short written survey about a topic of their choice.

42
IN4028 : Business-ICT Architectures
Instructor : [Link]. J.L.G. Dietz
Credit points : 3
Study material : DEMO Modeling Handbook (download from
[Link]);
collection of articles (will be distributed)
Form : seminar
Additional lab hours : none
Exams : assessment of group work
Prerequisites : IN2041 Information systems and business
processes

Objectives : Learning to understand organizations from an

Organization engineering point of view, i.e.
comprehending the construction and the operation of
organizations. Learning to develop and apply
architectures for the alignment of business and ICT.

Content : Modelling the construction and operation of

organizations in the DEMO methodology (freshing
up the knowledge gained in IN2041). Next, an
architectural framework is presented in which
business architectures and ICT architectures are
well defined and linked to each other. This
framework is compared with other frameworks. By
means of group assignments, one learns to develop
architectures and to apply them for a variety of
practical problems related to the alignment of
business processes and ICT-applications.

43
IN4034 : Design of Highly Interactive Systems
Instructor : [Link]. C.A.P.G. van der Mast
Credit points : 3
Study material : Book "Designing the User Interface" by
B. Shneiderman, (ISBN 0 201 69497 2) and
scientific articles available on the Blackboard
Form : Lectures (0/2//0/0) and lab work
Additional lab hours : 60 hours
Exams : Lab work (70%) + oral exam (30%)
Prerequisites : project HCI in1 810 / in1 820, programming in Java
in1 110 / in1 120
Objectives : To acquire up-to-date knowledge on the application
of existing HCI methodologies and techniques to
design and implement highly interactive
systems; a collection of recent scientific articles is
discussed in order to acquire a scientific approach to
HCI.

Content : Theories, principles and guidelines, managing the

design process, software tools, examples of highly
interactive systems, e.g. virtual worlds, multimodal
interfaces, mobile phones, video conferencing
systems, knowledge management systems,
websites, computer-based training, multimedia CD-
ROMs , etc.
In the lab a small highly interactive system should
be designed and implemented for a specific user
group, e.g. children, the elderly, handicapped
people, second language speakers/immigrants

Notes : The lab work is done in groups of two. The

programming environment is to be chosen in
context.

IN4036TU : Multimedia
Instructor : [Link]. C.A.P.G. van der Mast
Credit points : 4
Study material : handbook (Dictatenverkoop and on website)
Form : oral (storyboard and presentation)
Additional lab hours : 4 hours a week and 80 hours practical work
Follow-up course : IN3010TU Introduction to Virtual Reality

IN4038 : ICT Management

Instructor : ir. W. de Jong
Credit points : 3

44
Study material : Book "Information Systems, Management, Control
and Maintenance" by M. Looijen
(ISBN 90-267-2846-8)
Form : Lectures (4/0/0/0)
Additional lab hours : none
Exams : Practical work
Prerequisites : IN 3020/21 ISBIS (Information management)

Objectives : To acquire knowledge, methods and hands-on

experience of ICT-Management and the supporting
tools.

Content : Service Level Agreements, ICT management tasks,

-processes, functions, methods and tools

IN4041TU : Database Design

Contact persons : ir. J.A. Bakker and [Link]. J.H. ter Bekke
Instructor : ir. J.A. Bakker
Credit points : 3
Study material: : Book: Database Ontwerp, J.H. ter Bekke,
3rd edition, Kluwer,
or Semantic Data Modeling, J.H. ter Bekke,
Prentice Hall.
Form : Lectures 4 hours a week
Exams : Individual or group task
Prerequisites : IN2025 Inleiding Database Systemen
(IN2410 Databases) and
IN2026 Inleiding Databeheer
(IN2670 Databasebeheer)
Follow-up courses : IN4042 Distributed Database Systems

Objective : To design a database aided by database

Abstractions

Content : Pitfalls of the relational model. The development

of the semantic model. Database abstractions:
aggregation, generalization and specialization.
Semantic concepts: convertibility, relatability and
object relativity. Data modelling and data
manipulation demonstrated by case studies.
Schematic representations. Conversion of semantic
structures and data manipulation into relational
equivalents. Recent developments: simple recursive
queries (critical path, bill of materials, inheritance
trees).

45
IN4042 : Distributed Database Systems
Contact person : ir. J.A. Bakker
Instructor : ir. J.A. Bakker
Credit points : 2
Study material : Book: Principles of Distributed Database Systems,
M.T. Özsu and P. Valduriez, 2 nd edition,
Prentice Hall.
Form : Lectures
Exams : Individual or group task
Prerequisites : IN2025 Inleiding Database Systemen
(IN2410 Databases) and
IN2026 Inleiding Databeheer
(IN2670 Databasebeheer) and

IN4041 Database Design (IN4041 MSc Advanced

Data Modeling)

Objective : To design a distributed database

Content : Advantages/disadvantages of data distribution.

Desired transparencies and architecture of
distributed database management systems. Criteria
the correctness and completeness of fragmentation
and allocationand allocation schemes.
Semantic and relational approaches to the
specification of data distribution schemes.
Optimisation of data processing and
organizational structure as a basis for decisions on
data distribution.

IN4049 : Introduction to high performance computing

Instructor : [Link]. H.X. Lin and [Link]. H.J. Sips

Credit points : 4

IN4067 : Information security

Instructor : dr. M.E.M. Spruit
Credit points : 3
Study material : Book: “Handbook of Information Security
Management”, M. Krause and H.F. Tipton,
Auerbach, 1998
Form : Lectures
Exam : Assignment
Prerequisites : IN3020 Information strategy and management of

Objective : To outline the major elements of the discipline

information security in such a way that the
knowledge acquired is applicable in real
organisations.

46
Content : News media frequently present the results of
security breaches. News bulletins sometimes
mention the leakage of confidential business
information; other bulletins report electricity break
down, theft of information, insecurety of
transactions on Internet, etc. In practice it proves
quite difficult to set up adequate information
security.
The Information Security course focuses on
information security terminology, human threats
(hacking, fraud, etc.), non-human threats
(malfunction, natural disaster, etc.) and how
adequate security can be set up. Special attention
is paid to the organization of the security function,
security policy, risk analysis and Internet security.

IN4071TU : Internet Technology

Contact person : dr. K. van der Meer
Instructors : ir. B.R. Sodoyer and dr. K. van der Meer
Credit points : 3
Study material : S. Walther and J. Levine: SAMS teach yourself
e-commerce programming with ASP (1 book per
student group)
Form : Lectures 0/0/0/2 and practice
Additional lab hours : 60
Exams : The mark is based upon the quality of the web shop
and the second task, of which a presentation is
required
Prerequisites : Knowledge and experience with Visual Basic and
HTML
Objectives : 1. Experience to create a web shop, i.e.: put up
requirements, build user interfaces, put up
interaction diagrams, enable shopping;
2. Experience other aspects of Internet technology,
for instance usage of XML or some of its related
standards with respect to the web shop.
Content : 1. A web shop is built with the help of the book;
2. Lectures on XML, DTD, XML Schema, DOM,
XSL, repositories like BizTalk, namespaces, RDF,
metadata, Dublin Core as well as safety aspects.
These lectures are meant as introduction to the
second task.

IN4072 : Systems and Software Verification

(Model Checking)
Lecturer : [Link]. W.J. Toetenel
Credit points : 4
Form : Lecturers and 40 hours practical work

Content : System validation. Model checking techniques for

47
 linear temporal logic, branching logic and real-time
temporal logic. Tools for model checking: SPIN,
SMV, UPPAAL and LPMC. State reduction
techniques. Model checking applications. The
relation between software design, implementation
and verification.

IN4073 : Embedded Real-Time Systems

Lecturer : [Link]. W.J. Toetenel
Credit points : 4
Form : lecturers and practical work (40 hours)

Content : This course runs in close cooperation with Dutch

Industry (ASML, Veldhoven). The course contains
three different parts: (1) A series of domain specific
views on the development of embedded systems,
e.g. representing the following domains: computer
engineering, control engineering, mechanical
engineering / mechatronics, optical engineering and
software engineering. (2) A series of lectures
concerning the process of embedded system
engineering, presented by industrial experts from the
ASML company. (3) A lab assignment, where a
small embedded system demonstrator will be
developed, containing technology of different
domains. The demonstrator will be completely
developed by the students, starting from initial
requirements, through system design, component
design etc. to implementation. The lab will take a full
week of work and will take place late in June.

IN4077 : Computational Logic and Satisfiability

Instructors : dr. H. van Maaren and dr. C. Witteveen
Credit points : 4
Form : 2/2/0/0
Exams : Examination through software development

Content : The course deals with Boolean modelling in general

and with the modelling of and algorithms for the
Satisfiability problem in particular. Methods
and problems of this type arise in a great variety of
disciplines, as VLSI engineering, Model Checking,
Formal verifications of hardware and software,
Planning and scheduling, automated negotiation
systems.
Making a trade-off between fast implementations,
using specific data structures, and more costly
embedded heuristics is one of the key issues in the
current state-of-the-art solvers. This course provides
insight into these complex problems.

48
IN4078 : Performance Modeling of Parallel and Distributed
Systems
Instructor : [Link]. A.J.C. van Gemund
Credit points : 3
Period : 0/0/3/0
Study material : 1. A.J.C. van Gemund, Performance Modeling of
Parallel Systems: An Introduction, Lecture Notes,
Faculty of Information Technology and Systems
2. A.J.C. van Gemund, Performance Modeling of
Parallel Systems: An Introduction, Lecture Sheets,
Faculty of Information Technology and Systems
3. PAMELA simulation software package including
documentation
Form : class + homework assignments
Additional Lab hours : covered by practical homework assignments
Exams : written exam
Prerequisites : a parallel/distributed programming course

Objectives : This course provides the student with the necessary

background to apply various techniques for
performance modelling of parallel and distributed
computer systems, and teaches the ability to
discriminate between them in terms of cost-
effectiveness.

Content : Parallel and distributed architectures and

processing.
Resource contention. Modeling techniques,
performance analysis, and simulation of parallel and
distributed applications.
The use of PAMELA, queuing networks, Petri nets.
Application to supercomputers, multiprocessors,
computer networks

IN4079 : Digital Longevity

Instructor : dr. K. van der Meer
Credit points : 3
Study material : Lecture notes
Form : Lectures and practice
Additional lab hours : 60 hours practice
Exams : Task discussion
Objectives : Understanding old informatics artefacts (programs,
documents)
Perform archaeology of informatics artefacts
Content : Aging, reconstruction, preservation, authenticity and
backward compatibility of informatics artefacts

Notes : This course will not be taught in 2002-2003 but

only in 2003-2004

49
IN4080 : Information Retrieval
Instructor : dr. K. van der Meer
Credit points : 3
Study material : The design of Document Information systems
Form : Lectures and practice
Additional lab hours : 60 hours practice
Exams : Task discussion
Prerequisites : IN2060

Objectives : Understand pitfalls in information retrieval

Able to design and realise information retrieval tools

Content : Search engines; www search engines and

metasearch engines; information language, search
language priority, occurrence operator; offline search
engines; topology of the www; namespaces,
metadata, RDF, Dublin Core, Standards: Z 39.50,
Z 39.85, thesauri, standardisation

IN4081 : Randomized algorithms

Instructor : dr. E. de Klerk
Credit points : 4
Study material : Textbook: "Randomized Algorithms" by R. Motwani
and P. Raghavan. Cambridge University Press,
1995. ISBN 0-521-47465-5.
Form : Lectures and discussion session
Exam : Oral exam and assignments
Prerequisites : Introduction to complexity theory (e.g. IN3005)
Probability Theory (e.g. WI2510IN),
Linear programming (e.g. WI2520IN)
Follow-up courses : IN4077 Computational logic and Satisfiability
IN4082 Local (heuristic) search methods

Objective : The objective is to introduce students to the concept

of randomised algorithms and their uses.

Content : A review of complexity theory. Las Vegas and Monte

Carlo Algorithms. Analysis tools for randomised
algorithms: Game-theoretic techniques, moments
deviations, tail inqualities, the probabilistic method,
Markov chains and random walks, algebraic
techniques. Applications of randomised algorithms:
Geometric algorithms and Linear Programming,
Graph algorithms, Approximation schemes

IN4082 : Local (heuristic) search methods

Instructor(s) : dr. H. van Maaren
Credit points : 4
Form : 2 hours a week
50
Exams : Examination through software development

Content : The course covers local search and its variants in

combinatorial optimisation, both from a theoretical
and practical point of view. It deals with the theory
of local search, and describes the principal search
strategies, such as simulated annealing, Tabu
Search, genetic algorithms and neural networks.
It presents applications of local search to problems
in management science and practical computer
science engineering (as vehicle routing, machine
scheduling, VLSI design, planning) but also its
implications for theoretical computer science (model
checking, satisfiability).

WM0710 : Technology and Society

Contactperson : Drs. J. W. F. Wiersma

Instructors : Drs. J. W. F. Wiersma, Dr. C.P. van Beers,
: Dr. J.O. Kroesen
Credit points : 6
Study material : Syllabus available at SIC Jaffalaan 5
Form : Lectures, Discussion Groups, Essay

Objectives : Students can discern concepts learned in this course

in practical cases and, based on that, propose
decisions to be taken in a field of contradictory
constraints.

Content : Three subjects contribute to this course: Economics,

safety science, and ethics. Sometimes economic
utility is at odds with with safety requirements;
sometimes safety requirements or economic
advantages are at odds with ethical principles, but
there are also situations in which these three support
one another and more often than not the best results
are achieved when they are combined with one
another, especially in the long run. Basic principles
and concepts of the three subjects will be explained.
Several cases will be analysed applying these
concepts. Often there is not one best solution;
students are encouraged to participate in
discussions in order to train their personal judgment
and insight in problems they may encounter in real
life.

51
52
6 Appendix

53