Graduate Course Foundations

The following is a list of foundational undergraduate courses for the entry-level graduate courses offered by the ECE Department. For each of these entry-level graduate courses, the ECE Department faculty has identified one or more undergraduate courses offered at Drexel University that provide the content that serves as the foundation for the material presented in said graduate course.

Entry-level graduate courses are those courses that are meant as entry points into specific subject areas at the graduate level. By their very nature, entry-level graduate courses do not have graduate course prerequisites; however, these courses have been designed for students who have completed an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering, computer engineering, or a closely related discipline and thus presuppose a particular undergraduate introduction to the subject area.

Students are encouraged to use the information presented in the table below to determine if they have the necessary background to undertake any given ECE Department entry-level graduate course. To find brief course descriptions of the undergraduate courses listed in the table below, please visit the university catalog Undergraduate Course Descriptions. Additionally, a list of the textbooks that are used to support the undergraduate courses listed in this table appears at the bottom of this page; clicking on the name of any undergraduate course in this table will redirect to the textbook listing for said course.

Foundational Undergraduate Courses

Graduate Course
Number		 Graduate Course Title Foundational
Undergraduate Course(s)
ECEC 520 Dependable Computing

ECE 361: Probability for Engineers;
ECEC 353: Systems Programming; and
ECEC 355: Computer Organization & Architecture
ECEC 571 Introduction to VLSI Design ECE 200: Digital Logic Design or CS 270: Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science; and
ECE 303: ECE Laboratory
ECEC 574 ASIC Design I ECEC 355: Computer Organization & Architecture
ECEC 621 High Performance Computer Architecture ECEC 355: Computer Organization & Architecture
ECEC 531 Principles of Computer Networking ECEC 357: Introduction to Computer Networks
ECEC 661 Digital Systems Design ECEC 302: Digital Systems Projects;
ECEC 304: Design with Microcontrollers; and
ECEC 355: Computer Organization & Architecture
ECEC 671 Electronic Design Automation for VLSI Circuits CS 260: Data Structures;
CS 265: Advanced Programming Tools and Techniques;
ECE 200: Digital Logic Design; and
ECEC 201: Advanced Programming for Engineers
ECEC 681 Fundamentals of Computer Vision

MATH 201: Linear Algebra;
ECES 352: Introduction to Digital Signal Process;
ECE 361: Probability for Engineers;
ECEE 507 Electromagnetic Field Analysis ECEE 304: Electromagnetic Fields & Waves
ECEE 518 Microwave Passive Components ECEE 354: Wireless and Optical Electronics
ECEE 519 Microwave Active Subsystems ECEE 471: RF Components and Techniques 
ECEE 520 Solid-State Electronics ECEE 302: Electronic Devices
ECEE 541 Photonic Systems ECEE 304: Electromagnetic Fields & Waves
ECEE 607 Nanoscale Fields ECEE 304: Electromagnetic Fields & Waves
ECEE 641 Fiber Optics & Optical Communications I ECEE 354: Wireless and Optical Electronics
ECEP 501 Power System Analysis ECEP 352: Electric Motor Control Principles or ECEP 354: Energy Management Principles
ECES 511 Fundamentals of Systems I ENGR 231: Linear Engineering Systems and
ECES 303: Transform Methods II
ECES 521 Probability & Random Variables ECE 361: Probability for Engineers
ECES 631 Fundamentals of Deterministic Digital Signal Processing ECES 352: Introduction to Digital Signal Processing
ECES 640 Genomic Signal Processing ECES 352: Introduction to Digital Signal Processing
ECES 811 Optimization Methods for Engineering Design ECES 411: Convex Optimization in Engineering Systems
ECET 511 Physical Foundations of Telecommunications Networks ECEE 354: Wireless and Optical Electronics
ECET 512 Wireless Systems ECES 354: Wireless, Mobile & Cellular Communications
ECET 604 Internet Laboratory ECEC 357: Introduction to Computer Networks

Representative Textbooks

The following table presents one or more textbooks used in support of each of the foundational undergraduate courses listed in the above table. Students wishing to enroll in an entry-level graduate course for which they have not taken the foundational undergraduate course(s) or similar course(s) may wish to perform a self-study of the material presented in the relevant textbook(s) in order to prepare for said course. In addition, these or similar textbooks may serve as good reference material for students who need a refresher in particular topics before taking or as they are undertaking the associated entry-level graduate course.

Course Number Course Title Representative Textbook(s)
CS 260 Data Structures Thomas H. Cormen, Charles E. Leiserson, Ronald L. Rivest, and Clifford Stein, Introduction to Algorithms, 3rd Edition, MIT Press, 2009. ISBN: 9780262533058
CS 265 Advanced Programming Tools and Techniques B. W. Kernighan and R. Pike; The Practice of Programming, 1st ed.; Addison-Wesley, 1999. ISBN: 9780201615869
CS 270 Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science K. Rosen; Discrete Mathematics and Its Applications, 7th ed.; McGraw-Hill, 2011. ISBN: 9780073383095
ECE 200 Digital Logic Design Frank Vahid, Digital Design with RTL Design, VHDL, and Verilog, 2nd Edition, John Wiley, 2011. ISBN: 9780470531082
ECE 361 Probability for Engineers D. P. Bertsekas and J. N. Tsitsiklis; Introduction to Probability, 2nd ed.; Athena Scientific, 2008. ISBN: 9781886529236
ECEC 201 Advanced Programming for Engineers K. N. King, C Programming: A Modern Approach, 2nd Edition, W. W. Norton & Company, 2008. ISBN: 9780393979503
ECEC 353 Systems Programming A. Silberschatz, P. B. Galvin, and G. Gagne; Operating System Concepts, 9th ed.; Wiley, 2012. ISBN: 9781118063330
ECEC 355 Computer Organization & Architecture D. A. Patterson and J. L. Hennessy; Computer Organization and Design RISC-V Edition: The Hardware Software Interface; Morgan Kaufmann, 2017. ISBN: 9780128122754
ECEC 357 Introduction to Computer Networks J. F. Kurose and K. W. Ross; Computer Networking: A Top-Down Approach, 6th ed.; Addison-Wesley, 2012. ISBN: 9780132856201
ECEE 302 Electronic Devices D. Neamen; Semiconductor Physics and Devices, 4th ed.; McGraw-Hill, 2011. ISBN: 9780073529585
ECEE 304 Electromagnetic Fields & Waves F. T. Ulaby; Fundamentals of Applied Electromagnetics, 5th ed.; Prentice Hall, 2006. ISBN: 9780132413268
ECEE 354 Wireless and Optical Electronics F. T. Ulaby, E. Michielssen, and U. Ravaioli; Fundamentals of Applied Electromagnetics, 6th ed.; Prentice Hall, 2010. ISBN: 9780132139311
ECEP 352 Electric Motor Control Principles S. Chapman; Electric Machinery Fundamentals, 5th ed.; McGraw-Hill, 2011. ISBN: 9780073529547
ECEP 354 Energy Management Principles J. D. Glover, M. S. Sarma, and T. Overbye; Power System Analysis and Design, 5th ed.; Cengage Learning, 2011. ISBN: 9781111425777
ECES 303 Transform Methods II C. L. Phillips, J. Parr, and E. Riskin; Signals, Systems, and Transforms, 4th ed.; Prentice Hall, 2007. ISBN: 9780131989238
ECES 352 Introduction to Digital Signal Processing J. H. McClellan, R. W. Schafer, and M. A. Yoder; Signal Processing First, 2nd ed.; Prentice Hall, 2003. ISBN: 9780130909992
ECES 354 Wireless, Mobile & Cellular Communications P. M. Shankar; Introduction to Wireless Systems, 1st ed.; Wiley, 2001. ISBN: 9780471321675
ECES 411 Convex Optimization in Engineering Systems L. E. Scales; Introduction to Non-linear Optimization, 5th ed.; Springer, 1987. ISBN: 9780387912523

V. Chvatal; Linear Programming, 1st ed.; W. H. Freeman, 1983. ISBN: 9780716715870
ENGR 231 Linear Engineering Systems D. C. Lay; Linear Algebra and Its Applications, 4th ed.; Pearson, 2011. ISBN: 9780321385178