Hi, I'm new here, I just finished my M.S. SOP. I really appreciate your time spent on reading my essay, and I will be grateful for any suggestion!
My career goal is to become a qualified electrical engineer, who will both facilitate people's life by designing various electronic products and advance world's research on electrical areas by conducting laboratory studies. I believe the most ideal way to accomplish this goal is to pursue a Master's degree in Electrical Engineering, where I will learn theoretical knowledge and acquire advanced techniques.
I'm most interested in Digital Signal Processing, which stems from the Electronic Design Contest of my undergraduate university in 2010. My entry was a digital cymometer. I used a zero-crossing comparator to convert sine, square, triangle and other cycle waveforms to TTL form. Then the microcontroller computed the frequency. It's the simplest digital signal processing. But it's the first project designed all by myself, I didn't even know where to start. Firstly, I programmed the code drove microcontroller to count the number of TTL levels per unit time to calculate the frequency and the driver of LCD. Then I viewed datasheets to design the voltage comparator and simulated it in Multisim. However, I used the 8051 microcontroller, which is a low speed microcontroller, the measurement range was limited. So I utilized counters to divide the high frequency signal and a data selector to switch range. At the meantime I optimized the code and modified the algorithm to guarantee the accuracy. As a result my entry won the first prize in the contest. It's not only the prize, but also the accomplishment I gained from successfully driving the LCD, seeing correct waveform on the oscilloscope and overcoming one difficulty after another to spur my interest in Electrical Engineering study. Moreover my last two years GPA is obviously higher.
After the contest, I finished several projects which gave me the chance to apply theories and broaden my knowledge in corresponding academic disciplines. Take the EDA course for example, I learned the principle of FPGA/CLPD and VHDL language in this course and designed a multi-function clock based on CPLD as the course design. I created a 9-key system to set time which is more convenient and stable than the 3-key example in the course. More buttons need more debounce entities to remove the key jitter. But my teacher provided the CPLD chip with 128 macrocells, which is insufficient for the whole system. So I designed a kind debounce entity which is able to achieve the anti-jitter function for three keys. It performed very well and saved macrocells to add the alarm clock function. In addition, I simulated and analyzed very entity in ModelSim before downloaded to the chip. At last, my teacher kept my project as an excellent teaching sample. At the same time I was designing multi-function clock based on microcontroller as the course project of Microcontroller. Through comparing the two projects, I understood the characteristics of microcontroller and FPGA/CPLD in a better way. In addition, I am always curious to cutting-edge technology, and I subscribe several technical journals, which work as a repository of knowledge inspire me to be better qualified for research and also keep me informed about the recent breakthroughs.
My graduation design is Ultrasonic Detection for the Foreign Bodies of Walls. Due to the high ultrasonic attenuation of wall, I chose ultrasound probe with 40 KHz frequency and used boost controller to provide high voltage to generate more powerful ultrasonic wave. Besides, I applied the switching characteristics of diode to isolate the low voltage circuits from high voltage circuits. For the receiving circuits, I designed a second order active filter in FilterPro, and drove DAC to control variable gain amplifier. The filtered and amplified echo signal is converted to digital form by ADC. Then I designed an algorithm to remove the useless information and compute the result. In the design process, I simulated all circuits in software and considered the interference of analog and digital circuits when I designed and routed the PCB in Altium Designer. The graduation design is a complex test to my professional knowledge and skill. It also helped me to reflect the 4 years undergraduate study and look into the future.
I believe the Electrical Engineering program at XXX will be an ideal place for me to continue my education. On one hand, the research program focus on YYY matches my projects experience and I'm interested in the courses you offer such as ZZZ, I believe the research training here will sparked my interest in Electrical Engineering study even more. On the other hand, I think the excellent faculty, advanced labs and strong industry connections will contribute a lot to my professional success. Therefore joining XXX will best build upon my experiences to achieve my goals.
My career goal is to become a qualified electrical engineer, who will both facilitate people's life by designing various electronic products and advance world's research on electrical areas by conducting laboratory studies. I believe the most ideal way to accomplish this goal is to pursue a Master's degree in Electrical Engineering, where I will learn theoretical knowledge and acquire advanced techniques.
I'm most interested in Digital Signal Processing, which stems from the Electronic Design Contest of my undergraduate university in 2010. My entry was a digital cymometer. I used a zero-crossing comparator to convert sine, square, triangle and other cycle waveforms to TTL form. Then the microcontroller computed the frequency. It's the simplest digital signal processing. But it's the first project designed all by myself, I didn't even know where to start. Firstly, I programmed the code drove microcontroller to count the number of TTL levels per unit time to calculate the frequency and the driver of LCD. Then I viewed datasheets to design the voltage comparator and simulated it in Multisim. However, I used the 8051 microcontroller, which is a low speed microcontroller, the measurement range was limited. So I utilized counters to divide the high frequency signal and a data selector to switch range. At the meantime I optimized the code and modified the algorithm to guarantee the accuracy. As a result my entry won the first prize in the contest. It's not only the prize, but also the accomplishment I gained from successfully driving the LCD, seeing correct waveform on the oscilloscope and overcoming one difficulty after another to spur my interest in Electrical Engineering study. Moreover my last two years GPA is obviously higher.
After the contest, I finished several projects which gave me the chance to apply theories and broaden my knowledge in corresponding academic disciplines. Take the EDA course for example, I learned the principle of FPGA/CLPD and VHDL language in this course and designed a multi-function clock based on CPLD as the course design. I created a 9-key system to set time which is more convenient and stable than the 3-key example in the course. More buttons need more debounce entities to remove the key jitter. But my teacher provided the CPLD chip with 128 macrocells, which is insufficient for the whole system. So I designed a kind debounce entity which is able to achieve the anti-jitter function for three keys. It performed very well and saved macrocells to add the alarm clock function. In addition, I simulated and analyzed very entity in ModelSim before downloaded to the chip. At last, my teacher kept my project as an excellent teaching sample. At the same time I was designing multi-function clock based on microcontroller as the course project of Microcontroller. Through comparing the two projects, I understood the characteristics of microcontroller and FPGA/CPLD in a better way. In addition, I am always curious to cutting-edge technology, and I subscribe several technical journals, which work as a repository of knowledge inspire me to be better qualified for research and also keep me informed about the recent breakthroughs.
My graduation design is Ultrasonic Detection for the Foreign Bodies of Walls. Due to the high ultrasonic attenuation of wall, I chose ultrasound probe with 40 KHz frequency and used boost controller to provide high voltage to generate more powerful ultrasonic wave. Besides, I applied the switching characteristics of diode to isolate the low voltage circuits from high voltage circuits. For the receiving circuits, I designed a second order active filter in FilterPro, and drove DAC to control variable gain amplifier. The filtered and amplified echo signal is converted to digital form by ADC. Then I designed an algorithm to remove the useless information and compute the result. In the design process, I simulated all circuits in software and considered the interference of analog and digital circuits when I designed and routed the PCB in Altium Designer. The graduation design is a complex test to my professional knowledge and skill. It also helped me to reflect the 4 years undergraduate study and look into the future.
I believe the Electrical Engineering program at XXX will be an ideal place for me to continue my education. On one hand, the research program focus on YYY matches my projects experience and I'm interested in the courses you offer such as ZZZ, I believe the research training here will sparked my interest in Electrical Engineering study even more. On the other hand, I think the excellent faculty, advanced labs and strong industry connections will contribute a lot to my professional success. Therefore joining XXX will best build upon my experiences to achieve my goals.
