Signal Processing - January 2017 - 23

Final year master's thesis project
The four-semester master's program in ETiT consists of compulsory core courses, compulsory elective courses, and elective courses as well as the master's thesis project. In their
master's thesis project, the students work independently for a
duration of six months on a scientific project under the supervision of one of the RAs. The research topics are larger and
more complex compared to the bachelor's thesis project.
For many students, the master's thesis project offers the
possibility to conduct research on real-world data. From our
experience, the best results are obtained when the students are
involved in collecting their own data. In this way, they acquire
hands-on contextual information and can better understand
the data, e.g., in terms of the signal quality, the measurement
principle or the assumptions on the noise distributions. Further, when the master's thesis project solves a real-world problem, the students take more care that the developed algorithms
are designed in accordance with practical requirements. The

20
30
Frequency (Hertz)
(a)

20
30
Frequency (Hertz)
(b)

Nonparametric Power
Spectral Density Estimate

In their fourth and fifth years, signal processing students at
TU Darmstadt are ready to tackle some more challenging and
realistic problems. At this time, they have acquired sufficient
fundamental knowledge, and they are also used for reading
and reproducing results from papers. The SPG offers an
advanced seminar in which master's students tackle smallscale real-world problems to prepare students for their master's thesis project, as well as to provide the opportunity to get
to know the RAs and practice working in teams. The seminar,
"Advanced Topics in Statistical Signal Processing," is aimed
at students who have an interest in signal processing and a
desire to extend their knowledge of signal processing in preparation for future project work, e.g., their master's thesis project and their working careers. The seminar consists of a short
series of lectures (i.e., four to five), followed by student group
projects (six to eight weeks), a presentation of the achieved
results, and a final exam. Usually, up to 20 students participate in the seminars. The topics of the lectures and the student projects are different every year. The RAs are free to
propose students' projects, and the students make their choice
based on their own interest. In this way, both the students and
their supervisors are highly motivated.
Students often use the SPG Lab to investigate topics such as
direction-of-arrival estimation or localization of sound sources in impulsive noise environments. In many cases, students
become creative in the experiments. For example, one group
used their mobile phones to play sound files (both signal and
noise) in combination with a miniature train to create audio
sources that moved on a fixed trajectory.
■ 5 Deepen the knowledge in signal processing
■ 5 preparation for final year master's thesis project
■ 5 groups work on a common research topic and present
results
■ 5 contact with RAs is intensified
■ K time is often too short for the students to gain a deep
insight.

Parametric Power
Spectral Density Estimate

Advanced seminars in signal processing

FigUre 6. Examples of (a) a parametric power spectral density estimate
and (b) a nonparametric power spectral density estimate. Both estimates
were computed during the DSP Practical with data collected by the undergraduate students.

latter include, e.g., computational efficiency of the algorithm,
communicational load between sensors, memory restrictions,
or real-time requirements. In our experience, the students
enjoy incorporating such realistic requirements into their
algorithm design.
It is not uncommon that the projects are carried out in
cooperation with a selected industry partner or a research center. In case of such cooperation, it must be emphasized that
we take special care to make sure that the master's students
perform real-world signal processing research tasks under the
supervision of a qualified supervisor. For this reason, cooperations for master's thesis projects are only possible with
trusted institutions with which a solid research partnership
has been established.
At TU Darmstadt, the students have the unique possibility
to choose between a broad range of hands-on topics at national
and international locations. Examples of past SPG master's
thesis projects of Prof. Zoubir in cooperation with research or
industry partners are as diverse as
■ signal processing for photometric glucose measurement in
hand-held devices at a German pharmaceuticals and diagnostics company

IEEE SIgnal ProcESSIng MagazInE

January 2017

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Signal Processing - January 2017