Electrical Engineering

The field of engineering dealing with the study of electricity and electronics is called electrical engineering. This field comprises the design and study of electrical and electronic systems, like electrical circuits, motors, magnetic devices, electronic devices, optical fibers, computer systems, radio and television, telecommunications, mobile telephony, data communication or nanotechnology.

Electrical systems such as power transmission are included in the field of work for an electrical engineering. Electric engineers have developed a wide array of technologies for telecommunication systems, electric power stations, wiring of buildings or the design of household appliances.

Knowledge of physics and mathematics offer the possibility of making qualitative and quantitative descriptions of electric systems. Electric engineers are the ones that design and test electrical equipment, from pocket calculators to computers.

Almost all industries use electricity or electrical devices, so an electrical engineer can work to build, repair or improve electric devices in all types of businesses. The demand for more electronic devices will continuously grow in the future, so prospects for electrical engineers are very bright. Electrical engineers will have to be able to face the demand for more efficient lights and motors, better communication and much more. They can analyze existing power networks and identify over or under supply. Using power monitoring equipment, they can collect live data and analyze site power usage.

Waubra Wind Farm is the largest wind farm project in Australia and has involved electrical engineers applying new technologies to build an electrical network that had to interface to turbines. Some of the tasks that had to be solved for this project were cable trenching, fibre optic communication network, HV cable installation and termination and also HV network analysis using EDSA software. The protection system for the Waubra wind farm consisted of over 25 HV protection relays that had to be designed in consistence with the latest international standard, through a fibre optic network.

Electronic engineering is a field that can extend the human senses and skills. The gathering, control and distribution of information will be enhanced by technologies designed by electronic engineers.

An electrical or electronics engineer has to apply and modify practices such as designing and implementing electrical and electronic engineering projects. These include testing and evaluating circuits, system or components used in electronics, communication and computers. He can offer marketing and advice on products such as components for electronic, communication and computer systems.