Automatic vs RF Engineering: Which Path Will Shape the Future?

[track]

Question is simple: Automatic vs RF engineering in future?
And if you can tell some of precise jobs about any option. For example, I heard that, if you want to work in oil industry (on rigs etc.), automattics are way better option...
Specific advantages about RF still not sure... (I know it's complete different area of EE)

Thanks.

 

[fss]

These kinds of questions are meaningless.

Question is simple: Automatic vs RF engineering in future?

How is this "simple" ? Which one do you want to do? Which field are you better prepared for?

 

[track]

It is simple. Which of these two will be more wanted in future? Personally, I like RF more than automatic. Better prepared for RF definitely. I read a bit about automatics and I wanted to know more about it.

 

[JakeBrodskyPE]

I live on both sides of that fence. I have been a ham radio operator for over 35 years and I am also a controls engineer. In many ways, RF engineering is simpler because it primarily concerns itself with steady state calculations. The differential math is simpler. In controls engineering, we're often concerned about minimizing the settling time on a loop. Tuning feedback loops is important.

Controls Engineering is a very broad and deep field. You'll find yourself working with fluid mechanics, thermodynamics, and electronics all at once. Human factors also figure into the design. Your designs may have to be used by people who are not in the best mental health. They may be fatigued, under extreme stress, or simply ignorant. You have to think of usability considerations.

In RF engineering, however, the systems designs are interesting and challenging. Working on a high speed modems for something that will need to work at hundreds of megabits per second is a real challenge. Designing a better system to replace Bluetooth is also interesting.

However, over the long haul, there are likely to be more industrial automation jobs out there than radio jobs. Most of the radio systems are being designed by software jockeys with lots of models and tweaks. There is certainly room in the PCS cellular business for more engineers, but you might not like the kind of work you may get.

Industrial automation jobs can be very secure and stable, or they be one contract after another all over the world. You'll have to learn a lot about all sorts of industrial processes and regulations. I chose controls engineering, and I can honestly say after 25 years, that I'd recommend this field highly to any up and coming engineer. There will be many opportunities, many challenges, and lots of interesting work.

But, whatever you choose, I wish you the best of good fortune, and enjoy!

 

[track]

Thanks for answer. Control engineeering really looks like interesting option.

 

[phoenixosu]

R.F. requires a M.S and PH.D preferred

Automation can be done with just a B.S. (or two to get the breadth needed)

R.F. is NOT going away however, it will be here as long as there are speeds of over a few MHz in any IC. Think about PCI express, the SERDES is an RF part, not a digital part and the design does have to be done by hand. Any IC that interfaces with radio will need and R.F. engineer. And PCB design these days uses a lot of RF considerations, but that can be somewhat automated but not so much so that an engineer with an R.F. background is not needed.

Controls will live forever too, and is in very high demand.

Either field will give you a job, a good RF engineer after getting a PH.D. is going to have a job, and the most common EE job I see on craigs list in my area is controls.

 

[track]

Ok then. For example: JakeBrodskyPE said that RF is heading that way where I might not like job I get. For me, that is all day programming without end. Am I right? So, I'm interested in jobs that RF engineers can do. And I must say: Everybody said Controls are better and more stable option.
Either option I choose, ill' go for Master's degree.

 

[phoenixosu]

I may be wrong, but when you think "RF" are you talking the design of circuits like transceivers mixers, etc (which I typically hear termed as RF) or are you talking about signal processing and digital filtering? There is a difference between these fields.

 

[Antiphon]

Just a hunch but I think controls would be all programming where RF would be all electronics.

 

[track]

RF-radio frequency or "wireless" engineering and antenna systems I think. On my college, it's electronics sub and information technology part. I think we talk about same thing.
I would like to work with electronics more than programming definitely. I know my problem is I don't have clear picture about any of these fields and that's the reason of my indecision.
And sorry for being annoyng but I still haven't found better place to collect informations.

Thanks.

 

[JakeBrodskyPE]

Just a hunch but I think controls would be all programming where RF would be all electronics.

Yes, there is a lot of programming in controls engineering, and if things keep going the way they're going now, it may only get worse.

However, that doesn't mean you'll be ignorant of electronics. The need for people who understand motor drive technologies is great. The need to understand the subtle nuances of grounding is also quite high. The need to understand the nature of instrumentation and how it becomes a signal you can use in the computer is also there.

We also need people who understand computer networks better than most IT shops do (!). We need people who understand the nuances of signal processing, of issues such as how a capacitance probe works, how a mag-meter works, how a thermocouple works.

However, if you're digging toward the component level too often, you're probably not doing anyone any favors. The nature of Controls Engineering is that it is engineering systems of systems. You can not be ignorant of the background of these systems, but your work is fundamentally systems engineering.