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ECE380

ECE380 (Biomedical Imaging) is a 3-credit hour course that satisfies the Technical Electives requirements for ECE majors. It is the same course as BIOE 380. It is offered only in fall semesters.

Content Covered

  • X-Ray, Computed Tomography, Ultrasound, Magnetic Resonance, Optical Imaging, Nuclear Imaging.
  • The human process for visualization and perception of images,
  • Coverage of physiology
  • Application of these concepts to creating effective images.

A unique part of the course is that the material learned in class is applied to "emergencies" that come up in class; The professor puts an image on the screen and asks the class to help radiology find the problem, which is either a technical or medical issue.

Prerequisites

MATH285 is the only prerequisite for this course, and the equations that are used are reviewed during lecture. A little bit of MATLAB experience is helpful, and an understanding of signal processing is advantageous but not necessary.

When to Take It

This is a great tech elective to take early. It has fewer prerequisites than most, and since it covers several different modalities, you can get a clear idea of whether biomedical imaging suits you. Taking it early leaves time for taking more advanced courses in specific modalities and pursuing undergraduate research in the field. In general, it is a good course to take if you are interested in Electrical Engineering applications to Bioengineering.

Course Structure

The course has two 80-minute lectures each week, and a weekly assignment that can take 2-5 hours. The exams are straight-forward and relevant to the material.

Instructors

The course is taught by Professor Pengfei Song.

Life After

This class prepares you for courses that are more specific to each modality. Generally, ECE310 - Digital Signal Processing and ECE311 - Digital Signal Processing Lab are useful if you enjoyed the course as a whole. Other useful courses are an ultrasound course offered (ECE472), an MRI course (ECE480), as well as more courses in optics and bioengineering. The research an ECE major can do in this field is diverse and advanced, as UIUC houses many of the leaders in the biomedical imaging field.