SOP Sample for MS Electrical and Computer Engineering in Canada

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE

Since my early childhood, I have been passionate about innovating impactful engineering solutions. To fulfill this passion, I chose Electrical Engineering for my undergraduate study, due to its dependence on mathematics, a subject I loved, and due to its applications in computing, automobile and aerospace industries, among others. During the four years of undergraduate study, I discovered my career goal of designing autonomous systems that would solve the great challenges of today, right from self-driving cars to autonomous spaceships. The Master of Engineering program under Electrical and Computer Engineering department at [UNIVERSITY] will help me reach this goal.

My first project was a low-cost alternative to radio controllers for quadcopters, made in collaboration with a partner. This Arduino based setup could be connected to any Android mobile phone and converted the output of a customized mobile application into radio signals for quadcopters. I even presented this setup at various competitive technical hackathons. This was however a part of a bigger project to make flying-cum-crawling robots. Even though I could not succeed in making said robot, I learnt about robotics and mechatronics while messing with Arduino boards, servo motors, Arduino programming and quadcopter control systems. Through this project I realized the scope of intelligent systems and made up my mind to pursue a research and development career in this field.

During the Covid-19 outbreak, I noticed shortcomings in prevalent contact-tracing apps and developed an improved alternative on my own, within a month, with no prior mobile application development experience. Traditional contact-tracing apps use Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) for proximity tracking. They are of no use for people without smartphones, and require backend server support. I designed a system where people can record their mutual interactions by marking their attendance when entering a room full of people, on any one person's smartphone. This record is in form of a unique, unforgeable code that stays in the particular smartphone, and can be released by the person when he/she falls sick, to alert others who were in that room. Thus, no server support is required and data privacy is ensured, while effectivity increases beyond that of BLE-based applications. This application was selected to be among the top 3 projects out of all submissions from my college and among the top 1000 projects nationally, for [AWARD_NAME] 2020, organized by [ORGANIZATION], to award innovative solutions for healthcare in Covid-19 era. This achievement showcases my ability to look for problems in the real-world and innovate practical solutions for them.

The projects mentioned above demonstrate my enthusiasm for innovative engineering. As part of my undergraduate curriculum, I have worked on the project topic "Electric Field Calculation in High Voltage Systems using CSM method", which required application of differential calculus, linear algebra and field theory. Through this project, I had the experience of learning new concepts from research papers. I also learnt to write MATLAB programs for complex calculations and simulations and for testing the simulation results.

Autonomous vehicles are the next big step in transportation convenience and in achieving highest levels of road safety. However, the commercially available autonomous vehicles have barely crossed level 2 autonomy and a lot of research is still required to reach full autonomy. And if we are aiming for ultimate road safety, autonomous driving needs to be suitable for vehicles of all types in all regions, and not just disciplined first-world driving conditions. Being from a country of high numbers of road deaths, and after witnessing my father's critical road accident at a young age, I have realized true importance of this technology. Autonomy levels beyond 2 require numerous sensors, computer vision technology stack, accurate control and artificial intelligence algorithms, and high processing power of embedded systems to run such algorithms. Thus, implementation of autonomous driving requires understanding of traditional subjects like embedded systems and control systems, in addition to novel research in computer vision and AI. One has to have a breadth of knowledge spanning both hardware and software, to turn these sophisticated systems into reality. This is the challenge that has motivated me to pursue a career in this field.

My strong academic standing in subjects of programming, digital signal processing, signals and systems, in topics of Engineering mathematics like linear algebra, calculus, probability and statistics and my software projects, MATLAB programming skills, make me capable of grasping the curriculum of Computer vision and AI in the MEng program. However, real-life systems involve a mix of hardware and software, where constraints of one affect the other. My undergraduate knowledge of the subjects of Control Systems, microprocessors, digital and analog circuits and hands-on mechatronics project experience, will also help me in understanding the advanced concepts regarding implementation of software in automobile embedded systems. I have appeared for [CERTIFICATION_PROGRAM] certification examinations, organized by the reputed [INSTITUTION_1], [INSTITUTION_2], on subjects of Control Engineering, Digital Circuits and Data Structures and Algorithms in Python. These were pan-India examinations and I scored first-class marks in all of them. I can thus, safely handle Electrical Engineering concepts and Informatics concepts and the mixture of two as and when needed during coursework, research work and in industrial projects.

For my academic project, I wish to first work on pseudo-LIDAR based computer vision, since it is a more economical option for commercial autonomous vehicles compared to expensive LIDAR sensors, and is a comparatively newer concept, capable of producing as useful depth maps as LIDAR. Next, I want to work on making autonomous driving AI suitable for more chaotic driving conditions, like in India. And in order to do so, I intend to use imitation learning method, to make AI model imitate skills of human drivers who are acquainted with said driving conditions. This thesis will require me to know, how to program and optimize code based on the underlying micro-architecture, for maximum efficiency in terms of response time and energy consumption. The research carried out by the faculty associated with Biomedical and Intelligent Systems group, demonstrates the depth of knowledge of associated faculty, in practical applications of a mixture of software/algorithm and circuitry/hardware concepts, thus meeting my project requirement. India sees overworked, emotionally unwell truck drivers keeping its goods transportation system alive, by endangering their own safety, in addition to others', while negotiating extreme driving conditions. Making autonomous driving achievable and economically viable in these settings, is thus highly important, and pseudo-LIDAR and imitation learning could be the solution here. High accuracy pseudo-LIDAR could also help make robots cheaper, to replace manual scavengers, especially in India, or to remove humans from hazardous industries. Expertise in 3D Computer Vision will also provide me flexibility in choosing career options in the upcoming Web 3.0 and Metaverse field, in future, as it requires 3D replication of real world in virtual world.

The research undertaken by Biomedical and Intelligent Systems group, demonstrates that high academic standards, and all-round hands-on experiences, can be expected by prospective graduates of the MEng program. The courses offered, are relevant to my project interest, like Autonomous Vehicle Control and Navigation and Machine Vision. Professor [PROFESSOR_NAME_1]'s research work involving field and service robotics, with [RESEARCH_GROUP], implies that he has appropriate domain knowledge and practical experience on autonomous robotics in non-ideal environments. Professor [PROFESSOR_NAME_2] has worked extensively on robotic motion and has keen interest in self-driving vehicles. Under guidance of such faculty, I can work on making my AI model ready for implementation in vehicles. While I can specialize in autonomous vehicles, the electives offer a huge breadth of knowledge, which will make me capable of taking up career in various fields of AI applications. The [UNIVERSITY]'s location in the Ontario province, the home of AI industry in Canada, ensures a prospective graduate of this program will get appropriate exposure in a relevant industry.

My present role as Java developer at [COMPANY] has equipped me with professional programming skills. My experience in volunteering for social work (at [ORGANIZATION]) and for quiz club, during undergraduate study, and the experience in my current job role, has made me capable of collaborating successfully and with discipline, with people having different opinions and work habits. I have undertaken projects in varying domains, both individually and as a team, and participated in extracurriculars, gained external certifications, all beyond my undergraduate curriculum, while also maintaining a high GPA. This goes on to prove that I can handle a demanding MEng program, even though it is in a different country and culture. I am aware that I do not have prior work experience or knowledge in fields of Computer Vision and AI. However, I have demonstrated utmost dedication in every part of my academic curriculum and in every project or extracurricular that I have undertaken, no matter how challenging. I thus believe, I have what it takes, to carry out individual as well as collaborative coursework and research work, during the MEng program. The program will provide me with sufficient preparation to join a research and development career in industry after graduation, and to also pursue a PhD later.