The Institute of Communications Engineering at TU Dortmund University is dedicated, in both research and teaching, to fundamental and forward-looking questions in information theory, communication theory, and coding theory, as well as their applications in distributed, secure, and intelligent systems.

A central research focus lies in the theoretical and practical design of efficient, robust, and secure communication and information processing systems. This includes concepts for distributed function computation, semantic and goal-oriented communication, as well as emerging paradigms for the integration of communication and sensing. Building on information-theoretic models, methods are developed to ensure privacy, security, and confidentiality in modern networked systems, spanning from the physical layer to distributed learning and computation processes. Further research activities address coding and signal processing techniques, energy- and hardware-efficient algorithms for IoT and edge-AI systems, as well as concepts for identification- and privacy-aware systems, including applications of biometric and hardware-intrinsic security mechanisms.

The Institute’s research activities are closely integrated with teaching. In addition to the core undergraduate course Communication Engineering, the master’s programs offer advanced courses covering topics such as information and coding theory, secure and reliable communications, statistical signal processing, and advanced networked systems. Alongside the presentation of theoretical foundations, strong emphasis is placed on the development of methodological skills. Students engage in system design and analysis using simulations (e.g., MATLAB, C/C++, VHDL, Python), develop demonstrators and experimental setups, and work on challenging problems in project courses, laboratories, and Bachelor’s and Master’s theses. Practical applicability and preparation for real-world engineering challenges are key guiding principles.

The overarching goal of the Institute of Communications Engineering is to educate students and early-career researchers to address the challenges of next-generation networked information and communication systems—ranging from wireless communications and the integration of sensing and intelligence into technical environments to ensuring security and privacy in digital ecosystems.