What is Engineering?

In general, engineering is a science that deals with design, construction and operation of structures, machines, engines and other devices. Engineer is a person who has received technical education and has a basic knowledge of other engineering fields, because most engineering problems are complex and interrelated. The term engineering is difficult to translate into Russian because it has a lot of meanings. Most often it is translated as: инженерное дело, техника, машиностроение, строительство. There exist the following main branches of engineering.

Electrical and Electronics Engineering

This is the widest field of engineering, concerned with systems and devices that use electric power and signals. Among the most important subjects in the field are electric power and machinery, electronic circuits, control systems, computer design, superconductors, solid-state electronics, robotics, lasers, radar, consumer electronics, and fiber optics.

Electrical engineering can be divided into four main branches: electric power and machinery, electronics, communications and control, and computers.

Electronic Engineering

Electronic Engineering deals with the research, design and application of circuits and devices used in the transmission and processing information.

The revolution in electronics is the trend towards integrating electronic devices on a single tiny chip of silicon or some other semiconductive material. Much of the research in electronics is directed towards creating even smaller chips, faster switching of components, and three-dimensional integrated circuits.

Communications and Control

Engineers in this field work on the control systems and communication systems that are used widely in aircraft and ships, in power transmission and distribution, in automated manufacturing and robotics.

Major developments in this field are replacement of analogue systems with digital systems and copper cables with fibre optics (optical fibres). Digital systems lower electrical noise. Fibre optics lowers interference, has large carrying capacity, and is extremely light and inexpensive to manufacture.

Computers Engineering

Computer engineering is now the most rapidly growing field. Computer engineers design and manufacture memory systems, central processing units and peripheral devices. Major developments in this field are microminiaturization (design of Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI) chips) and new computer architectures. Using VLSI, engineers try to place greater number of circuit elements onto smaller chips. Another trend is towards increasing the speed of computer operations through the use of parallel processors and superconducting materials.

Safety Engineering

This field of engineering has an object the prevention of accidents. Safety engineers develop methods and procedures to safeguard workers of hazardous occupations. They also assist in designing machinery, factories, ships, and roads, suggesting alterations and improvements to reduce accident.

Notes:

1. Electrical and electronics engineering – электротехника и электроника

2. Electronic engineering – электроника

3. Communications and control – техника средств связи и управление

4. Computers engineering – компьютерная техника

5. Safety engineering – техника безопасности

ТЕКСТ НА ПЕРЕВОД (УСТНЫЙ)

Упражнения 4-6