Information engineering is theengineering discipline that deals with the generation, distribution, analysis, and use of information, data, andknowledge in electrical systems.[1][2][3][4][5] The field first became identifiable in the early 21st century.
The components of information engineering include more theoretical fields such asElectromagnetism,machine learning,artificial intelligence,control theory,signal processing, andmicroelectronics, and more applied fields such ascomputer vision,natural language processing,bioinformatics,medical image computing,cheminformatics,autonomous robotics,mobile robotics, andtelecommunications.[1][2][5][6][7] Many of these originate fromComputer Engineering, as well as other branches of engineering such aselectrical engineering,computer science andbioengineering.
The field of information engineering is based heavily on Engineering and mathematics, particularlyprobability, statistics,calculus,linear algebra,optimization,differential equations,variational calculus, andcomplex analysis.
Information engineers often[citation needed] hold adegree in information engineering or a related area, and are often part of aprofessional body such as theInstitution of Engineering and Technology orInstitute of Measurement and Control.[8][9][10] They are employed in almost all industries due to the widespread use of information engineering.
In the 1980s/1990s term information engineering referred to an area of software engineering which has come to be known asdata engineering in the 2010s/2020s.[11]
Machine learning is the field that involves the use of statistical andprobabilistic methods to letcomputers "learn" from data without being explicitly programmed.[12] Data science involves the application of machine learning to extract knowledge from data.
Subfields of machine learning includedeep learning,supervised learning,unsupervised learning,reinforcement learning,semi-supervised learning, andactive learning.
Causal inference is another related component of information engineering.
Control theory refers to the control of (continuous)dynamical systems, with the aim being to avoid delays, overshoots, orinstability.[13] Information engineers tend to focus more on control theory rather than the physical design of control systems andcircuits (which tends to fall under electrical engineering).
Subfields of control theory includeclassical control,optimal control, andnonlinear control.
Signal processing refers to the generation, analysis and use ofsignals, which could take many forms such asimage,sound, electrical, or biological.[14]
Information theory studies the analysis, transmission, and storage of information. Major subfields of information theory includecoding anddata compression.[15]
Computer vision is the field that deals with getting computers to understand image and video data at a high level.[16]
Natural language processing deals with getting computers to understand human (natural) languages at a high level. This usually meanstext, but also often includesspeech processing andrecognition.[17]
Bioinformatics is the field that deals with the analysis, processing, and use ofbiological data.[18] This usually means topics such asgenomics andproteomics, and sometimes also includesmedical image computing.
Cheminformatics is the field that deals with the analysis, processing, and use ofchemical data.[19]
Robotics in information engineering focuses mainly on thealgorithms andcomputer programs used to controlrobots. As such, information engineering tends to focus more on autonomous, mobile, or probabilistic robots.[20][21][22] Major subfields studied by information engineers includecontrol,perception,SLAM, andmotion planning.[20][21]
In the past some areas in information engineering such as signal processing usedanalog electronics, but nowadays most information engineering is done withdigital computers. Many tasks in information engineering can beparallelized, and so nowadays information engineering is carried out usingCPUs,GPUs, andAI accelerators.[23][24] There has also been interest in usingquantum computers for some subfields of information engineering such asmachine learning androbotics.[25][26][27]
| Specialties and interdisciplinarity |
|  | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Engineering education | ||||||||||||||
| Related topics | ||||||||||||||
| Glossaries | ||||||||||||||
| Other | ||||||||||||||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
