ECE5146 Multimedia technologies
Faculty of Engineering
ECE5146 Multimedia technologies is a level 5, 6-credit-point, postgraduate unit from the Faculty of Engineering. It isn't offered in 2026. It has no prerequisites.
- Credit points
- 6
- Offered in 2026
- Not offered
- Assessment
- Exam 60%
- and 3 other tasks
- Workload
- 144 hours
- per semester
This is the 2026 handbook entry. See the 2027 entry.
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Requisites
Before ECE5146
Prohibitions
You can't enrol if you have passed any of these.
After ECE5146
No unit lists ECE5146 as a prerequisite in the 2026 handbook.
Enrolment rules
You must be currently enrolled in a master’s course in engineering or related STEM and in a related discipline. The unit assumes that you have the necessary foundational knowledge.
Equivalent units
The same content under another code. Only one of them counts.
Overview
This unit provides an understanding of the nature and limits of processing of media (image, video, audio) for telecommunications, storage, Interpretation and analysis. It includes compression of multimedia from basic information theoretic concepts through to advanced video (e.g. MPEG), image (JPEG, JPEG2000) and audio (CELP, MP3, AAC, Dolby Digital) coding. XML-based metadata systems are used to illustrate concepts of content characterisation and discovery. The ability of modern network protocols to support media streaming is related directly to service
requirements such as error and delay tolerance. Where media is intended for human consumption, the characteristics of human perception of image and sound determine minimum quality requirements, but also reveal limitations that can be exploited when compressing media data. Machine interpretation and analysis of multimedia is also investigated. Case studies in media analysis (e.g. Shazam), delivery (video on demand) and consumption (digital cinema) are used to illustrate the technologies investigated.
Offerings in 2026
The 2026 handbook lists no offerings for ECE5146.
Assessment
- Mid-semester progress testQuiz / TestThreshold hurdle10%
- Laboratory exercisesDemonstrationThreshold hurdle25%
- Weekly lecture content quizzesQuiz / TestThreshold hurdle5%
- Final assessmentExaminationThreshold hurdle60%
Assessment details may change. Please refer to the assessment information in Moodle closer to the start of the teaching period.
Learning outcomes
When you finish this unit, you should be able to:
- 1
Identify the limits of human visual and aural perception, and how they can be exploited for bit rate reduction.
- 2
Interpret the structure of modern multimedia compression systems, and how they exploit the characteristics of both the media itself and human consumers of the media.
- 3
Analyse the characterisation and description of media, including methods that allow similarities to be automatically identified (e.g. music matching services).
- 4
Compute the end-to-end delay performance of modern Internet protocols supporting media streaming, and relate this to service requirements for on-demand and communicative multimedia services.
- 5
Appreciate the methods of digital rights management systems, including the role of encryption and key Management, and the importance of such systems to enable high-value digital content retrieval services such as movies-on-demand.
- 6
As part of a team, research and investigate an area of interest beyond lecture material, involving software simulations and analysis of results.
Workload and teaching
The minimum total expected workload to achieve the learning outcomes for this unit is 144 hours per semester typically comprising a mixture of 3-6 hours of scheduled learning activities and 6-9 hours of independent study per week. Scheduled activities may include a combination of teacher-directed learning, peer-directed learning and online engagement. Independent study may include associated readings, assessment and preparation for scheduled activities.
Learning resources
Recommended resources
Textbook: Ze-Nian Li, Mark S. Drew & Jiangchuan Liu, “Fundamentals of Multimedia”, 2nd Edition, Springer, 2014. (Electronic version via library)
Common questions
What are the prerequisites for ECE5146?
ECE5146 has no prerequisites, but enrolment rules apply.
When is ECE5146 offered?
ECE5146 has no offerings listed in the 2026 handbook.
How much work is ECE5146?
The handbook expects about 144 hours of study across the semester. No students have rated its difficulty yet.
Does ECE5146 have an exam?
Yes. The exam is worth 60% of the final mark, alongside 3 other tasks.