In this blog post, we’ll explore the various fields and key technologies covered by electrical engineering, as well as how it impacts modern industry and our daily lives.

The Concept of Electrical Engineering and the Structure of an Electrical Engineering Department

People who are not familiar with electrical engineering often confuse this field with electronics engineering. Furthermore, quite a few people believe that electronics engineering is a more cutting-edge discipline than electrical engineering. While some people immediately think of climbing power poles or working with electrical wires when they hear the term “electrical engineering,” this is one of the most common misconceptions about the field. Therefore, to introduce research related to electrical engineering, we first need to examine what exactly “electrical engineering” is as a discipline.
Electrical engineering and electronic engineering can generally be distinguished based on the scale of power they handle. Electrical engineering has developed primarily around fields dealing with large-scale power, such as power generation, transmission, and distribution, while electronic engineering has developed primarily around fields that process signals using small amounts of power, such as semiconductors, electronic circuits, and information processing. However, today the technologies of these two fields have converged to a significant extent, making it difficult to clearly divide all research areas based on this distinction alone. Another difference lies in the fact that electric charge is utilized as a source of energy in electrical engineering, whereas in electronics engineering, it serves as a means of transmitting signals.
Many universities abroad operate Electrical Engineering and Computer Science as a single college or department, and the term EECS (Electrical Engineering and Computer Science) is widely used. Many universities in South Korea also conduct education and research by integrating or linking disciplines such as electrical engineering, electronic engineering, computer science, and semiconductor engineering in various ways.
The School of Electrical Engineering at Seoul National University was established in 1992 through the merger of the Departments of Electrical Engineering, Electronic Engineering, and Control and Instrumentation Engineering. Within a single department, there are various specialized tracks, and during the undergraduate program, students first take foundational courses such as Circuit Theory, Electromagnetics, Logic Design, and Electronic Circuits to build a solid foundation as electrical engineering students.
The fields covered by the Department of Electrical Engineering can be broadly divided into systems, electronics, and computer science. The systems field includes electrical power systems, radio waves and information and communications, and control, instrumentation, and automation. The electronics field encompasses semiconductor devices, integrated circuits, and electronic physics, while the computer field involves research into various technologies such as computer systems, semiconductor design, embedded systems, and artificial intelligence hardware. From here on, we will examine the technologies and related industries that represent each of these fields.

How has mobile communication technology evolved?

In the systems field, we can examine mobile communication technology, which represents radio waves and information and communications. Today, mobile communication technology serves as the foundation for various industries, including not only smartphones but also the Internet of Things (IoT), autonomous vehicles, and smart factories. With the widespread adoption of smartphones, people can now access the internet and exchange information anytime, anywhere, and this transformation has significantly changed not only the telecommunications industry but also lifestyles across society as a whole. Services such as video calls, mobile payments, real-time streaming, and remote conferencing have also become everyday features thanks to advancements in mobile communication technology.
The origins of wireless communication date back to the wireless telegraphy experiments conducted by the Italian scientist Marconi in the late 19th century. Although various wireless communication technologies were developed thereafter, early equipment was extremely bulky, severely limiting mobility.
The reason mobile phones are called “cellular phones” in English is that they utilize a cellular system, which divides a wide area into small cells and repeatedly uses the same frequency. This technology was a groundbreaking method that allowed many users to communicate simultaneously even with limited frequency resources. Although this concept was proposed as early as the late 1940s, the technology required to manufacture sufficiently small electronic devices was lacking at the time, so it took a long time to reach commercialization.
Later, with the invention of the transistor and the development of integrated circuits (ICs), the size of electronic devices shrank dramatically, and mobile phones were finally able to become widely adopted. Mobile communication technology has evolved through successive generations, beginning with first-generation (1G) analog mobile communications, followed by 2G, 3G, and 4G LTE, and now 5G is commercially available in many countries around the world. Furthermore, research and standardization efforts for 5G-Advanced and next-generation 6G technology are actively underway in some countries.

Why are semiconductors and integrated circuits central to electrical engineering?

In the field of electronics, semiconductor devices and integrated circuits are indispensable. Furthermore, VLSI (Very Large Scale Integration), which falls under the field of computer science, is also closely linked to this field. As we examined the history of mobile communications earlier, we saw that the invention of transistors and integrated circuits enabled the miniaturization and widespread commercialization of mobile phones. Thus, semiconductor device and integrated circuit technologies can be considered the core technologies that have enabled the miniaturization and high performance of nearly all the electronic devices we use today.
In the early days of the electronics industry, vacuum tubes were used as the key components for controlling the flow of electrons. Although vacuum tubes were a groundbreaking technology at the time, they had the drawbacks of being very large, consuming a lot of power, and generating a great deal of heat. These limitations made it difficult to miniaturize electronic devices and mass-produce them.
In 1947, the invention of the transistor at Bell Labs in the United States marked a new turning point for the electronics industry. Subsequently, as semiconductor manufacturing technology advanced, integrated circuits (ICs)—which integrate numerous transistors onto a single semiconductor chip—emerged, and the performance of electronic devices began to improve dramatically. As the integration density of semiconductors has steadily increased, they have simultaneously achieved higher performance and lower power consumption.
Today, the semiconductor industry is broadly divided into memory semiconductors and system semiconductors. In the memory semiconductor sector, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix possess world-class competitiveness, while in the system semiconductor sector, various global companies—including NVIDIA, Intel, AMD, Qualcomm, and TSMC—are engaged in fierce competition. Furthermore, the semiconductor industry continues to evolve rapidly as System-on-Chip (SoC) technology—which integrates multiple functions such as CPUs, GPUs, NPUs, and memory onto a single chip—is widely utilized in smartphones, automobiles, and artificial intelligence semiconductors.

Advances in Cloud Computing and the Computer Industry

In the computer industry, cloud computing stands out as one of the most representative technologies. Computers have become an integral part of our daily lives, and not only personal computers but also various devices such as smartphones, tablets, and smartwatches are now connected to each other via the internet.
In the past, it was common to store most data directly on a personal computer and run programs on that same machine. However, with the advancement of cloud computing, users can now access as much storage space and computing resources as they need via the internet. This model is based on a structure where companies specializing in server operations efficiently manage large-scale computing resources, while users utilize services only as needed.
The greatest advantage of cloud computing is the efficient utilization of computing resources. Individuals can perform tasks requiring high performance—such as large-scale data analysis, artificial intelligence training, and video editing—through cloud services without having to purchase high-performance computers themselves. Furthermore, since data is distributed and stored across multiple servers, it offers significant advantages in terms of management and backup.
Recently, the scope of application has expanded even further as cloud computing has been integrated not only with highly mobile devices such as smartphones, tablets, and laptops but also with artificial intelligence services. Generative AI services, online collaboration platforms, and streaming services are also largely operated using cloud computing technology, and cloud technology is expected to continue to establish itself as a core foundation for various industries in the future.

In what direction will electrical engineering develop in the future?

So far, we have examined the various fields encompassed by electrical engineering, along with their representative technologies and related industries. At first glance, electrical energy systems, mobile communications, semiconductors, and computer technology may appear to be independent fields. However, in reality, these fields are closely interconnected, and advancements in any one field serve as a crucial foundation for progress in others.
For example, high-performance semiconductors and integrated circuit technology are essential for the advancement of mobile communications, and cloud computing can only operate stably when high-performance servers, power systems, and ultra-high-speed communication networks develop in tandem. Furthermore, future industries such as artificial intelligence, autonomous driving, smart factories, and next-generation communications are also advancing through collaboration across various fields of electrical engineering.
Moving forward, electrical engineering will continue to drive new industries and technological innovation through the convergence of power, semiconductor, information and communications, and computer technologies, evolving into a core discipline that exerts an even greater influence on our daily lives and society as a whole.