Department History

1895

Department of Computer Sciences

The Department of Computer Engineering was established in the Faculty of Engineering in Peradeniya in 1985. Although it is the youngest department in the Faculty, it is the oldest Computer Engineering Department to be established in the University system of the country. The main function of the department initially was to conduct programming courses to the students in all disciplines of the Faculty. Over the years the department has developed into a fully-fledged department and it now offers several courses in Computer Engineering to the students.

2001

Started BSc Computer Engineering Degree

The demand from the students for Computer Engineering has been high and a limited number is admitted to follow it. The graduates who have specialized in Computer Engineering are highly sought after by local as well as foreign employers. In view of the good employment prospects for Computer Engineering graduates and the large demand from the students, the department has initiated a degree program leading to the B.Sc. Eng. degree in Computer Engineering from the year 2001. The Department has also been building up its resources and now has state of the art technology in networking, digital design, embedded systems and computer interfacing.

2003

National Instruments and DAC Units

National Instruments and DAC Units were added as a part of Computer Interfacing lab. These devices were used in Computer Interfacing courses offered by the Department of Computer Engineering. Refer course list page for more information.

2005

The New Computing Lab

Established a fully facilitated computing lab. This lab was equipped to conduct computing labs for 65 students. This lab was used in core courses such as Programming methodology, Software Engineering and Web application design.

2011

The Embedded Systems and Computer Architecture Laboratory (ESCAL)

The Embedded Systems and Computer Architecture Laboratory (ESCAL) is a research group at the Department of Computer Engineering at the University of Peradeniya. The primary focus of the group is inclined towards micro-architectural design aspects of embedded microprocessors and their security and reliability concerns. The group is led by Roshan Ragel and has continued collaborations with Professor Sri Parameswaran at the Embedded Systems Lab, School of Computer Science and Engineering, the University of New South Wales (UNSW), Sydney.

2015

NVDIA Research Center

The GPU Research Center at the University of Peradeniya is part of the Embedded Systems, and Computer Architecture Lab (ESCAL) at the Department of Computer Engineering. The University of Peradeniya is one of the oldest Universities in Sri Lanka and the top research university in the country. The major focus of the research center is the investigation of the High-Performance Computing (HPC) aspect of GPU in various domains, including bio-computing, computer security, machine learning and data-mining, and physics.

2016

Modern PLC Equipment

Established a fully equipped industry control systems lab funded by Schneider Electric Sri Lanka. Now, these systems are associated with the Computer Interfacing Lab of the Department of Computer Engineering. More information about this facility can be found in Hardware and Computer Interfacing Lab under Facilities.

2017

Cambio Wearable Computing Lab

A wearable computing lab funded by Cambio Software Engineering. This lab is equipped with modern high-end wearable computing devices such as OpenBCI boards, Human-to-Human Interfacing boards and Heart and Brain shields. More information about this facility can be found in official Cambio Wearable Computing webpage under the Facilities.

2019

New Computer Engineering Building

The new building is equipped with modern lab facilities such as a new computing lab, robotics research facility, PCB printing unit, 3D printing facility and new computer networking lab. furthermore, this building will have new student project areas and modern conference rooms.

Past Department Heads