Instrumentation engineer

Description

Instrumentation engineers envision and design equipment used in manufacturing processes for controlling and monitoring various engineering processes remotely. They design equipment for the monitoring of production sites such as manufacturing systems, machinery uses and production processes.

Other titles

The following job titles also refer to instrumentation engineer:

autonomy engineer
mine instrumentation engineer
instrumentation engineer technology engineering specialist
C&I engineer
instrumentation engineering adviser
instrumentation engineer technology engineering consultant
supervisory control and data acquisition engineer
measurement engineer
instrument engineer
instrumentation engineer technology engineering expert
instrumentation engineering consultant
instrumentation engineering specialist
instrumentation engineer technology engineering adviser
instrumentation engineer technology engineer
control and instrumentation engineer
instrumentation engineering expert

Minimum qualifications

Bachelor’s degree is generally required to work as instrumentation engineer. However, this requirement may differ in some countries.

ISCO skill level

ISCO skill level is defined as a function of the complexity and range of tasks and duties to be performed in an occupation. It is measured on a scale from 1 to 4, with 1 the lowest level and 4 the highest, by considering:

  • the nature of the work performed in an occupation in relation to the characteristic tasks and duties
  • the level of formal education required for competent performance of the tasks and duties involved and
  • the amount of informal on-the-job training and/or previous experience in a related occupation required for competent performance of these tasks and duties.

Instrumentation engineer is a Skill level 4 occupation.

Instrumentation engineer career path

Similar occupations

These occupations, although different, require a lot of knowledge and skills similar to instrumentation engineer.

electronics engineer
process engineer
equipment engineer
naval architect
rolling stock engineer

Long term prospects

These occupations require some skills and knowledge of instrumentation engineer. They also require other skills and knowledge, but at a higher ISCO skill level, meaning these occupations are accessible from a position of instrumentation engineer with a significant experience and/or extensive training.

Essential knowledge and skills

Essential knowledge

This knowledge should be acquired through learning to fulfill the role of instrumentation engineer.

Instrumentation equipment: The equipment and instruments used for the monitoring and controlling of processes, such as valves, regulators, circuit breakers, and relays.
Electricity principles: Electricity is created when electric current flows along a conductor. It entails the movement of free electrons between atoms. The more free electrons are present in a material, the better this material conducts. The three main parameters of electricity are the voltage, current (ampère), and resistance (ohm).
Engineering principles: The engineering elements like functionality, replicability, and costs in relation to the design and how they are applied in the completion of engineering projects.
Design drawings: Understand design drawings detailing the design of products, tools, and engineering systems.
Mathematics: Mathematics is the study of topics such as quantity, structure, space, and change. It involves the identification of patterns and formulating new conjectures based on them. Mathematicians strive to prove the truth or falsity of these conjectures. There are many fields of mathematics, some of which are widely used for practical applications.
Control systems: Devices or a set of devices that command and manage the performance and behaviour of other equipment and systems. This includes Industrial control systems (ICS) which are used for industrial production and manufacturing.
Physics: The natural science involving the study of matter, motion, energy, force and related notions.
Environmental legislation: The environmental policies and legislation applicable in a certain domain.
Environmental threats: The threats for the environment which are related to biological, chemical, nuclear, radiological, and physical hazards.
Electronics: The functioning of electronic circuit boards, processors, chips, and computer hardware and software, including programming and applications. Apply this knowledge to ensure electronic equipment runs smoothly.
Instrumentation engineering: The science and engineering discipline that attempts to control process variables of production and manufacturing. It also focuses on the design of systems with desired behaviours. These systems use sensors to measure the output performance of the device that is being controlled.
Electricity: Understand the principles of electricity and electrical power circuits, as well as the associated risks.

Essential skills and competences

These skills are necessary for the role of instrumentation engineer.

Adjust engineering designs: Adjust designs of products or parts of products so that they meet requirements.
Perform scientific research: Gain, correct or improve knowledge about phenomena by using scientific methods and techniques, based on empirical or measurable observations.
Abide by regulations on banned materials: Comply with regulations banning heavy metals in solder, flame retardants in plastics, and phthalate plasticisers in plastics and wiring harness insulations, under EU RoHS/WEEE Directives and China RoHS legislation.
Design control systems: Develop devices that command and manage the behaviour of other devices and systems, using engineering and electronics principles.
Execute feasibility study: Perform the evaluation and assessment of the potential of a project, plan, proposition or new idea. Realise a standardised study which is based on extensive investigation and research to support the process of decision making.
Develop instrumentation systems: Develop control equipment, such as valves, relays, and regulators, which can be used to monitor and control processes. Test the developed equipment.
Approve engineering design: Give consent to the finished engineering design to go over to the actual manufacturing and assembly of the product.

Optional knowledge and skills

Optional knowledge

This knowledge is sometimes, but not always, required for the role of instrumentation engineer. However, mastering this knowledge allows you to have more opportunities for career development.

Manufacturing processes: The steps required through which a material is transformed into a product, its development and full-scale manufacturing.
Engineering control theory: The interdisciplinary branch of engineering that deals with the behaviour of dynamical systems with inputs and how their behaviour is modified by feedback.
Design principles: The elements used in design such as unity, scale, proportion, balance, symmetry, space, form, texture, colour, light, shade and congruence and their application into practice.
Project management: Understand project management and the activities which comprise this area. Know the variables implied in project management such as time, resources, requirements, deadlines, and responding to unexpected events.
Power plant instrumentation: The equipment and instruments used for the monitoring and controlling processes in power plants. This requires proper operation, calibration, and regular maintenance.
Nuclear energy: The generation of electrical energy through the use of nuclear reactors, by converting the energy released from nuclei of atoms in reactors which generate heat. This heat subsequently generates steam which can power a steam turbine to generate electricity.
Cad software: The computer-aided design (CAD) software for creating, modifying, analysing or optimising a design.
Product data management: The use of software to track all information concerning a product such as technical specifications, drawings, design specifications, and production costs.
Mechanics: Theoretical and practical applications of the science studying the action of displacements and forces on physical bodies to the development of machinery and mechanical devices.

Optional skills and competences

These skills and competences are sometimes, but not always, required for the role of instrumentation engineer. However, mastering these skills and competences allows you to have more opportunities for career development.

Ensure compliance with safety legislation: Implement safety programmes to comply with national laws and legislation. Ensure that equipment and processes are compliant with safety regulations.
Record test data: Record data which has been identified specifically during preceding tests in order to verify that outputs of the test produce specific results or to review the reaction of the subject under exceptional or unusual input.
Create software design: Transpose a series of requirements into a clear and organised software design.
Perform test run: Perform tests putting a system, machine, tool or other equipment through a series of actions under actual operating conditions in order to assess its reliability and suitability to realise its tasks, and adjust settings accordingly.
Use technical drawing software: Create technical designs and technical drawings using specialised software.
Manage instrumentation systems: Set up, adjust, operate and maintain instrumentation systems. Process and analyse data, and present research results.
Define quality standards: Define, in collaboration with managers and quality experts, a set of quality standards to ensure compliance with regulations and help achieve customers’ requirements.
Ensure equipment availability: Ensure that the necessary equipment is provided, ready and available for use before start of procedures.
Write work-related reports: Compose work-related reports that support effective relationship management and a high standard of documentation and record keeping. Write and present results and conclusions in a clear and intelligible way so they are comprehensible to a non-expert audience.
Supervise staff: Oversee the selection, training, performance and motivation of staff.
Assemble instrumentation equipment: Build systems and instruments which measure, control, and monitor processes. Fit the instrument parts such as power supplies, control units, lenses, springs, circuit boards, sensors, transmitters, and controllers.
Use cad software: Use computer-aided design (CAD) systems to assist in the creation, modification, analysis, or optimisation of a design.
Design prototypes: Design prototypes of products or components of products by applying design and engineering principles.
Design microelectromechanical systems: Design and develop microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), such as microsensing devices. Make a model and a simulation using technical design software to assess the viability of the product and examine the physical parameters to ensure a successful production process.
Perform project management: Manage and plan various resources, such as human resources, budget, deadline, results, and quality necessary for a specific project, and monitor the project’s progress in order to achieve a specific goal within a set time and budget.
Manage system testing: Select, perform and track testings on software or hardware to detect system defects both within the integrated system units, the inter-assemblages and the system as a whole. Organise testings such as installation testing, security testing and graphical user interface testing.
Apply health and safety standards: Adhere to standards of hygiene and safety established by respective authorities.
Assess financial viability: Revise and analyse financial information and requirements of projects such as their budget appraisal, expected turnover, and risk assessment for determining the benefits and costs of the project. Assess if the agreement or project will redeem its investment, and whether the potential profit is worth the financial risk.
Develop test procedures: Develop testing protocols to enable a variety of analyses of products, systems, and components.
Analyse production processes for improvement: Analyse production processes leading toward improvement. Analyse in order to reduce production losses and overall manufacturing costs.

ISCO group and title

2152 – Electronics engineers

 

 


 

 

References
  1. Instrumentation engineer – ESCO
Last updated on August 8, 2022