ECEN 2250

Course Information

Reading Assignments

Problem Sets

Lab Experiments

Additional Course Material

Description: An important part of learning a trade is to become familiar with the vocabulary and the tools used by the people who practice that trade. The "language" of electrical engineering consists of several "dialects", like

• English: Telephone, analog, digital, tune a radio, television, ...
• Buzzwords: Hi-tech, supercharged, wi-fi, multimedia, ...
• Mathematics: Linear algebra, differential equations, complex numbers, ...
• Physics: Charge, force, energy, conservation law, time, fields, ...
• Hardware: Resistor, capacitor, inductor, semiconductor, integrated circuit, ...
• Circuits: Ohm's law, Kirchhoff's law, circuit equivalence, RC, RL circuit,...
• Signals: Impulse, step, rectangular wave, damped sinusoid, noise, ...
• Systems: Adder, integrator, gain, second order system, decoder, ...
• Programming: Assembler, C++, Matlab, PSpice, VHDL, Java, ...

To a large extent the function of Circuits/Electronics 1 is to let you explore the vocabulary and the tools that are needed to talk about basic electrical circuits and to enable you to analyze and design such circuits. An existing background in basic mathematics and physics is assumed. The goal is to be able to work with circuits made from different electrical devices, both in a theoretically sound fashion, and in a practical laboratory setting, with the aim of eventually describing concepts and ideas at a more abstract systems and signals level.

Circuits are made up from electrical devices and interconnections. The main variables used to predict and verify the operation of a circuit are voltages v across devices or between nodes in the circuit and currents i through devices or branches in the circuit. A circuit is considered fully analyzed when the voltages across all devices and the currents through all devices are known. To determine these quantities equations are set up from the element constraints in terms of their i-v characteristics and from the connection constraints using Kirchhoff's voltage and current laws. Devices in a circuit are classified as either passive or active, depending on whether they need a power supply for correct operation or not. The most common passive devices are resistors, capacitors, inductors, and transformers. Active devices include batteries, transistors, diodes, OpAmps, and integrated circuits.

The first part of the course focuses on the basic analysis of direct current (dc) and alternating current (ac) circuits, made up from dc and ac sources, resistors (R), diodes, capacitors (C), inductors (L), and dependent sources like transistors and OpAmps. In the second part, more advanced techniques to analyze more complex circuits are introduced. Eventually the transient and sinusoidal steady-state behavior of first order RC and RL circuits is studied using differential equations and phasors. Lab experiments and projects that are closely integrated with the material treated in class provide hands-on experience and emphasize the close relationship between the theory developed in the course and the reality of the engineering world.