Spring 03/04 Prof.

Greg Kovacs

EE122 GENERAL INFORMATION

Lectures: Mondays only, 12:40 - 2:30 pm Thornton 110
Name Greg Kovacs Telephone 725-3637 604-6785 E-Mail kovacs@cis Office CISX-202

Professor:

Special Advisor: Bob Ricks

bricks@mail.arc.nasa.gov

Office Hours: Normal office hours are: TBD likely after class for coffee. Greg will be able to make appointments Mondays and Wednesdays in general. EMAIL is the best way to set up an appointment.
Administrative Name Contact: Sandy Plewa Telephone 723-0720 E-Mail splewa@leland Office CISX205 Hours 9:00am-5:00pm

Teaching Assistants: Name Rizwan Ahmed Yu-Kuan Lin Telephone E-Mail reahmed@stanford.edu yklin@stanford.edu Office Hours TBD TBD

Optional Textbook: Horowitz, P., and Hill, W., The Art of Electronics, Cambridge University Press, New York, NY. Latest edition is preferred, but not necessary.

IMPORTANT CHANGES TO EE122

EE122 no longer has EE113 as a pre- or co-requisite. This has led to a complete redesign of EE122. Please use old notes/texts only for reference. The new course is completely different. The major changes are:

More curiosity-driven laboratories with a far less rigid structure. A team-based approach to learning. Practical, rather than theory-driven content. Preparation for laboratories will involve team research and analysis, rather than lengthy write-ups. An informal lab-book-based approach to taking data. A full three weeks is provided for design and construction of the final project, culminating in presentation to the class. No formal examinations (midterms or final), with grading based on laboratory notebooks, teamwork, and final project.

OBJECTIVES (Why am I taking this course?)

The purpose of EE122 is to introduce you to practical, hands-on aspects of basic electronics. We hope to leave you with an intuitive understanding of how the circuits discussed function, how to design such circuits, and how to use modern electronic instruments to simulate, test, and de-bug circuits.

TOOLS
Throughout this course, you will be using both physical and virtual instruments. Physical instruments are the type you are probably already familiar with, such as meters, oscilloscopes, etc. Virtual instruments are programs running on computers that let you simulate circuits and their operation - some of you are probably familiar with some version
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of SPICE. It is a circuit simulator that will allow you to test your designs, or to simply do experiments on circuits without having to build them physically. We will provide access to several versions of Spice for your use. Spice will be available for use on the Macintosh computers in the lab and elsewhere on campus, as well as in an IBM-compatible version available from Microsim at: (800) 245-3022 or http:/www.microsim.com (They will send you the student version for free, or you can download it right off the net. They no longer support the MAC version.) This program allows you to run your simulations entirely on the computer. They also allow you to obtain high-quality graphics output that can be cut and pasted into your write-ups (either with scissors and glue or with the Macs cut and paste commands). You will be permitted to use other versions of SPICE (e.g., HSPICE on workstations) as you wish, but neither the Professor nor the TAs will provide support for such alternate versions.

PRELAB PREPARATION
Prelabs MUST be completed before you come to lab. exceptions. There will be no

The purpose of prelab preparation is to make sure that you and your lab partners are ready for the material to be covered in each laboratory. The nature of the preparation for each lab will vary, so please pay careful attention to the handouts and instructions given in class. Typically, a prelab will involve designing some circuits, simulating them, and doing any necessary background research (looking at data sheets, obtaining any special parts you might need, etc.). Sometimes, your team may be assigned some research in the library or some reading in the textbook. Prelabs will not entail large, formal write-ups. What we do want you to do is prove that you have accomplished the assigned prelab tasks by showing the TA (at the beginning of your weekly lab) whatever is called for in the prelab assignment. He or she will record that fact for your team, and this will count toward your grade. We do not need each one of you to individually prepare a prelab writeup. The idea is that each team submits one prelab packet to the TA and all team members share the same grade for the packet. You need to fairly share the workload and all collaborate on each and every prelab. Rotations, where one person in the team
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does an entire prelab, will not be permitted. We absolutely want to prevent any of you from blowing off the prelab tasks. Not having them done beforehand will severely impair the learning process for you and your team members.

LABS
Every effort has been made to enhance the learning content of the labs and to simplify your lab write-ups. The idea is to record the essential information from the laboratory itself in a way that conveys the essentials to a reader (e.g., grader) in a concise way. The raw data and observations will be recorded by each team in a bound notebook (only one notebook per team). These will be graded at the end of the quarter and will serve as a record of the work you have done in the laboratory. This will be particularly important when you are working on your final project. The formal write-ups will be done by each team, and only one copy will be handed in per team. Guidelines for Lab Write-Ups (Hint - this is how they will be graded.) Neat and readable - they should be prepared on a computer. Easy to understand and follow explanations. As short and to-the-point as possible. Demonstrating creativity and cleverness. Conclusions are supported by the necessary data. Absolutely not more than ten pages long, including all plots, schematics, etc.

LABS WRITE-UPS ARE DUE AT 5PM, ONE WEEK AFTER THE LAB SESSION YOU ARE ASSIGNED TO. LAB WRITE-UPS ARE TO BE DROPPED OFF AS ARRANGED WITH YOUR TA. UNLESS PRE-APPROVED BY THE PROFESSOR, NO EXCEPTIONS WILL BE MADE. LABORATORY NOTEBOOKS WILL ONLY BE DUE AT THE END OF THE QUARTER FOR FINAL GRADING.

TYPOS, BOO-BOOS AND THE LIKE

Due to the fact that the course notes and other handouts were generated by humans, there will be unavoidable mistakes. For the sake of yourselves and future classmates, please report typos to Greg Kovacs as soon as you discover them so that corrections can be made. Thank you very much in advance for your help with this!

GRADING
Grades for each student will be derived as follows: Laboratory notebooks - 20% Formal laboratory write-ups - 30% Final project (team) demonstration/presentation and write-up - 40% TA evaluation of laboratory skills (individual) - 10%

LABORATORY CLEANLINESS AND MAINTENANCE

Students are responsible for helping maintain the cleanliness and useability of the laboratory. Each team will be assigned a set of equipment, probes, cables, and accessories that they are responsible for. Any loss or breakage must be reported immediately to your TA (and to the Departmental lab support person by the TA).

THE FINAL PROJECT

The final project will entail the design, construction, and testing of a project of your choosing. Early in the course, you will be asked for proposals for project ideas. Each team will submit three proposals, all of which should be fairly well through-through in terms of the design approach. Proposals will be evaluated by the professor and the TAs, who will choose one for you.

It is CRITICAL that you start thinking about projects early in the course. Think about a nifty project you'd like to build. Radio and mainly digital projects are strongly discouraged. This is an analog circuits lab. However, the judicious use of digital circuits in combination with the analog stuff is perfectly fine. For example, a simple microcontroller such as a Basic Stamp may be incorporated into a circuit that has a substantial analog component. Your team will have to produce a brief application document (how to use the thing you design, how it works, its specifications, etc.) and your team will have to give a demonstration/presentation. The write-ups will be strictly limited to ten pages total, so be careful to make them high-quality (since you cant make them high-quantity!).

EE122 CALENDAR - Spring 2003/2004 (Weeks are listed by the date of Monday of each week.)
Week of Apr. 5 - Instrumentation - Physical and Virtual (SPICE) Students should purchase textbooks and laboratory books. Students will learn how to operate the electronic instruments in the laboratory and familiarize themselves with the necessary software, as required. Students please carefully read introductory materials for the course. Lecture Topics: Review of basic instruments (physical and virtual). Review of electronic components. Introduction to the design process.

Week of Apr. 12 - Basic Op-Amp Concepts Students will experiment with simple operational amplifier circuits and get a feel for what these chips can and cannot do. Power sources such as basic power supply circuits, batteries, etc. Operational amplifier circuits (inverting and non-inverting amplifiers, summers, etc.). Limitations and strengths of integrated circuit opertional amplifiers.

Week of Apr. 19 - Frequency Concepts and Nonlinear Circuits Students will learn to use filters, nonlinear circuits with op-amps, and how to generate a basic set of useful signals. Fooling around with the circuits will be encouraged. Lecture Topics: Analog filter circuits. Nonlinear operational amplifier circuits. Simple oscillators.

Week of Apr. 26 - Interface Circuits Students will use simple circuits to interface to a variety of real-world devices. Lecture Topics: Interface circuits to motors, relays, lamps, etc., using discrete transistors (bipolar and MOSFET). Digital-to-analog and analog-to-digital concepts. Basic sensor concepts - how circuits see, feel, hear, etc.
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Project proposals due in class on Monday Apr. 26. TAs will contact students regarding approval or changes by Wednesday, Apr. 28. Turning them in early is highly encouraged!

Week of May 3 - Optoelectronics Students will gain hands-on experience with optoelectronic components and demonstrate an optical signal transmitter and receiver. Laboratory work should include some effort on final project. Lecture Topics: LEDs, lasers, phototransistors, and other interesting optoelectronic devices. Simple circuits to move information with light.

Week of May 10 - Additional Circuit Concepts, Final Project Design/Construction Students will be exposed to a variety of interesting circuit concepts that might come in handy when working on the details of their projects. Laboratory work will focus on the final project. Students should have already begun construction of projects, obtain any special components, and team member responsibilities should be clarified and assigned by now. Lecture Topics: A variety of useful circuit building blocks.

Week of May 17 Additional Circuit Concepts, Final Project Construction Laboratory work should be 100% final project. Lecture Topics: More interesting circuit tricks. Brief student project presentations in class.

Week of May. 24 - Final Project Construction Laboratory work should be 100% final project. Lecture Topics: How to build prototype circuits. How to debug analog circuits. Brief student project presentations in class.

Week of May. 31 Final Project Demonstrations No lecture. Demonstrations will take place Wednesday, June 2nd in the class laboratory, with exact times for each group to be scheduled by the TAs. Demonstrations must take place on the scheduled day and time.
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Final project write-ups are due at 5 pm, Friday, June 4th, at CISX-205. Please give them to Ms. Sandy Plewa.

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PLEASE NOTE: The final project demonstrations are scheduled for Wednesday, June 2, and the final reports are due Friday, June 4th by 5 pm (please turn them in to Ms. Sandy Plewa). This is not flexible. All students must attend. Please block out the demo date on your calendar. This is how the final grade is derived. There are no incompletes given in this course unless there is a valid medical or other personal reason and it is arranged with G. Kovacs well in advance of the due date (as is feasible).

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