At the end of this course, students should be able to design, construct, and assess electronic systems to measure, monitor, and/or control physical properties and events. The course spans the traditional electrical engineering areas of circuits, signals, systems, and digital information processing using modern computer tools, such as Labview and Matlab. The course includes a laboratory and provides 4 semester hours of credit.
Essentials of Electrical and Computer Engineering, David V. Kerns, Jr. and J. David Irwin, Prentice Hall (2004) ISBN 0-13-923970-7. Additional material will be assigned from Connexions modules and from OWL-Space. Laboratory manuals will be available online; each two-person laboratory team will need a bound laboratory notebook.
MATH 102; PHYS 102, in particular, an understanding of, and ability to analyze, basic R-L-C circuits in the dc and transient time domain. This material is covered in Chapters 26, 27, and 32 of the PHYS 102 text (Physics for Scientists and Engineers, Fisbane, Gasiorowicz, and Thornton), and in Chapters 1-3 of the course text; see the Prerequisite Learning Objectives.
Homework problem sets will generally be assigned weekly on Thursday, and be due the following Thursday, at 5pm, in the laboratory. Late homework will not be accepted. No homework will be due on the week of an exam to provide time for review and study. Homework grades accumulate on a per problem basis, rather than per assignment, so an assignment with six problems is worth twice as much as one with three. You may, and in fact are encouraged to, work together on homework, but the work you hand in must be your own. Authorized collaboration includes discussing the interpretation of the problem statement, sharing ideas or approaches for solving the problem, and explaining concepts involved in the problem. Providing answers or complete solutions would constitute unauthorized aid and a violation of the Honor Code.
Format: Write clearly using only one side of each page; begin each problem on a new page; underline, box, or otherwise clearly indicate the final answer. Your name and the assignment number should be on the first page; putting your name on every page will prevent lost pages; staple the pages together; do not fold.
The laboratory portion of ELEC 243 is probably the most important part of the course, as our goal is to provide you with the practical skills necessary to make measurements in a laboratory setting. You will have access to the laboratory, Abercrombie A141, 24/7. Laboratory assistants (labbies) will be available to help you on Tuesday through Friday afternoons from 2:00pm (WF) or 2:30pm (TR) to 5:00 or 5:30pm. We prefer that ELEC 243 students schedule their regular lab period on Tuesdays or Wednesdays. The labbies on those days will be specifically assigned to ELEC 243, and will grade your lab reports and notebooks. However, if you have an unresolvable conflict, you can attend lab on Thursday afternoon or even Friday. There will be labbies then (for ELEC 242) who will certainly be able to help you with any problems. The only issue is that you need to have a lab partner, so if you are the only ELEC 243 student who wants a regular Thursday or Friday lab, we will have to make adjustments. We will arrange lab schedules and partners the first week of the semester. Feel free to get a head start by picking a lab partner early; obviously, you both need to be able to attend lab on the same afternoon. There will be nine laboratories plus a design project at the end of the semester. A lab report will be due from each team on the Tuesday following each lab. Details of lab report requirements, content, and grading will be provided in class and on OWL-Space. The final laboratory design project and report will count as two labs.
There will be three two-hour exams during the semester. A similar makeup exam will be given during finals period for students who miss an exam for any reason. The makeup exam will be comprehensive, covering all the material in the course. Other students may take the makeup exam if desired; the makeup exam score will replace his or her lowest regular exam score unconditionally. The exams are scheduled for the weeks of February 2, March 9, and April 6 (see the detailed course schedule). Exams may be scheduled for the evening or as take-home exams; all exams will be closed book, but you may use a single 8 1/2 x 11 inch sheet of notes (both sides) for each exam. Changes in exam scheduling or conditions will be announced at least a week in advance. There is no final exam.
There will also be several short (15-20 minutes) in-class quizzes. Some may be announced in advance, but one may be given at any time. Your quiz scores will be added to your homework score.
All requests for reconsideration of graded work must be made within one week after the item is returned. If you believe an error has been made in grading a laboratory or homework assignment, bring it to the Teaching Assistant or labbie who did the grading; if you cannot resolve the issue, see the instructor. If you believe that you should have received more points on an exam, write a statement making your case and submit it with your exam to the instructor.
Your weighted score will be calculated as:
Course grades will not be curved; it is possible for everyone in the class to get an A (or an F). Your performance depends only on how you do, not on how everyone else in the class does. Thus, there is no reason not to help your classmates in every legal way possible. Course grades will be assigned according to the following ranking. A letter modifier of "+" will be added for scores at the top end of the range, e.g., 87-89.9 = B+.
