Practical Electronics Course

This course builds knowledge in electronics beyond introductory circuits and is intended for mechanical engineers, engineering leaders, and technology innovators who work in an organization that develops or researches electronic systems.

This is a university-level class taught to graduate and undergraduate students as a special-topics course.

This course includes the following major topic areas:

Circuit Theory and Analysis Review
Electrical Test and Measurement
Power Sources and Control
Sensing and Control with Microcontrollers
Electronic Sensors
Device Communications with the Internet of Things (IoT)
RF Communications

Course Topics and Videos

Lecture 1
- Welcome!
- Overview of Course Topics
- Course Organization
- Lab Overview and Organization
- Assignments
- Grading
- Student Survey
- Canvas Site Tour
Lecture 2
- ----- Circuit Theory and Analysis Review -----
- Current, Voltage, Power, and Energy
- Node Voltages
- Ohm's Law and Resistance
- Power for Resistive Loads Using DC and RMS Values
- Energy Delivered to a Load
- Wire Resistance and Resistivity
Lecture 3
- Wire Resistance and Resistivity (continued)
- Wire Gauge (AWG)
- Operating Voltage, and Power Efficiency
- Capacitors
- Signal Filtering and DC Blocks
- Decoupling Power Supply Voltages
- Inductors
Lecture 4
- Inductors (continued)
- Applications & Filtering
- Kirchhoff's Laws
- Voltage Division
- Thévenin Equivalent Circuits
- ----- Electrical Test & Measurement -----
Lecture 5
- Test & Measurement for Electronics Prototyping
- Power Supplies as Voltage and Current Sources
- Overvoltage and Overcurrent Protection
- Voltage and Current Measurements
- Resistance & Continuity Measurements
- Diode Tests
Lecture 6
- Multimeter Frequency & Duty Cycle Measurements
- Oscilloscope Measurements & Triggering
- Oscilloscope Probes and Ground Loops
- Data Capture, Cursors, and Built-in Measurements
Lecture 7
- Function/Waveform Generators
- Creating Waveforms and Digital/PWM Signals
- Data Capture & Presentation
Lecture 8
- ----- Power Sources & Control -----
- Battery Basics & Specifications
- Battery Specs Affecting Mechanical Design
- Primary Battery Chemistries
- Battery Data and Datasheets
- Battery Capacity and Service Life
Lecture 9
- Selecting Battery Chemistries/Types
- Internal Resistance of Batteries
- Batteries in Series and Parallel
- Rechargeable Batteries
- Solar Panel Basics & Energy Calculations
Lecture 10
- Intro to Switches, Relays, and Transistors
- Switches
- Relays
- MOSFETs for Current Control
- MOSFET Characteristic Curves
Lecture 11
- High-level View of Power Sources & Control Topics
- MOSFET Characteristic Curves Example
- MOSFET Circuit Example
- Types of MOSFETs
- MOSFET Power Dissipation
- PWM vs. Analog Current Control
- MOSFET Power and Efficiency Examples
Lecture 12
- Electrical Power Impacts on Mechanical Design
- Temperature Calculations using Thermal Resistance
- Electronic Device Cooling and Heat Sinks
- Gate Resistors in MOSFET Circuits
- Flyback Diodes
- Intro to DC Voltage Conversion
Lecture 13
- Roadmap of Power Sources and Control Topics
- DC Voltage Conversion & Regulation
- Linear Voltage Regulators
- Switching DC/DC Converters
- DC/DC Converter Topology
- Linear Regulator Power Efficiency Example
- DC/AC Conversion & Power Inverters
Lecture 14
- ----- Sensing and Control with Microcontrollers -----
- Microcontrollers & Embedded Systems
- Microcontroller Course Topics
- Arduino-Based Microcontroller Overview
- Example Microcontroller Board (Arduino WiFi Rev2)
- Arduino-Based Boards & Hardware Trades
- Microcontroller Internal Architecture Example
- Digital Waveforms and Binary Values
- Decimal, Binary, and Hexadecimal Number Systems
Lecture 15
- Decimal, Binary, and Hexadecimal (continued)
- Microcontroller Software Development Process
- Arduino Integrated Development Environment (IDE)
- Arduino Program Example
- Digital Ports
- Shared Pins & I/O Multiplexing
- Digital Port Pin Configuration
- Arduino Board Pinout Example
Lecture 16
- Arduino Board Pinout (continued)
- Digital Port Configuration
- Using Digital Ports in Arduino Code
- Logic Level Shifting
- Analog-to-Digital Converters (ADC)
- How ADCs Work
- Using ADCs in the Arduino Microcontrollers
- Matching ADC Full-Scale Ranges
- ADC Resolution
- A Few Notes on Sampling AC Signals with ADCs
Lecture 17
- Microcontroller Timer Peripherals
- Generating Pulse-Width Modulation with Timers
- Measuring Frequency with Timers
- Using the Arduino Language for Timer Functions
- Microcontroller Interrupts
- Interrupts Using the Arduino Language
- Data Types for Variables
- Arduino Microcontroller Software Libraries
- Microcontroller Takeaways
Lecture 18
- High-Level View of Course Topics
- ----- Electronic Sensors -----
- Application of Electronic Sensors
- Electronic Sensors Presented in this Course
- Temperature Sensors
- Silicon-Based Temperature Sensors
- How to Use Silicon-Based Temperature Sensors
- Thermistors as Temperature Sensors
- How to Use Thermistors
- Practical Thermistor Circuit Example
Lecture 19
- Thermocouples for Temperature Measurement
- How to Use Thermocouples
- Thermocouple Example
- Resistance Temperature Detectors (RTD)
- How to use RTDs
- Temperature Sensor Comparison
- Temperature Sensor Example - Exhaust Gas Temperature
- Light Sensors
Lecture 20
- Light Sensors (continued)
- Photoresistors
- How to Use Photoresistors
- Photodiodes
- How to Use Photodiodes
- Phototransistors
- How to Use Phototransistors
- Light Sensor Comparison
- Light Sensor Example - Obstacle Detector
- Hall-Effect Magnetic Sensors
- How to use Hall-Effect Magnetic Sensors
- Hall Effect Sensor Application - Antilock Braking System
Lecture 21
- Strain Gauges
- How to Use Strain Gauges
- Load Cells as a Strain Gauge Application Example
- Pressure Sensors as a Strain Gauge Application Example
- Voltage Changes in a Strain Gauge Circuit
- Electronic Accelerometers
- How to use Electronic Accelerometers
- Electronic Gyroscopes
- Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU)
Lecture 22
- Current and Power Sensing
- Measuring Current Using a Shunt Resistor
- Measuring Current using the Hall Effect
- Measuring Power
- Electronic Sensor Summary and Takeaways
- ----- Device Communications with IoT -----
- Sensor Networks and Point-to-Point vs. Pub/Sub Messaging
- MQTT for Pub/Sub Messaging
- MQTT Protocol
- MQTT Brokers and Clients (Eclipse Mosquitto)
- MQTT Control Packets
Lecture 23
- Basic MQTT Pub/Sub & Control Packets (continued)
- Publishing & Subscribing Options for MQTT on a PC
- MQTT Protocol Flow Example
- Networked Devices using MQTT
- Using MQTT on Arduino Microcontroller Devices
- MQTT Topics & Wildcards
- MQTT Quality of Service (QoS)
- MQTT Protocol Example
- Running an MQTT Broker
- MQTT Security
- Other Technologies for IoT
- IoT Summary and Takeaways
Lecture 24
- ----- RF Communications -----
- High-Level View of RF Communications Topics
- Representing Information using Sinusoids
- Analog & Digital Modulation Examples
- RF Signals in the Frequency Domain (RF Spectrum)
- Center Frequency and Bandwidth
- RF Frequency Allocation
- RF Band Names
- Decibels (dB)
Lecture 25
- Power Ratios in Decibels (continued)
- Power Expressed in Decibel Units (dBm, dBW)
- Measured Received Power Spectrum in dBm vs. μW
- Power Calculations using dB and dBm
- Using Electromagnetic Fields to Communicate
- Transmitter & Receiver Components
- Converting Information to RF Signals in Transmitters
- Converting RF Signals to Information in Receivers
Lecture 26
- Advanced RF Transmitter & Receiver Architectures
- RF System Concepts & Terms
- RF Amplifiers
- RF Filters
- RF Frequency Mixers
- RF Transmission Lines
- Antenna Patterns
Lecture 27
- Antenna Patterns (continued)
- Antenna Types
- Radio Wave Propagation and Path Loss
- RF Power Density & Antenna Effective Area
- Propagation Modes and Phenomena
- Friis Equation and Free-Space Path Loss
- Receive Signal Power Calculation Example
- RF Circuit Performance
- Thermal Noise and Signal-to-Noise Ratio
- Common RF Performance Parameters
- Noise Figure
Lecture 28
- Cascaded Noise Figure
- 1-dB Compression Point (P1dB)
- Cascade Analysis and SNR
- Amplifier Location Impact on SNR
- Third-Order Intercept Point (OIP3)
- Example Gain and OIP3 Measurement
- RF Link Budgets
- Multipath Fading
- Link Budget Example
- Course Summary
More to Come!