Department of Electronic & Electrical Engineering, Unit Catalogue 2007/08 |
EE10142 Electronic laboratory techniques |
| Credits: 6 |
| Level: Certificate |
| Semester: 1 |
| Assessment:EX 50%, PR 35%, CW 15% |
| Requisites: |
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Aims: The unit aims to improve student skills in the areas of practical electrical and electronic laboratory work, and in the reporting of the work. The material covers an appreciation of accuracy, precision and estimation of errors when performing measurements, as well as proper presentation of measured data and the ability to manipulate and derive other information from the measurements. English language skills will also be covered.
Learning Outcomes: After completing this Unit, a student should be able to demonstrate the proper techniques for performing a range of measurements in an electrical laboratory environment and be able to manipulate the measured data to derive supplementary information, for example error estimations or derived parameters. Following practical work students should be able to report their findings in a succinct manner. Skills: The required skills, in terms of a proper approach to measurement techniques, estimating and processing errors, and reporting etc, will be taught, facilitated and tested through a combination of lectures, tutorial exercises, a comprehensive series of practical measurement exercises, and a series of English language seminars. Content: Lectured content: Dimensional analysis, unit multipliers (f, p, n, µ, m, k, M, G, T). Function & curve sketching - poles, zeroes & asymptotes Log-linear & log-log plots, Decibel notation. Errors - random & systematic Accuracy and precision in measurements Errors in voltage and current measurements Plotting error bars and extracting derived error bounds Troubleshooting techniques, failure modes & effects analysis Laboratory Work: Measurement of circuit variables, translation to linear relationships, plotting of graphs including estimate of errors, derivation of slope/intercept values including error bounds. Investigation of earth-loop and related problems "Black box" investigations to establish internal circuit structure and values of components. Estimation of resistance value in a resonant circuit both at and away from resonant frequency (as an appreciation of possible errors). Seminar Content: Report writing. Note-taking and summarising skills. Incorporating source material: referring to sources and avoiding plagiarism. Report structure: planning, sentence and paragraph structure, writing introductions and conclusions, cohesive devices. Academic style: showing and avoiding personal commitment. Grammatical accuracy and punctuation. Oral presentation skills. |