EE-205

Master Course Description

No: EE 205

Title: Introduction to Signal Conditioning

Credits: 4

UW Course Catalog Description (to be hyperlinked)

Introduction to analog circuits interfacing sensors to digital systems. Connection, attenuation, amplification, sampling, filtering, termination, controls. Kirchoff’s Laws, sources, resistors, op amps, capacitors, inductors. PSpice, Matlab. Prerequisites: either Math 126 or Math 136; PHYS 122. Intended for non-EE majors.

Coordinator: To be determined.

Goals: To introduce basic electrical engineering concepts used in the connection of sensors to digital systems, acting as a first course in Electrical Engineering for non-EE majors. To learn the “alphabet” of circuits, including wires, resistors, capacitors, inductors, independent and dependent voltage and current sources, and operational amplifiers. To prepare students to deal with sensor I/O in digital system courses.

Learning Objectives: At the end of this course, students will be able to:
1. Describe the role of signal conditioning in digital systems.
2. Design voltage divider circuits to attenuate voltage signals for digital input.
3. Design simple op amp circuits to amplify sensor outputs, including saturation and slew rate considerations.
4. Describe techniques to deal with noisy sensors.
5. Design simple high pass and low pass passive and active filters.
6. Acquire and analyze analog signals in Matlab.
7. Analyze simple circuits using PSpice.
8. Determine the sample rates necessary signals with specific frequency content and describe the effects of improper sample rates.
9. Design anti-aliasing filters.
10. Explain analog transmission line effects on digital signals.
11. Design terminations for digital signal lines.
12. Describe the importance of isolation.
13. Design isolation methods.
14. Sketch a simple control system block diagram and explain its basic operation.

Textbook: Horowitz and Hill, The Art of Electronics, 2nd Ed, Cambridge Press, 1989. Also Hayes and Horowitz, Student Manual for the Art of Electronics, Cambridge Press, 1989.

Reference Texts: Pallàs-Areny and Webster, Sensors and Signal Conditioning, 2nd Edition, John Wiley & Sons, 2001.

Nilsson and Riedel, Electric Circuits, 8th Edition. Prentice Hall, 2008, or any other circuit theory textbook.

Prerequisites by Topic:
1. Fundamental physics (PHYS 122), including concepts of power, energy, force, electric current, and electric fields
2. Fundamental mathematics (MATH 126), trigonometric and (complex) exponential functions, introductory differential and integral calculus, first and second order linear differential equations

Topics:
1. Sensors, signals, A/D conversion, signal conditioning paradigm. Voltage, current.
2. Attenuation, Ohm’s Law, resistance, voltage divider, resistor precision, power dissipation.
3. Amplification, ideal op amps, inverting amplifier, non-inverting amplifier, saturation, slew rate, bandwidth, impedance matching.
4. Strain gauges, noise, frequency domain, filtering, FFT, low pass passive filter design, PSpice.
5. High pass passive filters. Phase angle. Active filters.
6. Aliasing, Nyquist limit, anti-aliasing filters. Sample and Hold.
7. Digital signals and transmission lines – attenuation, ringing, termination, cross talk.
8. Signal isolation. Protection.
9. Control systems. PID control.

Course Structure: The class meets for three 50-minute lectures and one three hour laboratory session per week. The latter is administered by teaching assistants. Homework is assigned weekly. Two exams are given nominally at the ends of the 4th and 8th weeks, and a comprehensive final exam is given at the end of the quarter.

Computer Resources: Experiments require a PC (laptop or desktop) with a sound card microphone input and headphone output jack.

Laboratory Resources: Students perform laboratories in an undergraduate electronics laboratory using a part kits provided by the department.
Grading: Homework 20%, Laboratories 20%, Exam-1 15%, Exam-2 15%, Final Exam 30%. The grading scheme in any particular offering is the prerequisite of the instructor.

Outcome Coverage:
(a) An ability to apply knowledge of math, science and engineering. The homework, exams and laboratories require direct application of mathematical, scientific, and engineering knowledge to solve circuit theory problems and analyze, design and test signal conditioning circuits. (H)
(b) An ability to design and conduct experiments, as well as to analyze and interpret data. Students conduct simple signal conditioning experiments using personal multimeters, a breadboard and a parts kit, and a PC-based oscilloscope. The experiments require student to account for differences between measured data and predictions. Some freedom of experiment design is provided. (M)
(c) An ability to design a system, component, or process to meet desired needs within realistic constraints such as economic, environmental, social, political, ethical, health and safety, manufacturability, and sustainability. Each experiment and many homework problems require students to design circuits to perform specified signal conditioning functions. Some technical constraints such as saturation and power consumption appear in the designs, but the full range of realistic constraints in the outcome is not present. (L)
(d) An ability to function on multidisciplinary teams. Laboratory work is carried out in teams of typically three students. The teams are constructed from the mix of students in the class, who may come from different engineering disciplines. (L)
(e) An ability to identify, formulate and solve engineering problems. The homework and laboratory experiments involve solving engineering problems identified in the assignments or in the experiment descriptions. In some cases, students must identify and solve sub-problems created by the initial assignment description. (H)
(g) An ability to communicate effectively. Students are required to write and submit an informal laboratory report for each experiment describing the circuits used and the results achieved. (L)
(k) An ability to use the techniques, skills, and modern engineering tools necessary for engineering practice. Student design, construct and test signal conditioning circuits interfacing sensors to PCs. Students use PSpice to analyze simple circuits and to design circuits to build in the lab. Students bring data into Matlab and use the Matlab analysis tools, notably the FFT. Procedural programming in Matlab is not required. (H)
(m) Knowledge of differential equations, linear algebra, complex variables and discrete mathematics. Students use complex variables extensively as part of employing the operator method to analyze and design filter circuits. Discrete mathematics and linear algebra are not covered. (M)

Prepared By: Rich Christie
Last Revised: March 26, 2009