Circuits and Electronics Hands-on Learning with Analog Discovery

Author of Circuits and Electronics Hands-on Learning with Analog Discovery

Dr. John Okyere Attia is an electrical and computer engineering professor at Prairie View A&M University.

He was the department head of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department from 1997 to 2013. Dr. Attia earned a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the University of Houston, an M.S. from the University of Toronto, and a BS from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology.

Dr. Attia teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in electrical and computer engineering in the fields of electronics, circuit analysis, instrumentation systems, digital signal processing, and VLSI design.

His research interests include hands-on learning, power electronics for microgrid, innovative electronic circuit designs for radiation environments, and radiation testing methodologies of electronic devices and circuits.

Dr. Attia has worked on projects funded by the National Science Foundation, NASA, Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, and the Texas Workforce Commission.

Dr. Attia has more than 80 technical publications. He has published in refereed journal papers and refereed conference papers.

In addition, he is the author of four books published by the CRC Press. His previous books are Electronics and Circuit Analysis Using MATLAB, 2nd Edition, and PSPICE and MATLAB for Electronics: An Integrated Approach, 2nd Edition.

Dr. Attia has received several honors. Amongst them are the Most Outstanding Senior in the Graduating Class, the Outstanding Teacher Award, Exemplary University Achiever, and the University Leader Award.

Dr. Attia is a member of the following honor societies: Sigma Xi, Tau Beta Pi, Kappa Alpha Kappa, and Eta Kappa Nu. In addition, Dr. Attia is an ABET program evaluator for electrical and computer engineering programs.

Furthermore, he is a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and a registered Professional Engineer in the State of Texas.

Circuits and Electronics Contents

• Virtual Instruments of the Analog Discovery Board
• Basic Circuit Laws and Theorems
• Transient Analysis
• Impedance, Power Calculation, and Frequency Response
• Operational Amplifiers
• Diodes
• Transistors

Preface to Circuits and Electronics Hands-on Learning with Analog Discovery

Hands-on learning is a method whereby students actively perform some activities in order to learn from them. Hands-on learning may involve students in building, testing, observing, and reflecting on completed work.

Hands-on learning is said to be especially useful to students who learn by doing. In addition, by reflecting on work that has been done, additional ideas might crop up in the learner’s brain that may be investigated to achieve deeper learning.

A saying attributed to Confucius sums up the advantages of hands-on learning: “I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.” One tool for hands-on learning is the Analog Discovery board.

Digilent developed the Analog Discovery board in conjunction with Analog Devices, Inc. The Analog Discovery board communicates to a computer through a USB interface. The operating software, WaveForms, provides virtual instrument functions.

The virtual instruments include a two-channel voltmeter, a two-channel oscilloscope, a two-channel waveform generator, a 16-channel logic analyzer, and two fixed dc power supplies, Network Analyzer, and Spectrum Analyzer.

The virtual instruments are equivalent to more expensive desktop instruments when the board is connected to a laptop computer through its USB port.

Traditionally, hands-on learning had taken place in laboratories with well-equipped instruments. With the Analog Discovery board, experiments can be done anywhere and anytime.

The Analog Discovery board enables students to test real-world functional circuits with their own personal computers quickly. This book is not a laboratory manual for performing experiments in circuit and electronics.

On the contrary, the book discusses concepts, theory, and laws in circuits and electronics with examples solved using the Analog Discovery board. Virtual Instruments of the Analog Discovery, such as scope, the signal generator, Network Analyzer, Spectrum Analyzer, and the voltmeter, are described and used throughout the book.

The book provides instructions on building circuits on breadboards, connecting the Analog Discovery wires to the circuit under test, and making electrical measurements. Various measurement techniques are described and used in this book.

They include impedance, complex power, frequency response, power spectrum, current versus voltage characteristic measurements of diodes, bipolar junction transistors, and MOSFETs.

The end-of-chapter problems have been provided to give the student additional exercises for hands-on learning and experimentation and to give comparisons between measured results and those obtained from theoretical calculations.

The goals of writing this book are (1) to provide the reader with an introduction to the use of the virtual instruments of the Analog Discovery board; (2) to provide the reader with simple, step-by-step instructions in the use of the Analog Discovery board for solving problems in circuits and electronics;

(3) to assist the reader in connecting theory to practice in the fields of circuits and electronics with the use of the Analog Discovery board;

And (4) to provide the student with problems that allow them to reflect upon the discrepancies between the measured and the theoretically calculated results in circuits and electronics. This book is unique.

It is the first time a book has been written that covers an introduction to the virtual instruments of the Analog Discovery board concisely with examples of the use of virtual instruments for solving problems in circuits and electronics.

In addition, it is the first time a book has been written that connects the theory and practice in circuits and electronics through the use of the Analog Discovery board.

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