Week 1 Handout
What do we need to know?
From the ECE Handbook:
As for texts: I own, and recommend Thomas & Rosa 4 ed. It is the text that was used for
ECE 201-202 at MSU when I took those courses (now they use 5th ed.). No text is
required for this review group; I will copy and distribute any problems we discuss. For
your review outside of this group, you will probably find it is very helpful (it has lots of
examples!). The 5th edition is probably on reserve at the EGR library- ask for the ECE
201 or ECE 202 textbook.
I’ve divided the topics listed above in the order they are covered in T&R:
Schedule for this group:
10/29 - Week 1:
Introduction, Review Practice Test 1 (S09), Independent
and Dependent Sources, Resistors, KCL, KVL
11/5 - Week 2:
Thevenin and Norton Equivalents, Superposition
Techniques
11/12 - Week 3:
Node-Voltage, Mesh-Current, Transistors and Op-Amps
11/19 - Week 4:
Capacitors, Inductors, DC analysis,
(11/26 - Thanksgiving Holiday – No meeting)
12/3 - Week 5:
1st, 2nd order transient analysis
12/10 - Week 6:
AC Analysis (phasors), Power Balance
(12/17 - Final Exams Week – No meeting)
(12/24 - Christmas Holiday – No meeting)
(12/31 - New Year’s Holiday – No meeting)
1/7 Week 7:
Two-port networks, Transfer functions, s-domain, Filters
1/14Final Meeting: Review Practice Test 2 (S08), Review of all topics, and
any other questions you have
ECE Ph.D. Qualifying Exam Preparation Circuit Fundamentals Review Group
www.msu.edu/~nicleysh
Today’s topic:
Independent and Dependent Sources, Resistors, KCL, KVL (Ch 2, Ch 4-1)
The resistor:
The IV characteristics are given by:
v = iR
(Ohm’s law)
Or by:
i = Gv, where G=1/R = conductance
The power across the resistor is given by:
p = i2R = v2G = v2/R
Series:
=
Req = R1 + R2
R1
R2
R1 + R2
Parallel:
R1
R eq
1
1
1
R 1R 2




1
1
G eq G1  G 2
R1  R 2

R1 R 2
=
R 1R 2
R1  R 2
R2
Independent Sources:
Independent sources can produce either time-varying or constant signals
voltage source:
or:
(battery = constant voltage source)
An ideal voltage source produces a specified voltage regardless of the current through it.
current source:
An ideal current source produces a specified current regardless of the voltage across it.
ECE Ph.D. Qualifying Exam Preparation Circuit Fundamentals Review Group
www.msu.edu/~nicleysh
Equivalent circuits:
Connection Constraints:
Circuit: an interconnection of electrical devices
Node: an electrical juncture of two or more devices
Loop: a closed path formed by tracing through an ordered sequence of nodes without
passing through any node more than once
Kirchoff’s Current Law (KCL):
The sum of the currents entering a node equals the sum of the currents leaving the node
Kirchoff’s Voltage Law (KVL):
The sum of all the voltages around a loop is zero at every instant
Voltage Division:
 R 
vk   k vTOTAL
 REQ 


Current Division:
 G 
ik   k iTOTAL
 GEQ 


 R1 
is
And for 2 elements: i2  
R

R
 1
2 
ECE Ph.D. Qualifying Exam Preparation Circuit Fundamentals Review Group
www.msu.edu/~nicleysh
Dependant Sources:
A voltage or current source whose output is controlled by a voltage or current in a
different part of the circuit. Dependant sources are active devices, and thus circuits
containing dependant sources are active circuits.
The four possible dependant sources are: current-controlled voltage sources (CCVS),
voltage-controlled voltage sources (VCVS), current-controlled current sources (CCCS),
and voltage-controlled current sources (VCCS), as shown below.
This Week’s Problems – Going over Practice Exam 1 (S09)
ECE Ph.D. Qualifying Exam Preparation Circuit Fundamentals Review Group
www.msu.edu/~nicleysh
ECE Ph.D. Qualifying Exam Preparation Circuit Fundamentals Review Group
www.msu.edu/~nicleysh
This Week’s Problems – On topic
1.
2.
ECE Ph.D. Qualifying Exam Preparation Circuit Fundamentals Review Group
www.msu.edu/~nicleysh