EE2011
A term 2001
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
EE 2011 Introduction to Electrical and Computer Engineering Term A’01
Everything You Always Wanted To Know About EE 2011*
* But Were Afraid To Ask
NOTICE: As part of enrollment in this course, each student will automatically be
charged ≈$65 for the purchase of an ECE design kit. Each student in this course
must have their own ECE design kit. These kits will, with a few additions along the
way, provide the basic components and tools you will need for all of the ECE course
laboratories at WPI, plus your MQP and any other projects you undertake. You will
be given instructions on how to pick up your kit in the near future.
About the Course
Content: This course serves two primary purposes. First, it is an introductory course in electronic
circuit analysis. Second, the course provides an introduction to the broad subject of electrical and
computer engineering (ECE). In addition to covering many of the basic theoretic principles of
circuit analysis common to many ECE areas, this course will also provide you with the opportunity
to complete a series of laboratory projects. These projects will allow you to see how the topics
covered in class can be applied to produce useful and interesting devices, and they will also give
you the chance to develop some laboratory skills, which are an important part of any engineering
education. So, this course will be a combination of theory and hands-on applications.
Recommended background: This course assumes a background in introductory physics,
introductory calculus; and an interest in ECE. And, even if you're not sure what ECE is, or not sure
if it's right for you, this course is designed in such a way that you will probably have a much better
idea about those questions by the end of the term. That's because the course is intended to give you
an introduction to the basics, but at the same time give you a flavor of the entire discipline. This
course is not intended or recommended as an “overview” of ECE for non-majors; you'll be much
better served by EE 3601 for that purpose.
What to expect: This may be the first engineering course you have ever taken; if so, you will
discover that engineering courses require a lot of hard work. In particular, this course, with its
combination of homework, exams, prelab assignments, etc., will keep you very busy over the next
seven weeks. It is important that you be prepared to invest at least 15 or 20 hours per week in
this course (including lecture and lab time).
On the other hand, you will also discover that engineering courses can be very interesting and
exciting, because they provide the bridge between basic knowledge and real-world applications.
Because engineering involves drawing from a number of different areas (math, physics, etc.) to
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solve practical problems, it requires plenty of practice in solving problems and the ability to apply
familiar techniques to new situations. You will find that the most important questions about these
applications of math and physics will not be “how do I get the answer?”, but rather “what does the
answer mean?” And, in addition to solving “traditional” problems, you will be asked to spend a
lot of time reading, writing, and thinking in this course; these are some of the most important
skills of the technical professional!
If you are wondering if all of this work is worth it, you might want to ask someone who's taken the
course. Or, to get a broad picture of how previous students have reacted to EE 2011, you might
want to look through the course evaluation statistics, which are available for all WPI courses at
http://www.wpi.edu/Academics/Eval/evaluations.html.
Course Administration
Course Materials: All course materials (e.g., homework assignments, homework solutions,
laboratory
assignments)
will
be
posted
to
the
class
web
site
(http://www.ece.wpi.edu/courses/ee2011.html). If you print to Atwater-Kent printers from
your ECE computer accounts, the first ~100 pages/month are free.
Homework: As with most engineering subjects, this course involves techniques and problemsolving approaches which require practice to master. Furthermore, there are many interesting
applications that we will not have time to dwell on in class. As a result, homework will be an
important part of this course. By working diligently on these assignments, you will acquire an
appreciation for the use of the techniques, and an appreciation for their applicability to a variety of
problems. Detailed solutions to the homework assignments will be available on the class home
page.
How to go about the homework: Homework is primarily a learning exercise, as opposed to an
evaluative exercise. Ideally, it would be worth no credit, and all students would work hard to
complete each assignment. As a favor, I am making it worth 20% to give you some extra
motivation. Your true motivation, however, should be the fact that you will not understand the
material and do well on the tests unless you have done and understood the homework! I
strongly encourage you to start it early, and ask questions of the staff if you are lost; that's what
we're here for. It can also be useful to discuss the problems among yourselves in small groups.
However, it is expected that what you pass in is your own work and represents your own level
of understanding. See the comments below on Academic Honesty for more about this.
Exams: The exams will evaluate how well you have absorbed the material in class and in the
homeworks. Rather than parroting back what you have already done, you will be applying what
you have learned to new problems. I think you will find the exams challenging, and a good
indicator of how well you have learned the material. You can expect the exams to include
questions that ask you to explain the concepts underlying the material. You will be asked to think
and demonstrate understanding, not to just plug numbers into formulas.
Academic Honesty:
The very existence of an institution of higher learning depends upon respect for learning and
intellectual ethics. Everything that happens at WPI should reflect the values of the community, and
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these values in turn center upon our mission to educate students, generate and disseminate
knowledge, and serve society. A large part of your education involves the development of personal
attributes, and the most important attribute you can have is integrity, because it directly affects the
decisions you make with respect to school, work, society, and the people around you.
In keeping with the importance of integrity, you will be held to a high standard of conduct in this
course. The work that you hand in, whether on homeworks, exams, or labs, must be your own
work, and reflect your own level of understanding. Any violations of academic honesty in
homeworks, labs, or exams will be dealt with according to WPI policy. What this means is that
any form of cheating will not be tolerated, and the consequences will be very serious. Studying
with others is highly encouraged, but when you work in a study group, make sure that the members
of the group are relatively evenly matched in ability and commitment, and that each student does
his or her own work.
Laboratory Projects:
As is the case with many ECE courses, this course is accompanied by a series of laboratory
projects. Many students find the laboratories to be the most interesting and enjoyable aspect of the
course. The labs will provide you with hands-on experience, which will help you to understand the
principles discussed in class, and give you a feel for what “real engineering work” can be like.
There are five important rules about the lab that you should be aware of:
1. Learn and respect lab rules, particularly those regarding safety. Lab safety means
respecting the dangers that can result from improper use of electrified equipment. For
safety reasons, i) no one is allowed to use lab equipment unless a second person is present
in the lab and ii) no food or drink are allowed in the lab. Obviously, we also expect you to
treat all of the equipment with care so that the equipment remains available to everyone.
2. You will not be allowed into the lab unless you have done the prelab work. Each
week's experiment will require you to complete a pre-lab assignment before your lab
session. This pre-lab, and the lab notes that you keep during each experiment, will be
collected and graded by the staff, and your lab grade will be worth a portion of your final
grade.
3. You must successfully complete all of the lab projects in order to pass the course. No
matter how well you do in the rest of the course, you cannot pass this course without
completing all of the labs.
4. You must complete the lab within one week from the original lab date. You should
complete the labs in the three hours allotted to each if you come to lab prepared. You will
be given a project syllabus in advance of each lab, along with explicit instructions on how
to prepare for each project. In order to receive credit for any laboratory, the lab report must
be handed in within one week of the original lab date. If more than one week has elapsed
since the original lab date, you must still hand in a passing lab report, but a grade of zero
will be entered. If no acceptable lab report is received for any lab, you cannot pass this
course.
5. You must come to lab on time. Woody Allen once said that “90% of life is just showing
up”. Important information about the projects and the equipment you will be using will be
provided at the beginning of each lab period. You will be working in teams of two, and you
will be paired with a different partner each week. The reason for this is to give you a
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chance to meet some of the people you will be taking classes with for the next three years,
and also to give you valuable experience working in a team with different people. Since
you will be part of a team, your obligation to come to lab prepared and on time is
particularly important.
The staff: The teaching assistants, undergraduate tutors, and I will be available to answer any
questions you may have during the scheduled help sessions. You are strongly encouraged to take
advantage of this resource. If you can come in to see us with some thought-out questions, we will
be happy to spend time with you to help you on a one-on-one basis, or in small groups.
Getting your work back: All homework, lab notes, and exams will be returned to your ECE
mailbox. The mailboxes are located in the second floor hallway parallel and closest to West Street.
You must put your ECE box number on all of your work so that it can be returned to you. A
list of box numbers will be posted across from the boxes a few days after the course starts. If for
some reason you do not appear on this list, visit the ECE Department Office on the second floor
and request a box number from one of the secretaries. Be nice to the secretaries, by the way! They
are wonderful people who can make your time here in the ECE Department much easier.
Course communication: Some information regarding the course will be sent out via electronic
mail to the entire class. You are expected to check your e-mail regularly to receive these
messages, which will include useful hints and important information about homework, lab projects,
and exams. You are welcome to ask questions of the staff (including me) via e-mail, but be careful
not send a “group reply” to a message which is sent out to the entire class, because everyone will
receive a copy of the reply. This is a good way to annoy everyone.
Copies of the syllabus, assignments, and other important information will be posted to the course
website at URL http://www.ece.wpi.edu/courses/ee2011.html. Also, hints and answers to
questions regarding the homework may also be posted there. You are encouraged to monitor this
site regularly.
Lectures and reading assignments: In addition to doing and understanding all of the homework,
and preparing carefully for the lab projects, I strongly encourage you to not miss any classes, and
to do the assigned reading. I do not always follow the textbook very closely, but rather attempt to
give an alternate presentation so that you have multiple viewpoints from which to learn the
material. The reading assignments listed on the course calendar will be helpful and relevant, but
not always sufficient; likewise, the lectures will be designed to give insight, but cannot contain
every detail of the material.
Some General Educational Philosophy
How WPI is different from other schools: The WPI Plan offers students great freedom in
designing their educational programs. There are virtually no required courses, and the most
important activities—the MQP, IQP, and Sufficiency—are projects that are chosen by, and often
designed by, the students, and are often completed at an off-campus location chosen by the
students. With all freedoms, however, come responsibilities. Because the WPI student has more
freedom in curricular design than students at other universities, he or she also must assume
considerably more responsibility for meeting educational goals. This means carefully choosing
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courses and projects, of course, but it also extends to the way those courses and projects are
executed.
WPI courses meet less hours than courses at other schools; this is not because the content is less or
the level is lower, but because the student is given greater responsibility for learning the material,
and is expected to perform a considerable amount of outside work. This allows WPI faculty to
have the time necessary for the conscientious advising, both for projects and academic programs,
that is so essential in a flexible curriculum with many opportunities and choices. This also helps to
prepare students for the type of independent problem-solving that engineering project work (both
here and in the “real world”) requires.
Assuming responsibility for your education: Some of the ways in which you can assume this
responsibility should be fairly obvious: read the textbooks, start assignments early, seek help when
you hit a roadblock. Read the lab handouts carefully, and come in prepared to work. However,
traditional course requirements—exams and homework—can leave a student with misconceptions
about the goals of an education. The goal is not for you to accumulate enough “points” to get
whatever grade it is that you hope for. The goal is for you to internalize the material, to relate it to
things you already know, to be able to explain it to others. The point is for you to understand
what the equations and concepts mean, not to be able to manipulate them. If all there was to
engineering was plugging and chugging, you wouldn't need to have someone spend $27+K per year
for you to learn about it. And no one would subsequently offer you $60K per year to go and do it.
Active learning: What am I getting at? If I had to sum it up in one “sound bite”, it would be this: a
real education is not a passive experience. You are not going to benefit very much from just
sitting back and absorbing the “wisdom” disseminated in lecture, and cranking out some homework
the night before it is due. Be an active participant in your education. Think about the lecture
material. Try to understand the connection between the theory and what you observe in the lab.
Read the texts (the words, not just the equations) for understanding. Discuss the ideas. Ask
questions. Do a problem that wasn't assigned. Build a circuit that you've studied about, and see if
it really works.
Support: Of course, if all of this is to occur, the instructor and staff have an obligation to conduct
the course in a manner consistent with these educational goals. As paying customers, you have the
right to expect competent and thought-provoking lectures, challenging, well-chosen assignments
which illustrate key points and make you think, exams that ask you to demonstrate comprehension
of the material, interesting and enlightening lab projects, and sufficient access to the instructor and
staff. If a course does not require you to put in at least 15 or 20 hours per week, if it does not
present you with intellectual challenges and rewards, if it seems “easy”, then you are not getting
your money's worth. The staff and I will work in earnest to provide a valuable learning
experience in this course; students willing to assume responsibility can expect to benefit
significantly. If you have any problems, complaints, or suggestions, or if you find any aspect of
this course disappointing or problematic, please come and talk to me about it. If you're not
comfortable talking to me, talk to a tutor or TA, or to your advisor, or to Professor Orr (my boss),
or to Provost Carney (his boss).
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Summary
I hope that this course will be a challenging and rewarding experience for each student. The
content of this course will lay the foundation for the rest of your ECE courses, and perhaps for a
lifelong career. You will not find this to be an “easy” course; there is nothing easy about being an
electrical and computer engineer. It requires good math skills, the ability to conceptualize and
communicate, motivation, and curiosity. As a reward for that work, however, this subject will
provide an introduction to a wide array of interesting and challenging career opportunities, many of
which will directly affect the way that we live. Just as work already done in radio, telephony, TV,
microprocessors, automotive electronics, and software engineering has daily impact on your life,
the opportunities that await you in these areas and new ones yet to be discovered will allow you to
shape the future.
Written by R. Vaz, 1998.
Revised by E. Clancy, 1/01, 8/01
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