Instructor
Prof. F. Elohim Becerra
Email: fbecerra@unm.edu
Office: PAIS 2514
Phone: (505) 277-2616
Teaching Assistant
David Loos
Email: dloos2431@unm.edu
Office: PAIS B11XX
This course provides an introduction to electronics and computer interfaces with LabView. Students in this class will aquire hands-on experience with electrical circuits, electronics, and instrumentation, and will learn how to program interfaces for control and measurements of physical systems.
Pre-requisites: 290. **330: highly recommended.
Lectures will cover topics in electronics, basics, circuit desing, and analysis. See Topics for details.
Lab Sessions: Monday, 14:00-16:50.
You must complete 12 Labs (one every week), plus the Final Project (~3 weeks).
Electronics Labs: Students should work in teams of 2 . Every student will keep a notebook, where students discuss the experirimental procedure, results, analysis and discussion.
The weekly lab instructions follow (.pdf files):
| Lab writeup | Date | |
| Lab 1 | DC circuits | |
| Lab 2 | AC circuits and Oscilloscope | |
| Lab 3 | Capacitors and Inductors in AC circuits | |
| Lab 4 | Capacitors and Inductors in AC circuits | |
| Lab 5 | Capacitors and Inductors in AC circuits | |
| Lab 6 | Diodes | |
| Lab 7 | Transistors | |
| Lab 8 | Opamps I | |
| Lab 9 | Opamps II, Active Filters | |
| Lab10 | Oscillators I | |
| Lab11 | Oscillators II | |
| Lab12 | Timing Sequencer LV light subVI | |
| Lab13 | Hysteretic heater controller | |
| Lab14 | PI controller | |
| Lab15 | Lock-in detection |
* For each experiment, you will need to investigate/study and understand the physics behind the experiment, the technical aspects of the setup and their functionality, how the experiment works, and realize proper data and circuit analysis. By design, the lab guides are brief, and students are expected to investigate more in depth the theory and technical aspects of the Labs.
Additional resources
Fundamentals of Photonics 2nd Edition: E. A. Saleh, Malvin Carl Teich.
Office hours. You may arrange a meeting with the instructor via email.
TA office hours: PAIS Lobby: Tuesdays and Thursdays 2:00-4:00 pm
Homework: There will be regular assignments related to basic electronics, data analysis, and basic programming. The assignments will be given throughout the semester, about one per week, and will be posted in the Tentative Schedule. Assignments are due at the beginning of the class. Homework is individual; you may not copy another student's work.
Lab Notebook: You will keep a lab notebook where you will describe the experimental procedure and perform the data and circuit analysis. The guidelines are here: Lab notebook Guidelines.
Quizzes: There will be a short quiz at the start of each class. The quiz will test concepts from the previous week. There will be no makeup quizzes. The best way to prepare for the weekly quiz is to do the assignments and understand what you are building in the lab.
Final Projects and Formal Reports: You will perform an individual final project towards the end of the semester. Individual final project will focus on a specific, advanced circuit design. There are several suggested projects for students to realize. But students also can choose to develop any project from their choice. (Discuss the proposed project with the instructor to determine if it is adequate/can qualify as a final project.) Formal reports are based on the individual project that you performed. Should follow the style of a scientific journal . The guidelines are here: Formal Report Guidelines..
Lab reports are individual (i.e. each person needs to submit their own).
Published physics papers such as in Physical Review Letters, Optics Letters, etc. provide a good guide for writing your lab report.
Any research article is good example. One example from a class report is here.
IMPORTANT: Use your own words. Do not copy from your classmates or any other resource, including lab guides. This is considered Academic Dishonestiy. Instead, read, understand and write with your own words. Scientific papers are the product of your understanding and your own work, and not of other people's work.
Due Dates
| Date | Description |
| 09/25 (M) | Lab notebook (Labs 1-4) |
| 10/23 (M) | Lab notebook (Labs 5-8) |
| 11/20 (M) | Lab notebook (Labs 9-12) |
| 12/06 (W) | Formal Report (via email 5pm) |
The lab notebooks and homeworks must be submitted in the day of class before the lecture on the day they are due.
Late work policy:
Late work assignments will be accepted but with a 15% penalty for each day past the deadline. So any work handed-in within 24 hrs of the deadline will carry a 15% penalty, one handed-in within 48 hrs will carry a 30% penalty, as so on.
Tentative list of topics that will be covered. The calendar is in the Tentative Schedule.
Additional resources
Fit straight line with unequal errors
The
art of electronics (3rd Edition): Paul Horowitz
and Winfield Hill
Introduction
to LabView
Program examples
| Lectures | Date | Subject | Homework | HW Due | Notes |
| Lecture 1 | 08/21 (M) | Overview; DC circuits, Ohm's and Kirchhoff's laws | HW1 | (M) Aug 28 | |
| Lecture 2 | 08/28 (M) | AC circuits and Oscilloscope | HW2 | (M) Sep 11 | |
| 09/4 (M) | (no class) | ||||
| Lecture 3 | 09/11 (M) | Capacitors and Inductors in AC circuits I | HW3 | (M) Sep 18 | |
| Lecture 4 | 09/18 (M) | Capacitors and Inductors in AC circuits II | HW4 | (M) Sep 25 | |
| L5 | 09/25 (M) | RLC Resonant Circuits | |||
| L6 | 10/02 (M) | Diodes | |||
| L7 | 10/09 (M) | Transistors | |||
| L8 | 10/16 (M) | Fourier Analysis and Operational Amplifiers I | |||
| L9 | 10/23 (M) | Operational Amplifiers II | |||
| L10 | 10/30 (M) | Oscillators I | |||
| L11 | 11/06 (M) | Relaxation Oscillators | |||
| L12 | 11/13 (M) | Timing and Control | |||
| L13 | 11/20 (M) | Close Loop control | |||
| L14 | 11/27 (M) | PID controller | |||
| L15 | 11/27 (M) | Lock-in amplifier |