EA2

Definition
Ability to identify, classify and describe the performance of systems and components through the use of analytical methods and modelling techniques.

Sub skills
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Assessment
Current methods used to assess ability in the skill.

Benchmarks
 CORE 

Introduction to Electronic Hardware

Understand the basic properties of fundamental passive analogue components. Understand the operation of fundamental digital logic circuits in a variety of applications.

Introduction to Electronic Systems

Understand the elementary architectural components of computer systems and their relationship to appropriate programming techniques. Be familiar with the fundamental concepts in communications.

Analogue Electronics

Be able to: Analyse simple circuits in the time and frequency domains; Explain the operation and limitations of basic operational amplifier circuits; Use a range of mathematical techniques for the analysis of dynamic systems, networks and multiple input and output systems.

Digital Electronics

Understand and comment on the role of digital electronics in state-of-the-art devices. Be able to: Implement designs on programmable logic; Design interface and control circuits; Know when to use such standard logic or programmable logic; ROM or RAM; partial or full decoding; Design medium scale digital systems using components from standard families; Evaluate the comparative benefits of two or more design solutions; Employ timing diagrams in the evaluation and testing of digital systems.

Signals & Systems

Use the Laplace transform in the analysis and characterisation of linear, time-invariant systems. Apply Fourier Series and Fourier Transform techniques to describe the characteristics of signals. Describe the use of Correlation and Convolution techniques to analyse linear time invariant systems.

High Speed Electronics

Transmission Lines. Noise. EMC & Signal Integrity.

Further Digital Electronics

Understand and have practice in the design of complex digital circuits using a hierarchical approach. Be able to: Design digital circuits using VHDL; Use advanced simulation techniques to verify the operation of digital circuits; Implement digital circuits in FPGA devices. Be familiar with the modern design flow for digital circuits and the relative software tools.

Advanced Analogue Electronics

Magnetic materials; Magnetic circuits; Magnetic data storage. Applications of electromagnetic waves in engineering systems.

NON-CORE

Music Technology: Creation and Perception

Compose a short, tightly specified, sound-scape using a digital synthesis software package (PureData) and critically analyse the result.

Light, Vision and Perception

Gain background understanding of the design and use of devices in visual media.

Links, Networks and Protocols

To introduce simple traffic and mobility models. To introduce the Monte-Carlo simulation technique. To develop skills in the use of the C- programming language to simulate communication systems. To provide experience in evaluating protocols and design trade-offs using a communication system simulator.

Semiconductor Devices

Determine small signal parameters and low frequency small signal equivalent circuits. Analyse small signal transistor circuits. Introduction to the Internet and Numerical

Methods

Understand how Ethernet works in detail (including the 802.2 LLC), and how it developed from earlier multiple access schemes.

Computer Architectures

Understand in detail the basic operating principles of a microprocessor. Understand how a microprocessor operates within a complete computing system. Use hierarchical design techniques to implement complex designs.

Further Analogue Electronics

Analyse and design FET based bias and amplifier circuits. Calculate the frequency response of amplifiers. Understand dominant pole compensation in amplifiers. Understand the factors contributing to distortion in large signal and power stage. Analyse analogue power stages to determine their efficiency. Understand SOA for power transistors and the use of heatsinks. ￼￼￼￼￼￼￼￼￼￼￼￼￼￼￼

Nano fabrication

Understand the physics laws that govern the operation of nanotechnology devices.

Control Engineering

Apply the Laplace transform in the development of transfer functions for a range of simple dynamic systems. Analyse transfer functions and present the properties of the systems they represent in terms of control objectives.

Distributed Circuits

Understand how S-parameters are used in amplifier and attenuator design.

Modern & Digital Control

Analyse the properties of hybrid control systems, involving a mixture of samplers, data holds and system units, be able to derive and calculate the appropriate discrete transfer function for a given system configuration and be able to calculate Z-transforms and inverse Z- transforms.

Digital Engineering

Analyse algorithms and identify strategies for their implementation on microprocessor-based systems. Implement and use complex IP modules within a FPGA design. Develop complex VHDL testbenches for circuit verification and devise appropriate verification strategies.

Mobile Communications Systems

Compare access techniques including TDMA, FDMA and CDMA, and understand trade-offs in their design and application. Calculate system capacity for simple TDMA and CDMA terrestrial scenarios. Understand and appraise the specifications of the air interface of a cellular radio system, and comment on the effects of the values chosen. Understand the design decisions behind the GSM, WCDMA, Wi- Fi, 3GPP-LTE and Bluetooth standards. Describe, define and account for the quality of service requirements of different communications applications. Characterise the traffic produced by different applications and specify suitable models. Show how traffic models originated in the modelling of telephone call arrivals at exchanges. Derive and understand the application and limitations of the Erlang-B, Erlang-C and Engset distributions for circuit-switched network design.

Optical Communications

List the major technical characteristics of optoelectronic components (sources and receivers, amplifiers, modulators); explain their effect on possibilities and limitations of a system; calculate the main technical parameters of laser and amplifier from the construction and material properties, select a right type of component for a particular system application. Describe and calculate the loss and dispersion limits on optical communications for both direct and external modulated systems. Distinguish between different optical communication system designs, select the right type of architecture for a given system purpose.

Internet Protocols

Describe the function of bridges and routers and how they work, including the spanning tree algorithm and common routeing protocols. Antennas and Propagation - level 6. [191 et seq]. Specify the performance of the system in terms of antenna characteristics.

Distributed Computer Systems

Demonstrate an understanding of a distributed computing environment. Describe the fundamental modes of interaction in a distributed environment and their associated failure models. Explain the need for security and indicate appropriate countermeasures.

Environmental Engineering & Instrumentation

To understand the sensors and instrumentation available for environmental and industrial monitoring.

Flight Control

Apply control systems analysis and design methods in the formulation and implementation of simple flight control laws.

Nanoelectronics

Calculate the energy levels of periodic structures and nanostructures. Calculate the I-V characteristics of nanoelectronic devices.

Neural Networks

Calculate and use the Widrow-Hoff delta learning rule for binary perceptron units. Calculate and use the Hopfield energy function for associative networks. Illustrate the use of Hebbian learning (Oja’s rule), Competitive learning and Kohonen learning rules.

Photonics & Nanophotonics

Distinguish between different types of nanostructures (wells, wires, dots), describe the bandstructure of semiconductor nanostructure and its effect on optical properties. Explain how the optical properties of nanostructures affect the performance of optoelectronic devices. Explain the new possibilities in optoelectronics and photonics offered by the use of nanostructures. Appreciate the main challenges in fabrication and technology of photonic and nanophotonic devices. Assess the main trends in photonics and nanophotonics.

Modems

Calculate the power spectrum of a random baseband data waveform. Calculate the bandwidths of Nyquist filtered signals. Choose appropriate line codes and transmission formats for baseband channels. Calculate the BER of a baseband data transmission system. Design or choose a matched filter and receiver. Compare and contrast several common modulation schemes. Calculate the bit error rate of several common modulation schemes in the presence of Gaussian noise. Describe the most important RF receiver topologies and calculate noise and intermodulation performance. Be able to specify and evaluate the performance of wireless modems.

Relevant Higher Order Skills
Electrical Engineering