Description

This textbook is for a first course on electronics. It assumes no prior electronics experience, but does assume that students have had calculus 1 (single-variable differential calculus) and high-school physics.

A key idea of the course is that students need a lot of design experience and hands-on work, rather than a lot of theory. The course is centered around the labs, which are a mix of design labs and measurement/modeling labs.

This unique volume takes students from knowing no electronics to being able to design and build amplifier and filter circuits for connecting sensors to microcontrollers within 20 weeks. Students design a digital thermometer, a blood-pressure meter, an optical pulse monitor, an EKG, an audio preamplifier, and a class-D power amplifier. They also learn how to measure and characterize components, including impedance spectroscopy of a loudspeaker and of electrochemical electrodes.