Module overview
All modern aerospace systems rely upon electronic and mechatronic subsystems to sense, process and respond to their environment.
Aerospace engineers need to be able to use a range of technologies and theory to design these responsive systems which address complex engineering problems.
In this module you will apply the theory of electronic circuits, transducers and control systems from your lectures to solve complex engineering problems in a range of practical laboratory and group design exercises.
This module will help you become proficient in designing, building and testing electronic instrumentation and control systems, which you will apply to engineering tasks throughout your degree and beyond.
Aims and Objectives
Learning Outcomes
Partial CEng Programme Level Learning Outcomes
Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:
- Select and apply appropriate electronic components, test equipment, debugging tools and processes to build and test electronic subsystems. Continuous assessment via design project.
- Analyse digital and analogue circuits to reach substantiated predictions and conclusions about their performance using first principles of electromagnetism, circuit and linear systems analysis techniques. This LO is assessed via exam and continuous assessment of a design project.
- Select and apply appropriate principles of electromagnetism, lumped element models and circuit analysis techniques to solve complex problems involving digital and analogue electronic circuits. Assessment is via exam.
- Select and apply appropriate lumped element models to model digital and analogue electronic circuits. Assessment is via exam.
- Apply a systems approach to the design of electronic systems which sense, process and respond to their environment. Continuous assessment via design project.
- Apply practical laboratory and workshop skills to build and test complex electronic systems, including: the construction of electronic circuits, programming microcontrollers and making measurements using electronic test equipment. Continuous assessment via design project.
Syllabus
Foundations of Electronic Control Systems
* Electric field, voltage, current, power, Kirchoff’s laws
* Electromagnetics: Lorenz force, Lenz’s law, Faraday’s law
* Circuit elements: resistors, inductors, capacitors, ideal voltage and current sources, transformers
* DC circuit analysis: circuit simplification, Thevenin theorem, superposition theorem
* Time domain analysis of simple circuits
* Lab 1: Introduction to Arduino
Discrete and Integrated Semiconductors
* Diodes: VI characteristic, rectification, clamping
* Transistors: BJTs & FETs, VI characteristic, signal amplification, buffers, switching, voltage regulation
* Combinational logic: logic gates, truth tables
* Sequential logic: synchronous and asynchronous logic, serial communication, pulse width modulation
* Lab 2: Control of actuators
Operational Amplifiers
* Characteristics of ideal and non-ideal op-amps
* Common feedback topologies
* AC circuit analysis: small signal model, phasors, Bode plots
* Design of first order low/high/band pass filters
* Closed loop control
* Lab 3: Tone detector
* Lab 4: Light source tracker
Sensors and Actuators
* Transducer characteristics (frequency response); Analogue to Digital conversion; Sampling; Aliasing
* Common types of sensors, their principle of operation, and selection and design of instrumentation
* Actuators, their theory of operation, and the selection, design and application circuits to drive them
* Lab 5: Sensors and transducers
Mini Group Design Project
Design of a responsive control system, featuring elements of
* Sensors and transducers
* Signal conditioning
* Signal processing following a pre-defined logic
* Actuators
* Closed loop control
Learning and Teaching
Teaching and learning methods
There are four topics, delivered over weeks 1-10, leading up to two weeks to complete a mini group design project (weeks 11 and 12).
Lectures (2 hours per week) deliver engineering science content. This content is supplemented with online resources, including problem sheets, worked examples, quizzes and a discussion board to provide feedback on content and problem solving.
Associated laboratory practicals (2 hours every 2 weeks) apply new concepts synchronised with lectures to build and test different electronic systems. This practical element is supplemented with online materials to prepare you for the lab exercises ahead of time. These require application of engineering science to design and predict the performance of electronic circuits, which will be built and tested during the laboratory sessions. During these sessions, demonstrators provide practical guidance on constructing and debugging the circuits.
The laboratory exercises build towards a final group design project, where you will build an electronic system which must sense, process and respond to its environment to complete an aerospace-inspired mission. You will learn through problem based learning, working in small groups to using systems engineering to design, build and test subsystems and integrate these to complete the mission.
| Type | Hours |
|---|---|
| Completion of assessment task | 42 |
| Guided independent study | 56 |
| Practical classes and workshops | 16 |
| Preparation for scheduled sessions | 16 |
| Lecture | 20 |
| Total study time | 150 |
Resources & Reading list
General Resources
Resources. Resources: * Requires specialist electronics teaching laboratory space, with desktop computers and electronic test equipment (multimeters, oscilloscopes, benchtop power supplies) * Electronics starter kit, one per student. (Example: Arduino UNO R3 Super Starter Kit, circa £35) . Replaces requirement in FEEG2001. * Access to design studio * Mars rover robot platforms and associated hardware * Student access on own machines to a range of computational tools including Arduino IDE and Python
Textbooks
Paul Horowitz, Winfield Hill. The Art of Electronics.
Assessment
Assessment strategy
The Learning Outcomes of this module will be assessed via a final exam (50%) and a group design project (50%). The group design project is assessed via continuous assessment and contains an individual mark and a group mark.
External Repeat:
External Repeat is allowed for students who have fulfilled the laboratory/workshop and group work requirements of the module (set by Module Lead) in the original attempt.
Summative
This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.
| Method | Percentage contribution |
|---|---|
| Exam | 50% |
| Continuous Assessment | 50% |
Repeat Information
Repeat type: Internal & External