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Undergraduate Programs
Home / Undergraduate Programs / Courses / Circuit Theory

ECE 320A

Circuit Theory

Fall
Spring
Required Course:
Yes

Course Level

Undergraduate

Units

3

Instructor(s)

Hal Tharp, Associate Professor
Michael Schober, Lecturer

Prerequisite(s)

Advanced Standing: Engineering. Major or minor: ECE. MATH 254 and ECE 220.

Course Texts

Electric Circuits, 11th Edition, J. W. Nilsson and S. A. Riedel, Pearson Prentice Hall, 2018.

Schedule

Two 75-minute lecture sessions per week, TuTh 3:30PM - 4:45PM.

Course Description

Specific Course Information: 
2021-2022 Catalog Data:
 Electric circuits in the frequency domain, using sinusoidal steady-state, Laplace and Fourier methods; single-phase and three-phase power; time domain methods and convolution; transformed networks; natural frequencies; poles and zeros; two-port network parameters; and Fourier series analysis.

Learning Outcomes

Specific Goals for the Course:
Outcomes of Instruction:
By the end of this course the student will be able to:

  1. Calculate the complex power, in terms of real and reactive components, in single-phase sinusoidal, steady-state systems.
  2. Design a reactive load that improves a system’s power factor.
  3. Convert wye-connected reactive loads to delta-connected reactive loads and vice versa.
  4. Solve for line currents, line voltages, phase currents, and phase voltages in arbitrarily interconnected balanced, three-phase circuits.
  5. Convert a given electrical circuit into its s-domain equivalent representation.
  6. Apply the Laplace Transform operator to generic waveforms and calculate the Inverse Laplace Transform of a given s-domain expression.
  7. Solve for currents and voltages in generic RLC circuits.
  8. Model RLC circuits with transfer functions.
  9. Calculate the output waveform from an input waveform and a system’s transfer function.
  10. Apply the Initial Value Theorem and the Final Value Theorem.
  11. Convolve two waveforms.
  12. Design simple passive frequency selective filters.
  13. Sketch the Bode diagrams associated with a transfer function.
  14. Design active frequency selective filters.
  15. Develop a Fourier Series expansion for a periodic waveform.
  16. Calculate, using the Fourier Series concept, a linear system’s output response when a periodic input waveform is applied to the linear system, if time permits

Course Topics

Brief list of topics to be covered:

  1. Sinusoidal steady-state power calculations (5 classes)
  2. Balanced three phase circuits (3 classes)
  3. Introduction to the Laplace Transform (4 classes)
  4. The Laplace Transform in circuit analysis (6 classes)
  5. Convolution (3 classes)
  6. Bode plots and frequency response (2 classes)
  7. Introduction to frequency-selective circuits (1 class)
  8. Active filter circuits (2 classes)

Relationship to Student Outcomes

ECE 320A contributes directly to the following specific electrical and computer engineering student outcomes of the ECE department:

1. An ability to identify, formulate, and solve complex engineering problems by applying principles of engineering, science, and mathematics.
4. An ability to recognize ethical and professional responsibilities in engineering situations and make informed judgments, which must consider the impact of engineering solutions in global, economic, environmental, and societal contexts.
7. An ability to acquire and apply new knowledge as needed, using appropriate learning strategies.

Syllabus Prepared By

Syllabus updated on 3/29/2022
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