DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING
Professor Emeritus: Shu-Park Chan
Professors: Timothy J. Healy (Thomas J. Bannan Professor), Samiha Mourad, Dragoslav D. Siljak (Benjamin and Mae Swig Professor), Sally L. Wood, Cary Y. Yang (Department Chair), Aleksandar Zecevic
Associate Professors: Shoba Krishnan, Tokunbo Ogunfunmi, Mahmud Rahman
Assistant Professors: Sarah Kate Wilson (Packard Junior Faculty Fellow), Talal Al-Attar
Electrical engineering includes the design, construction, and operation of electrical components, circuits, and systems. Electrical engineers are concerned with all phases of the transmission of information such as in radio, television, telephone systems, fiber optics, wireless communication, satellite communication, and electric power, and advancing integrated circuit design, test, and implementation. Information processing and storage equipment, computers and networks used by business, industry, and government are included in their major area of interest. Laboratories are an important part of most undergraduate courses in the electrical engineering program. Use of appropriate laboratory equipment, design tools, and components demonstrates fundamental concepts of the courses and acquaints students with methods and tools they may use after graduation. The program is supported by the facilities of the Engineering Design Center and the University’s Information Technology Center. The department supports eight major teaching and research laboratories, three additional laboratories used only for teaching, and a laboratory dedicated to the support of senior design projects. The three teaching laboratories cover the fields of electric circuits, electronic circuits, and logic design.
REQUIREMENTS FOR THE MAJOR
In addition to fulfilling the University Core Curriculum for the Bachelor of Science degree, students majoring in electrical engineering must complete a minimum of 190 units and the following department requirements:
English
Mathematics and Natural Science
- MATH 11, 12, 13, 21
- AMTH 106 (or MATH 22) and AMTH 108 (or MATH 122)
- MATH 53 or CSCI 166 or AMTH 118
- CHEM 11 and (CHEM 12 or BIOL 24)
- PHYS 31, 32, 32L, 33, 33L, 34
Engineering
- ENGR 1
- CENG 41
- COEN 12, 44
- MECH 121
- ELEN 21, 21L, 33, 50, 100, 104, 110, 115, 151, 194, 195, 196
Technical Electives
Four undergraduate-equivalent courses selected from the following options:
- Upper-division electrical engineering elective courses
- COEN 120, 122, 146
- First-year graduate level electrical engineering coursework approved by the advisor (2-unit graduate courses count as one-half of an undergraduate course)
At least one course must be selected from each of the three emphasis areas:
- Design Team Emphasis: ELEN 116, 117, 123, 127, 143, 144, 145, 152, 153, 156
- Advanced Mathematics Emphasis: ELEN 112, 118, 130, 131, 133, 134, 141,144, 160
- Computer Programming Design Emphasis: ELEN 112, 118, 127, 131, 133, 141, 143, 180
Professional Development
A professional development experience selected from one of the following options:
- Four or more units in a study abroad program that does not duplicate other coursework
- Cooperative education experience with enrollment in ELEN 188 and ELEN 189
- Preparation for graduate study in electrical engineering with completion of 4 or more units of upper-division or graduate level courses
- Completion of an approved minor in any field of engineering or science
- Peer education experience
REQUIREMENTS FOR THE MINOR
Students must fulfill the following requirements for a minor in electrical engineering:
- ELEN 21, 21L, 50, 115
- Two courses selected from ELEN 100, 104, 110, and 151
- Three upper-division ELEN lecture courses (ELEN 100 courses except ELEN 188 and 189)
- Work completed to satisfy these requirements must include at least two courses beyond any free electives or other courses required to earn the bachelor’s degree in the student’s primary major.
COMBINED BACHELOR OF SCIENCE AND MASTER OF SCIENCE PROGRAM
The Department of Electrical Engineering offers a combined degree program leading to the Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science open to electrical engineering majors with an approved grade point average in electrical engineering, mathematics, and physics courses. Under the combined degree program, an undergraduate student begins taking courses required for a master’s degree before completing the requirements for the bachelor’s degree and typically completes the requirements for a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering within a year of obtaining the bachelor’s degree.
Undergraduate students admitted to the combined degree program are required to enroll in the program between February of their junior year and December of their senior year. Students in this program will receive their bachelor’s degree after satisfying the standard undergraduate degree requirements. To earn the master’s degree, students must fulfill all the requirements for the degree, including the completion of 45 units of coursework beyond that applied to their bachelor’s degree.
No course can be used to satisfy requirements for both the bachelor’s degree and the master’s degree. Completion of 10 or more units of coursework in electrical engineering taken for the master’s degree satisfies the Professional Development requirement of the undergraduate program. The program of studies for the master’s degree may include up to 20 units of elective coursework from ELEN 112, 116, 117, 118, 127, 130, 133, 134, 141, 143, 144, 152, 153, 156, 160 or 200 and above. These undergraduate units can count toward a master’s degree only if a grade of B or better is earned. Students who do not complete the combined degree program within six years of entering the University will automatically be transferred to the regular master’s degree program. Although six years is the maximal timeframe for completing the combined degree, full-time students enrolling in February of their junior year normally complete both degrees within five years.
Electrical Engineering Laboratories
The ASIC Testing Laboratory supports research conducted by graduate students from the departments of Electrical Engineering and Computer Engineering. Computer-aided testing packages from industry and the public domain are used in projects such as fault modeling and analysis. Design for Test on RTL-level for digital and mixed signal circuits. Design for reliability based on the defect-based testing.
The Communications and Microwave Laboratory provides a full range of modern measurement capability from 0–22 GHz, including a number of automatic network analyzers and modern spectrum analyzers. It also has extensive computer-aided design and simulation capability, based largely on modern commercial software running on workstations. Interconnection of hardware measurements and computer simulation is stressed.
The Digital Systems Laboratory (operated jointly with the Department of Computer Engineering) provides complete facilities for experiments and projects ranging in complexity from a few digital integrated circuits to FPGA-based designs. The laboratory also includes a variety of development systems to support embedded systems and digital signal processing.
The Electronic Devices Laboratory is dedicated to teaching and research topics on electronic devices, materials, and their manufacturing technologies. The laboratory uses a class-100, clean-room facility that provides hands-on experiences of fabrication and characterizations of basic electronic devices. Current research topics include Impact of Process Variations on the Analysis and Optimization of VSLI Circuits, and Modeling MOS Devices including Quantum Mechanical Interface Charge Distribution Effects.
The Intelligent Control Laboratory provides an experimental environment for students in the area of control and system engineering. It includes a computer-controlled robotic system, several servo-experimenters, and a torsional mechanical control system. The equipment provides students with a wide range of qualitative and quantitative experiments for learning the utility and versatility of feedback in computer-controlled systems.
The Nanoelectronics Laboratory provides teaching and research facilities for modeling, simulation, and characterization of devices and circuits in the nanoscale. Ongoing research topics include silicon heterostructures, thin dielectrics, high-frequency device and circuit parameter extraction, carbon nanotubes used as electrical and thermal interconnects, and compact modeling of transistors and interconnects for large-scale circuit simulation. This laboratory is part of the campus-wide Center for Nanostructures, established to conduct, promote, and nurture nanoscale science and technology interdisciplinary research and education activities at the University, and to position the University as a national center of innovation in nanoscience education and nanostructures research.
The Image and Video Processing Laboratory supports graduate student research on algorithms and implementations for image analysis, image reconstruction and super-resolution, and stereo imaging. Laboratory equipment includes cameras for image acquisition, computational resources, and FPGAs for real-time testing.
The Multimedia Education Laboratory (operated jointly with the Department of Computer Engineering) is dedicated to the development and delivery of multimedia educational resources and to the development of tools to create and present these resources. The laboratory is equipped with eight UNIX workstations with high-speed ATM networking.
The Robotics Systems Laboratory is an interdisciplinary laboratory specializing in the design, control, and teleoperation of highly capable robotics systems for scientific discovery, technology validation, and engineering education. Laboratory students develop and operate systems that include spacecraft, underwater robots, aircraft, and land rovers. These projects serve as ideal test beds for learning and conducting research in mechatronic system design, guidance and navigation, command and control systems, and human-machine interfaces.
The Signal Processing Laboratory (SiPL) is used primarily for graduate research. It is equipped with networked workstations, multimedia PCs, real-time development systems for DSP and FPGAs, multimedia development boards and wireless LAN networking equipment. Research areas include adaptive signal processing, nonlinear signal processing, artificial neural networks and multimedia (video and speech/audio processing). Applications include communications, biotech and Voice-over-IP. Implementations include VLSI, DSP and FPGA.
LOWER-DIVISION COURSES
21. Introduction to Logic Design
Boolean functions and their minimization. Designing combinational circuits, adders, multipliers, multiplexers, decoders. Noise margin, propagation delay. Bussing. Memory elements: latches and flip-flops; timing; registers; counters. Programmable logic, PLD, and FPGA. Use of industry quality CAD tools for schematic capture and HDL in conjunction with FPGAs. Also listed as COEN 21. Co-requisite: ELEN 21L. (4 units)
21L. Logic Design Lab
Laboratory for ELEN 21. Also listed as COEN 21L. Co-requisite: ELEN 21. (1 unit)
33. Digital Systems Architecture
Overview of processor architectures for general purpose processors, signal processing microprocessors, and FPGA implementations of DSP; data representation in fixed point, floating point, m law and A law; instruction sets; assembly and machine language programming; real-time audio data acquisition and output; introduction to sample data systems. Analog to digital converters and digital to analog converters. Prerequisites: ELEN 21 and COEN 44. Co-requisite: COEN 12. (5 units)
50. Electric Circuits I
Physical basis and mathematical models of circuit components and energy sources. Circuit theorems and methods of analysis are applied to DC and AC circuits. Laboratory. Prerequisite: PHYS 33. (5 units)
UPPER-DIVISION COURSES
100. Electric Circuits II
Continuation of ELEN 50. Sinusoidal steady state and phasors, transformers, resonance, Laplace analysis, transfer functions. Frequency response analysis. Bode diagrams. Switching circuits. Laboratory. Prerequisites: AMTH 106 and either ELEN 50 or PHYS 70. (5 units)
104. Electromagnetics I
Static electric and magnetic fields and their sources and effects, including potential theory and the laws of Coulomb, Lorentz, Faraday, and Gauss. Introduction to vector analysis and differential operators. Dielectric and magnetic materials, capacitance and inductance, energy in magnetic and electric fields, solutions to the Poisson equation. Prerequisites: PHYS 33 and ELEN 50. Co-requisite: ELEN 100. (5 units)
105. Electromagnetics II
Time harmonic electromagnetic fields. Introduction to complex vector operations. Maxwell’s equations, Poynting vectors. Helmholtz wave equation, wave propagation. Boundary conditions and wave reflection and propagation, Snell’s law. Transmission line theory, introduction to the Smith chart. Waveguides and radiation. Prerequisite: ELEN 104 or PHYS 111. (5 units)
110. Linear Systems
Signals and system modeling. Laplace transform. Transfer function. Convolution. Discrete systems and Z-transform. Frequency analysis. Fourier series and transform. Filtering. State-Space models. Problem sessions. Prerequisite: ELEN 100. (5 units)
112. Modern Network Synthesis and Design
Approximation and synthesis of active networks. Filter design using positive and negative feedback biquads. Sensitivity analysis. Fundamentals of passive network synthesis. Design project. Prerequisite: ELEN 110. (5 units)
115. Electronic Circuits I
Study of basic principles of operation, terminal characteristics, and equivalent circuit models for diodes and transistors. Analysis and design of diode circuits, transistor amplifiers, and inverter circuits. Prerequisite: ELEN 50 and ELEN 151. (5 units)
116. Electronic Circuits II
Design and analysis of multi-stage analog amplifiers. Study of differential amplifiers, current mirrors and gain stages. Frequency response of cascaded amplifiers and gain-bandwidth considerations. Concepts of feedback, stability and frequency compensation. Design of output stages and power amplifiers. Prerequisite: ELEN 115. (5 units)
117. Electronic Circuits III
Design and analysis of BJT and MOSFET analog ICs. Study of analog circuits such as comparators, sample/hold amplifiers, continuous time switched capacitor filters. Architecture and design of analog to digital and digital to analog converters. Reference and biasing circuits. Study of noise and distortion in analog ICs. Prerequisite: ELEN 116. (5 units)
118. Fundamentals of Computer-Aided Circuit Simulation
Introduction to algorithms and principles used in circuit simulation packages (such as SPICE). Formulation of equations for linear and nonlinear circuits. Detailed study of the three different types of circuit analysis (AC, DC, and transient). Discussion of computational aspects, including sparse matrices, Newton’s method, numerical integration, and parallel computing. Applications to electronic circuits, active filters, and CMOS digital circuits. Course includes a number of design projects in which simulation software is written in MATLAB and verified using SPICE. Prerequisites: ELEN 21, 100, and 115. (5 units)
119. Current Topics in Electrical Engineering
Subjects of current interest. May be taken more than once if topics differ. (4 units)
123. Mechatronics
Technologies involved in mechatronics (Intelligent Electro-Mechanical Systems) and application to mechatronics systems design. Interfacing embedded systems to control a mechanical design. Electronics A/D, D/A converters, op-amps, filters, power devices, software program design, event-driven programming, DC motors, solenoids, and sensors. Also listed as MECH 143. Prerequisite: ELEN 115. (4 units)
127. Advanced Logic Design
Contemporary design of finite-state machines as system controllers using MSI, PLDs, or FPGA devices. Minimization techniques, performance analysis, and modular system design. HDL simulation and synthesis. Also listed as COEN 127. Prerequisite: ELEN 21. Co-requisites: ELEN 127L and ELEN 115. (4 units)
127L. Advanced Logic Design Lab
Laboratory for ELEN 127. Design, construction, and testing of controllers from verbal specs. Use of CAD design tools. Also listed as COEN 127L. Co-requisite: ELEN 127. (1 unit)
130. Control Systems
Applications of control systems in engineering. Principle of feedback. Performance specifications: transient and steady-state response. Stability. Design of control systems by frequency and root-locus methods. Computer-controlled systems. State-variable feedback design. Problem sessions. Prerequisite: ELEN 110. (5 units)
131. Introduction to Robotics
Overview of robotics: control, AI, and computer vision. Components and structure of robots. Kinematics and dynamics of robot manipulators. Servo-control design, PID control. Trajectory planning, obstacle avoidance. Sensing and vision. Robot intelligence and task planning. Laboratory. Prerequisite: ELEN 110. (5 units)
133. Digital Signal Processing
Discrete signals and systems. Difference equations. Convolution summation. Z-transform, transfer function, system response, stability. Digital filter design and implementation. Frequency domain analysis. Discrete Fourier transform and FFT. Audio and video examples. Laboratory for real-time processing. Prerequisite: ELEN 110 or both ELEN 50 and COEN 19. (5 units)
134. Applications of Signal Processing
Current applications of signal processing. Prerequisite: ELEN 133. (5 units)
139. Special Topics in Signals and Systems
Subjects of current interest. May be taken more than once if topics differ. (4 units)
141. Communication Systems
Signal description; Fourier transforms; filtering; noise description; linear, exponential, and pulse modulation and demodulation. Amplitude and frequency modulation, phase lock loops. Laboratory. Prerequisites: ELEN 110 and AMTH 108. (5 units)
143. Digital Communications Systems
Introduction to mobile and cellular systems; analog and digital modulation methods, FDMA, TDMA, CDMA, and their use in current and next generation mobile phone standards; propagation models, interference, and multipath; extensions to narrowband and broadband wireless networks. Laboratory. Prerequisites: ELEN 110 and AMTH 108. (5 units)
144. RF and Microwave Components
The fundamental characteristics of passive and active electrical components. Parasitics, models, and measurements. Modeling of circuit interconnect wiring as transmission lines. Study of crosstalk and other noises in high-speed digital circuits. Use of state-of-the-art CAD tools. Prerequisite: ELEN 105. (5 units)
151. Semiconductor Devices
Materials properties, crystal structure, and band structure of semiconductors. Carrier statistics and transport; p-n junction statics, I-V characteristics, equivalent circuits, and switching response. Metal-semiconductor contacts, Schottky diodes. MOS field-effect transistors, bipolar junction transistors. Laboratory. Co-requisite: ELEN 104. (5 units)
152. Electron Devices and Technology
Continuation of MOS field-effect transistors, bipolar junction transistors, heterjunctions. Principles of silicon IC fabrication processes and design. Bulk and expitaxial crystal growth, thermal oxidation, diffusion, ion implantation. Process simulation for basic devices. Prerequisite: ELEN 151. (5 units)
153. Digital Integrated Circuit Design
Introduction to VLSI design and methodology. Analysis of CMOS integrated circuits. Circuit modeling and performance evaluation supported by simulation (SPICE). Ratioed, switch, and dynamic logic families; combinational and sequential circuits. Fully-custom and semi-custom design. Physical design: placement and routing. Use of state-of-the-art CAD tools. Prerequisites: ELEN/COEN 21 and ELEN 115. (5 units)
156. Intro to Nanotechnology
Introduction to the field of nanoscience and nanotechnology. Properties of nanomaterials and devices. Nanoelectronics: from silicon and beyond. Measurements of nanosystems. Applications and implications. Laboratory experience is an integral part of the course. This course is part of the Electrical Engineering program and should be suitable for juniors and seniors in engineering and first-year graduate students. Prerequisites: ELEN 105, ELEN 115, and ELEN 151 or their equivalent. (5 units)
160. Chaos Theory, Metamathematics and the Limits of Science:
An Engineering Perspective on Religion Limitations of science are examined in the framework of nonlinear system theory and metamathematics. Strange attractors, bifurcations, and chaos are studied in some detail. Additional topics include an introduction to formal systems and an overview of Godel’s theorems. The mathematical background developed in the course is used as a basis for exploring the relationship between science, aesthetics, and religion. Particular emphasis is placed on the rationality of faith. Prerequisite: AMTH 106 (or an equivalent course in differential equations), and a basic familiarity with Matlab. (5 units)
164. Introduction to Power Electronics
Development of models utilizing semiconductor materials used in high-current and/or high-voltage applications. Models include DC to DC converters, AC to DC converters, and DC to AC inverters. Analysis of power amplifiers. SPICE implementations of models. Prerequisite: ELEN 115. (5 units)
180. Introduction to Information Storage
Storage techniques and mass storage devices. Use of memory in computer systems. Design of semiconductor, magnetic and optical (disk drives), and magnetic tape memories. Storage controllers, computer interfaces, system software interfaces. Emphasis on current mass storage devices and interfaces: SCSI, IPI, ST506, ESDI. Also listed as COEN 180. Prerequisites: ELEN 21, 33, and COEN 8 or 44. ELEN 122 recommended. (4 units)
188. Co-op Education
Practical experience in a planned program designed to give students work experience related to their academic field of study and career objectives. Satisfactory completion of the assignment includes preparation of a summary report on co-op activities. P/NP grading. May be taken twice. May not be taken for graduate credit. (2 units)
189. Co-op Technical Report
Credit given for a technical report on a specific activity such as a design or research project, etc., after completing the co-op assignment. Approval of department co-op advisor required. Letter grades based on content and presentation quality of report. May be taken twice. May not be taken for graduate credit. (2 units)
192. Introduction to Senior Design Project
Junior preparation for senior project. An introduction to project requirements and participation in the coordination of the senior conference. Tentative project selection. (2 units)
194. Design Project I
Specification of an engineering project, selected with the mutual agreement of the student and the project advisor. Complete initial design with sufficient detail to estimate the effectiveness of the project. Initial draft of the project report. Co-requisite: ENGL 182. (2 units)
195. Design Project II
Continued design, construction, and testing of the project, system, or device. Second draft of project report. Prerequisite: ELEN 194. (2 units)
196. Design Project III
Continued design, construction, and testing of the project, system, or device. Formal public presentation of results. Final report. Prerequisite: ELEN 195. (1 unit)
199. Independent Study
Open to department scholars only. (1–6 units)
