Learning the Art of Electronics
A Hands-On Lab Course

This pacy introduction to circuits assumes no knowledge of electronics. Students gain understanding by exposure to good design examples.

Thomas C. Hayes (Author), Paul Horowitz (Author)

9780521177238, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 2 March 2016

1150 pages, 180 b/w illus. 20 tables
25.5 x 20.4 x 4.1 cm, 2.13 kg

'Author Thomas Hayes, … designed the new volume for a full-semester laboratory course. [The book] is organised into 26 chapters, each offering rich context and clear explanations in labs, notes, supplementary material and worked problems … labs are balanced between analog and digital electronics. Hayes begins with familiar analog circuitry and includes discussions of voltage dividers, Ohm's and Kirchoffs's laws, and Thevenin equivalents. The labs tackle RC filters in both time and frequency domains with a cheerful approach that is not overly mathematical … retains many of the handsomely drawn circuits of the original Art of Electronics and is much more comprehensive … Instructors will want to know if Learning the Art of Electronics can stand alone as an undergraduate lab text. The answer is yes. While the book does cross-reference The Art of Electronics, it 'means to be self-sufficient', and it achieves that goal.' Paul J. H. Tjossem, Physics Today

This introduction to circuit design is unusual in several respects. First, it offers not just explanations, but a full course. Each of the twenty-five sessions begins with a discussion of a particular sort of circuit followed by the chance to try it out and see how it actually behaves. Accordingly, students understand the circuit's operation in a way that is deeper and much more satisfying than the manipulation of formulas. Second, it describes circuits that more traditional engineering introductions would postpone: on the third day, we build a radio receiver; on the fifth day, we build an operational amplifier from an array of transistors. The digital half of the course centers on applying microcontrollers, but gives exposure to Verilog, a powerful Hardware Description Language. Third, it proceeds at a rapid pace but requires no prior knowledge of electronics. Students gain intuitive understanding through immersion in good circuit design.

1. DC circuits
2. RC circuits
3. Diode circuits
4. Transistors I
5. Transistors II
6. Operational amplifiers I
7. Operational amplifiers II: nice positive feedback
8. Operational amplifiers III
9. Operational amplifiers IV: nasty positive feedback
10. Operational amplifiers V: PID motor control loop
11. Voltage regulators
12. MOSFET switches
13. Group audio project
14. Logic gates
15. Logic compilers, sequential circuits, flip-flops
16. Counters
17. Memory: state machines
18. Analog to digital: phase-locked loop
19. Microcontrollers and microprocessors I: processor/controller
20. I/O, first assembly language
21. Bit operations
22. Interrupt: ADC and DAC
23. Moving pointers, serial buses
24. Dallas Standalone Micro, SiLabs SPI RAM
25. Toys in the attic
Appendices
Index.

Subject Areas: Electronics engineering [TJF], Electronics & communications engineering [TJ], Technology, engineering, agriculture [T]