Lab 1: Simulate and Fabricate

The assignment for Lab 1 is to get a jump start on simulating circuits and doing board layout. Here are the individual steps:

1. Complete the first-day questionnaire.
2. Install DipTrace on your laptop. See the Olin instructions here.
3. Install the Windows version of LTSpice on your laptop. Download here.
4. Get the DipTrace Tutorial PDF file.
5. Complete the schematic and layout tutorial, pages 1 through 79.
6. Complete a transient simulation of the "Astable Flip Flop" in LTSpice. Plot the current in the LEDs over a ten-second period.
7. Complete a second layout of the "Astable Flip Flop" using the following surface-mount parts (on a two-layer board):
   • Transistors: ON Semiconductor MMBT3904LT1G (SOT23 package, double check pin assignments!)
   • Capacitors: 33uF TDK Corp C3216X5R1C336M160AB (1206 package)
   • LEDs: Lite-On LTST-C170GKT (0805 package)
   • Resistors R2 and R3: 680 ohms (0805 package)
   • Resistors R1 and R4: 34 kilohms (0805 package)
   • 9V battery connector (use same through-hole connector)
8. Minimize the size of your PCB layout to save space. Less than two square-inches is the goal.
9. Produce Gerber files for your design and submit them to OSH Park for fabrication.

This assignment is the whole class in a nutshell.

Note that the ground connection isn't strictly necessary, since this circuit is battery powered, but its inclusion will improve the convergence of your LTspice simulation.

Lab Assignment Tracks

This offering of EE Proto has three possible tracks of laboratory assignments. You should choose a track to complete based on your interests and background. The three tracks are listed below, along with the necessary course prerequisites.

TRACK A (Classic EE Proto, prereq: PoE)

1. Flasher tutorial lab
2. OSH Park submission
3. Commercial product teardown lab
4. Micro-controller board layout
5. Commercial product reverse engineering
6. Micro-controller board assembly
7. Design project

TRACK B (Op-Amp Circuits, prereq: SigSys)

1. Flasher tutorial lab
2. Nonlinear oscillator lab
3. Sine-wave oscillator lab
4. Layout of oscillators
5. Filters or analog-computer lab
6. Oscillators assembly
7. Sound-generating design project

TRACK C (Advanced Circuits, prereqs: Circuits and Controls)

1. Op-amp analysis problem set
2. Temperature probe design
3. Amplitude stabilized oscillators
4. Layout of probe and oscillator
5. Transistor voltage clamp
6. Capacitive-load lab or PLL lab
7. 50-ohm driver design project

Note that due dates between the tracks will be synchronized (for example, everyone in the class is submitting a circuit layout for fabrication in Lab 4 on the same day), and will be announced in class. The first six labs will be assigned about one per week, and the design project will be completed during the second half of the term.

PS: If you have taken EE Proto previously and completed Track A, you can repeat the course (as a 2 or 4 credit Independent Study or OSS) and complete Track B or Track C. Ask the professor for details.

First-Day Questionnaire

Please answer the following questions in an email to the professor:

1. Name? Major? Year?
2. What other "EE-type" courses have you taken or are taking (beyond PoE)? SigSys? Circuits? MADVLSI? A/D Comms? Controls? Any other hardware-oriented courses or seminars?
3. Have you previously designed and built any printed circuit boards?
4. What course topics are you most interested in?
5. What course topics are you least interested in?
6. Which lab track(s) are you most interested in?
7. Generally, what do you hope to learn in EE Proto?
8. Do you play guitar or keyboards? Are you familiar with effects pedals such as distortion, overdrive, echo, reverb, chorus, phaser, and flanger?
9. You're in a desert walking along in the sand when all of the sudden you look down, and you see a tortoise. It's crawling toward you. You reach down, and you flip the tortoise over on its back. The tortoise lays on its back, its belly baking in the hot sun, beating its legs trying to turn itself over, but it can't, not without your help. But you're not helping. Why is that?

Fall 2015

Tomorrow is the first day of classes!

• New term (Fall instead of Spring)!
• New course structure!
• New laboratory assignments!
• New grading and assessment system!
• New love for the exclamation mark!

Stay tuned!

Potential Audio Projects (with MIDI)

Hmm... One of these?

Or one of these?

Or both?

BOMs are easy...

Originally seen in this article, via @bunniestudios.

Post-Spring-Break Schedule

Today, March 23: Complete system block diagram.  Include at least ten blocks and a list of at least ten major parts.

Looking forward:

• March 30: Complete schematic and parts list (design reviews Monday and Thursday).
• April 6: Complete board layout (design reviews Monday and Thursday).
• April 13: Final submissions (DipTrace files to Jay on Monday).

 Parts update: Recommended micro USB connector with board locks: TE Connectivity 2040002-1 (and by "recommended", I mean everyone should use this connector; and by "should" I mean "must").

More Design Project Ideas

More design project ideas (an improved list, in no particular order):

1. Audio signal processing and LED visualization for DJ performance.
2. Clock displays: seven-segment displays with TBD synchronization.
3. Clock POV display with TBD synchronization.
4. Hand sensors and interfacing to a USB human interface device (the glove).
5. Interactive buttons (such as shirt buttons) for the EE Proto bulletin board.
6. USB drive with RFID authentication.
7. VGA-output Etch-a-Sketch.
8. VGA-compatible audio visualizer.

Design Project Ideas

Gathering some ideas for the design projects:

1. A complete drum machine box.
2. An analog synthesizer voice.
3. A digital synthesizer voice (like the Meeblip).
4. VGA-compatible audio visualizer.
5. LED-driver audio visualizer (light organ).
6. Lecture demonstrations for Controls.
7. MIDI control board (such as this Kickstarter project).
8. Drone synthesizer (for example, Drone Commander or Drone Lab).
9. Clock displays: LED/analog? Voltmeters? Metric time? POSIX?
10. Clock synchronization: GPS, WWV, or WiFi beacon-frame timestamp?
11. Interactive displays for the EE Proto bulletin board.
12. RF signal-strength meters and an AM-band spectrum analyzer.

Homework for Monday

Here are the items you should be working on for Monday:

1. Feedback on Lab 4 assignment and projects.
2. Idea for Lab 5 project.
3. Design Project Proposal.