(Last Update: 2014 May 25 17:49 PDT )
The course is intended for sophomores and juniors in bioengineering with priority given to bioengineering majors, but is open to anyone who meets the prerequisites:
The theme for the course is "connecting real-world signals to computers using analog electronics", and we will be working with interfacing thermistors, microphones, electrodes, photo-detectors, capacitance sensors, and strain-gauge pressure sensors to microprocessors (Arduinos or Freescale's KL25Z). The final lab will be the design, implementation, and testing of a small single-channel electrocardiogram (or electromyogram).
The Bioengineering major will accept this course as fulfilling the EE101/L (circuits) requirement, but EE will not be accepting it as a prerequisite for further electronics courses. It is possible to take both the Applied Circuits course and EE 101/L for credit, though there is substantial overlap in content. The proposed new curriculum for bioengineers requires BME 101/L for all concentrations, and EE 101/L in addition for the bioelectronics and assistive technology: motor concentration.
Currently, the best description of the course is on Prof. Karplus's
blog:
http://gasstationwithoutpumps.wordpress.com/circuits-course-table-of-contents/
but most students probably don't want to read the hundreds of pages of
notes there on the design of the course. A tentative outline for the
course is posted at http://gasstationwithoutpumps.wordpress.com/2014/03/17/revised-plan-for-circuits-labs/
Students will learn to use standard electronics equipment (multimeters, oscilloscopes, function generators, power supplies) and tools (pliers, wire strippers, breadboards, soldering irons). The course is an engineering design course—I tried to make the labs require design, not just cookbook procedures. The complexity of the design tasks should ramp up through the quarter.
Although is is no longer a prototype but a regular course, I will seek frequent feedback from the students in the course about improvements that can be made. There are substantial changes from the prototype run last year, the most notable of which is a doubling of the lab time from 3 hours a week to 6 hours a week. This means that the labs will be reworked this year, and some of the changes will need further refinement.
This year the parts and tools are covered by the course lab fees. There are about $80 worth of tools, parts, microcontroller board, and USB cable. These tools and parts need to be obtained by the first lab meeting, as we will be using them immediately. Dropping the course does not result in a refund of lab fees if you have already gotten the tools and parts.
Warning: the KL25Z and KL26Z boards and some of the Arduino boards are sold without headers (for people who want to solder them directly into projects), but you will need the headers to plug wires in temporarily. We will be soldering headers onto the KL25Z boards in the first week.
All the software you need to use is installed on the lab computers, but you may want to get your own copies for use on your laptop. All the software is free:
download for
data acquisition software
Python (either 2.7 or 3.3)
PySerial
installation instructions
gnuplot
Data acquisition software was developed specifically for this
course, and is available
from http://bitbucket.org/abe_k/PteroDAQ/downloads
under the "Tags" tab. Select the "default" branch under the
"branches" tab and download in zip, gz, or bzip2 archive format.
A version is installed on the lab machines at C:\ProgramFiles\PteroDAQ
.
Documentation is downloaded with the source.
To run the data logger, you will need Python2.7 or Python3.3 with PySerial for communicating with the board.
Either Python 2.7 or Python3.3 can be used with the Data Logger code, but you need to install the PySerial module—this is the only non-standard module needed (Tkinter, which is also used, is part of the standard Python library). Note: Mac OS X often comes with an ancient version of Python, so you are likely to need to update your Python. See the documentation at python.org
We'll be doing plotting and model-fitting examples with gnuplot. You can choose to use other tools if you are more familiar with them and have sufficient mastery of them to fit complex functions and produce good-looking graphs. Gnuplot can be downloaded from the http://www.gnuplot.info/ website, but installation on Macs is sometimes tricky. See the post and comments on Karplus's blog about installing gnuplot on a Mac. The comment by Chuy is probably the most useful.
To offset the high parts cost, we'll be using only free on-line material for the textbook.
Lab reports will be due in class every Friday. I will endeavor to have them graded and returned with detailed feedback in the next class (Monday).
Each lab will be done with a different partner (and occasional singletons). There should be no repeat pairings (unless the lab section has fewer than 11 students). Pre-lab work should be done separately, but postlab work can be done together or separately.
Read each lab handout (twice) the day before the lab—there will often be pre-lab design work to do, and there won't be time during lab to do the design work. Some weeks have two handouts—it is probably a good idea to read both lab handouts the weekend before the labs, so that you can ask questions on Mondays.
Due | Read | Turn in |
---|---|---|
Tues Apr 1 | Lab report guidelines. Lab 1 handout (and associated Wikipedia pages). Review Ohm's Law and voltage divider. | |
Thurs Apr 3 | Prelab: optimizing resistor value for maximum sensitivity at Top. Homework: Design a circuit to convert a 1kΩ–3.3kΩ variable resistance sensor to a 1v–2v voltage output, with 1v for the 1kΩ resistance and 2v for the 3.3kΩ resistance. Use standard resistor values that you have in your kit. | |
Sat April 5 @ 8 p.m. | Lab 1 report as PDF file by e-mail | |
Mon Apr 7 | Lab 2 handouts. | |
Fri Apr11 | Lab 2 report | |
Mon Apr 14 | Lab 3 handouts | |
Fri Apr 18 | Lab 3 report | |
Mon Apr 21 | Lab 4 handouts. | |
Fri Apr 25 | Lab 4 report. | |
Mon Apr 28 | Lab 5 handouts | |
Fri May 2 | Lab 5 report. | |
Mon May 5 | Lab 6 handout | |
Fri May 9 | Lab 6 report. | |
Mon May 12 | Lab 7 handouts. | |
Fri May 16 | Lab 7 report. | |
Mon May 19 | Lab 8 handout. | |
Fri May 23 | Lab 9 handout. | Lab 8 report. |
Mon May 26 | Memorial Day, no class | |
Fri May 30 | Lab 9 report. | |
Mon Jun 2 | Lab 10 handout | |
Fri Mar 15 | Lab 10 report. | |
Mon Jun 9 | Last call for redone or late lab reports. |
Anyone caught cheating in the class will be reported to their college provost (see UCSC policy on academic integrity) and may fail the class. Cheating includes any attempt to claim someone else's work as your own. Plagiarism in any form (including close paraphrasing) will be considered cheating. Use of any source without proper citation will be considered cheating. If you are not certain about citation standards, please ask, as I hate having to fail students because they were improperly taught how to cite sources.
Collaboration without explicit written acknowledgment will be considered cheating. Collaboration on lab assignments is expected, even required—but that doesn't remove the requirement to acknowledge the collaboration.
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Questions about page content should be directed to
Kevin Karplus
Biomolecular Engineering
University of California, Santa Cruz
Santa Cruz, CA 95064
USA
karplus@soe.ucsc.edu
1-831-459-4250
318 Physical Sciences Building