Analog and digital signals, signal elaboration and the analog-to-digital conversion process.
Operating principles of electronic measuring instruments and analysis, also experimental, of the characteristics of basic instrumentation.
Semiconductor electronic devices, analog circuits and systems, digital combinatorial and sequential circuits, mixed-signal circuits for analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog conversion.
1. Signals and signal elaboration: Analog signals: time and frequency domain, Fourier analysis, discrete and continuous spectra. Analog signal elaboration: linear and non-linear functions, amplifiers, filters. Digital signals: fundamental characteristics and binary coding. Analog-to-digital conversion (A/D): sampling, aliasing, quantization, resolution and number of bits. Digital signal elaboration: algorithms, memory storage.
2. Instrumentation: Measuring techniques for static and dynamic electrical
quantities. General characteristics of electronic measurement instruments. Main metrological characteristics: sensitivity, resolution, measurement accuracy and uncertainty, influencing quantities. General characteristics of sensors and transducers. Laboratory instrumentation: multimeter, analog oscilloscope, digital oscilloscope, signal generator.
3. Devices: Basic concepts on semiconductors. PN-junction diodes. Bipolar junction transistors (BJT) and field-effect transistors (FET).
4. Analog circuit and systems: Structure and characteristics of operational amplifiers (OA). Feedback amplifiers. Linear applications of OAs: non-inverting, inverting, summing, differential amplifiers, configurations with impedances, filters and oscillators. Brief notes on non-linear applications of OAs. Nonidealities of OAs. Comparators, example of on/off regulation circuit. Instrumentation amplifiers. Examples of measurement systems comprising sensors, signal conditioning, elaboration and output blocks.
5. Summary of electronic circuit technologies: Overview on the fabrication technologies of integrated circuits (IC) and printed-circuit boards (PCB); the role of software in simulation and design of electronic circuits.
6. Digital blocks and logic gates: Binary coding and logic operators. Logic functions and logic gates. Ideal logic inverter. Noise margins. Static and dynamic power dissipation. Rise, fall and propagation times. Logic families. CMOS inverter and dynamic power dissipation.
7. Combinational circuits: Combinatorial logic. Adder, subtractor, ALU. Parity check generator and detector. Multiplexer and demultiplexer. Gates with 3-state output. Coders and decoders. ROM, PROM, EPROM, EEPROM memories.
8. Sequential circuits: Sequential logic. Set-Reset bistable cell and applications. Timing and clock. Flip flop types: SR, JK, D, T. Flip flop applications. Dividers. Shift registers. Synchronous and asynchronous counters. RAM memories. Brief notes on programmable logic devices, microcontrollers, microprocessors.
9. Analog-to-digital converters (ADC) and digital-to-analog converters (DAC): Counting ADC. Tracking ADC. Successive approximation ADC. Flash ADC flash. Single and double-ramp ADC. Binary weight DAC. R/2R DAC. Pulse width modulation DAC.