Electrical & Electronics Engineering

Circuit Analysis and Design

Required. Design and analyse a real analogue circuit: hand-calculated DC operating point, AC frequency response (Bode plot), transient simulation, and component selection with tolerance analysis. LTspice (free, downloadable) or Falstad (free, browser-based) for simulation. Schematic must be drawn to IEC 60617 or IEEE 315 standard. A qualified electronics engineer or EE academic challenges the design: presents a modified load condition or input specification and asks how the circuit performance changes, requiring real-time application of network theorems.

Digital Logic Design

Elective. Design and verify a real combinational or sequential digital logic circuit: Boolean minimisation using Karnaugh maps or Quine-McCluskey, state transition diagram for sequential circuits, HDL implementation (VHDL or Verilog), and simulation results demonstrating correct behaviour across all specified input combinations. EDA Playground (free, browser-based) for HDL simulation; Logisim-Evolution (free, downloadable) for graphical gate-level simulation. A digital design engineer challenges with an untested input sequence: asks what the circuit output is and why.

Power Systems Analysis

Elective. Load flow analysis of a real or modelled power network: bus voltage magnitudes and angles, real and reactive power flows, and identification of buses violating voltage limits. pandapower (free, Python) or PowerWorld Student Version (free) for load flow simulation. A power systems engineer challenges with a contingency: presents an N-1 loss of a specific line and asks how the voltage profile and power flows change.

Signal Processing Application

Elective. Apply signal processing to a real signal dataset: FFT spectral analysis with frequency resolution and leakage discussion, digital filter design (FIR or IIR) with specification of passband/stopband requirements, and filter application with before/after comparison. scipy.signal (free, Python) for all processing. A signal processing engineer or academic challenges with an unseen signal: asks you to identify the dominant frequency components and what filter design would extract or reject them.

Electronics Engineering Design Report

Elective. A complete electronics design report for a real circuit or system: design specification, circuit design with schematic, component selection rationale, simulation results, PCB layout considerations (trace routing, ground plane, decoupling — even if not fabricated), test procedure, and performance verification against specification. All three Engineering Design Triad artifacts: schematic (design), simulation output (analysis), report (documentation). KiCad is free for schematic capture and PCB layout.

Embedded Systems Design

Elective. Design an embedded system for a real application: system architecture diagram, peripheral selection with electrical interface specifications (voltage levels, current requirements, timing requirements), hardware schematic, and firmware block diagram. Wokwi (browser-based, free) for Arduino and ESP32 simulation without physical hardware. A qualified embedded systems engineer challenges the design: presents a peripheral datasheet constraint you did not address and asks how it affects the design.

Embedded Firmware Implementation

Elective. Implement and verify embedded firmware for the system designed in seq 60 (or a comparable real embedded application): state machine or RTOS task structure documented in a flowchart, peripheral driver implementation with register-level documentation, unit test results, and a real demonstration (video of the system performing its intended function or Wokwi simulation with documented test cases). A qualified firmware engineer challenges the implementation: presents an undisclosed timing constraint and asks whether the firmware handles it.

Free analogue circuit simulator from Analog Devices. Industry-standard SPICE simulation for DC operating point, AC frequency response, and transient analysis. Use for the circuit analysis and design step — LTspice component libraries include most common passive and active components and the waveform viewer produces Bode plots and time-domain results.

Free, browser-based circuit simulator — no install required. Draws current flow, shows real-time waveforms, and lets you modify component values while the simulation runs. Use as an accessible alternative to LTspice or for initial circuit exploration. Share circuits via URL.

Free, browser-based simulator for Arduino, ESP32, and other microcontrollers. Simulates GPIO, UART, SPI, I2C, ADC, and common peripherals. Write real Arduino C++ code, run it in the simulator, and share the project via URL. Use for the embedded systems design and firmware implementation steps — no hardware required.

Free, browser-based HDL simulation environment supporting VHDL, Verilog, and SystemVerilog. Run Icarus Verilog or GHDL in the browser — no EDA tools install. Use for the digital logic design step — write HDL, apply test vectors, and download simulation transcripts as proof.