Comments on: Semester Two Results http://fourwalledcubicle.com/blog/2008/12/semester-two-results/ Blog for Dean Camera Wed, 08 Sep 2010 22:50:44 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: jeffhttp://fourwalledcubicle.com/blog/2008/12/semester-two-results/comment-page-1/#comment-832 jeff Sun, 07 Dec 2008 20:11:02 +0000 http://fourwalledcubicle.com/blog/?p=232#comment-832 I hate to be the one to deliver the news... Digital electronics is a special case of Analog. Increasingly, you can't just assume that signal propagation, impedance, etc are unimportant and just "wire it up".Take USB full speed for instance. At 480Mbps... at 480Mbps, from connector to connector, it's all analog (and electromagnetic) design techniques. DDR RAM is another case where this is important.Feedback systems? The most interesting thing there is. Switching Power Supplies (think powering your CPU... 0.9v at 80A... there's a challenge!) will be the first place most "digital" engineers encounter that. Then there is the Engine that drives the modern world... DSP. Take all that Control Systems theory and run it in "Simulation", but not really, in software on a DSP :-)The problem with University engineering courses is they don't tell you what you're going to do with all this otherwise apparently disjoint and uninteresting math heavy stuff. "What's that for?" should be the order of the day, so students can become excited about what they can do with this new knowledge. J. I hate to be the one to deliver the news… Digital electronics is a special case of Analog. Increasingly, you can’t just assume that signal propagation, impedance, etc are unimportant and just “wire it up”.

Take USB full speed for instance. At 480Mbps… at 480Mbps, from connector to connector, it’s all analog (and electromagnetic) design techniques. DDR RAM is another case where this is important.

Feedback systems? The most interesting thing there is. Switching Power Supplies (think powering your CPU… 0.9v at 80A… there’s a challenge!) will be the first place most “digital” engineers encounter that. Then there is the Engine that drives the modern world… DSP. Take all that Control Systems theory and run it in “Simulation”, but not really, in software on a DSP :-)

The problem with University engineering courses is they don’t tell you what you’re going to do with all this otherwise apparently disjoint and uninteresting math heavy stuff. “What’s that for?” should be the order of the day, so students can become excited about what they can do with this new knowledge.
J.

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