Circuit Design

‘Circuit Design’ is an introductory class that will teach you how to design and build your own circuit boards. Students will learn basic electronic circuit design principles hands-on. We will use an open-source software program, Fritzing, to create the PCB design, and we will then mill the PCB boards on FabLab’s very own milling machine, in a safe and environmentally-friendly process. Students will start with a simple project: a simple LED (light-emitting diode) blink circuit, that has a switch to turn the LED on and off. This project will use standard through-hole electronic components. The final project will be for a 7-segment display controller, an electronic display device for displaying numbers that is widely used in digital clocks and electronic meters. This last project will use smaller surface-mounted components. Students will learn about basic electronic concepts (voltage, current, resistance) and will learn to create circuits with breadboards for prototyping and then replicate the circuit for the final PCB layout. Find out more about Fritzing here: http://fritzing.org/ Learn more about this class here: http://www.fablabsd.org/ucsd-extension-spring-2012/

Note: The course will be primarily based on a variety of free handouts and online readings, but the following are highly recommended: 'Practical Electronics for Inventors’ by Paul Scherz; ISBN 0071452818; This intuitive, applications-driven guide to electronics for hobbyists, engineers, and students doesn't overload readers with technical detail. Instead, it tells you-and shows you-what basic and advanced electronics parts and components do, and how they work.

Course Number: ECE-90001   Credit: 3 units