Our goal in this course is to understand the basic analysis and design
techniques for signals and linear systems.
We will study both continuous-time and discrete-time signals and systems,
and we will learn to work in the time domain as well as various transform
domains.
The material in this course is fundamental to many areas of electrical
engineering, including communication systems, digital signal processing,
control systems, image processing, speech processing, biomedical signal
processing, analog and digital filter design, acoustics, radar, artificial
neural networks, and others.
The techniques that we study are general and also apply to other engineering
systems, including optical, mechanical, thermal, and chemical systems.
M 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM T 1:30 PM - 2:30 PM W 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM R 11:00 AM - 12:00 PMOther times by appointment -- please send email or call to arrange.
K. Sigmon, MATLAB Primer (Fourth Edition), CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL, 1994.
Some students have found the Karu book to be a useful supplement to the required textbook. Karu presents a summary of the key ideas in signals and systems, along with examples. No assignments will explicitly refer to the Karu book. It is made available to you as a supplement, if you choose to use it.
The Sigmon book is a brief, relatively inexpensive introduction to MATLAB, which is a computer software package that is widely-used for signal processing, system design, and many other engineering applications. The recent availability of free MATLAB tutorials along with the extensive on-line help facilities in MATLAB may make the purchase of Sigmon's book unnecessary.
Further information about the free MATLAB tutorials is available at
the URL
http://www.eg.bucknell.edu/~kozick/elec320/matlab_files.html
The course home page contains the homework assignments, lab assignments, syllabus, and other course information. Data files and sample MATLAB programs will occasionally be posted on the home page that you will download and use for homework and laboratory assignments.
The grading in this course will be objective, so that you are not competing against one another for a limited number of high grades. There is no ``curve'' that prescribes the number of A's, B's, C's, etc. - it is possible for the entire class to earn A's. The intent of this policy is to encourage cooperation among the class. I hope everyone does well, and I hope we can all work together to grow in our understanding of signals and systems concepts.5 30-minute quizzes at 5% each 25% Final exam 30% Brief quizzes 5% Labs and presentations 25% Homework 15%
Short quizzes (announced or unannounced) will also be given to check your understanding of the material as we proceed through the course. Missed quizzes cannot be made-up, but your lowest quiz grade will be dropped.
You are encouraged to work on the homework with groups of your classmates. The purpose of the homework is to practice with the material and to improve your understanding. I encourage you to learn from each other, and also to ask me when you have questions. However, the homework solutions that you submit for grading must be written individually . Be sure that you understand the reasoning for each problem, even if you initially solved the problem with help from your classmates. Keep in mind that most of your grade in this course is determined by exams and quizzes, which you will have to do by yourself.
I recommend that you keep a lab notebook for this course, but I will not collect your notebooks. The lab notebook will serve two purposes. First, it is a good way to organize the notes and data that you'll need to prepare the lab report. Second, it provides a good reference for future labs that you can use to remember how to perform certain operations with the instruments.