Outline• Motivation and Curriculum Goals• Overall Structure of Proposed Curriculum• Today: Focus on two Sophomore Courses• Why?• What is in the two new courses?• Transition Plan

Background/Broader Motivation• Global economy and opportunities.

– Study abroad.– Alternative semesters.

• Engineering as a “liberal arts” education.– Interdisciplinary/Combine with other disciplines.– Other disciplines study engineering – minors.– Transition to learn how to learn balanced with a knowledge of

a particular body of knowledge.

• ECE as a discipline is broader than ever.• Sources: NAE, Association of American Universities, Al

Soyster, Provost Director, Other Writers, Students, Faculty, Other Curricula. See USC Web Site.

•What You (Really) Need to Know, By LAWRENCE H. SUMMERS, Published: January 20, 2012

1.Education will be more about how to process and use information and less about imparting it. 2.An inevitable consequence of the knowledge explosion is that tasks will be carried out with far more collaboration. 3.New technologies will profoundly alter the way knowledge is conveyed. 4.As articulated by the Nobel Prize-winner Daniel Kahneman in “Thinking, Fast and Slow,” we understand the processes of human thought much better than we once did. Not everyone learns most effectively in the same way. “Active learning classrooms”… help professors interact with their students through the use of … collaborative experiences. 5.The world is much more open, and events abroad affect the lives of Americans more than ever before. This makes it essential that the educational experience breed cosmopolitanism — that students have international experiences.6.Courses of study will place much more emphasis on the analysis of data.

7.Literature on USC web site. http://www.ece.neu.edu/edsnu/mcgruer/USC/

• Students understand connections among a broad range of Electrical and Computer Engineering concepts.

• Provide early, integrated, hands-on courses to motivate students, make connections within ECE, help students choose area of focus, and improve coop preparation.• Not survey courses, real ECE content, Sophomore/Freshman

year. Provide breadth to the ECE curriculum.• Offer flexibility, including option for an alternative

semester experience. • Students can tailor program to interests. • Semester Abroad.

• Build a curriculum that can be modified easily in the future.

• Reduce # of credits.

Some Goals of the Revised Curriculum

Curriculum Structures

Current and Proposed

Current Curricular Structure, BSCE

Arts, Hum., S.S. Writing

Science

Freshman Eng.

CE Core

Math

CE Tech. Electives General Electives

Capstone

32 four-credit courses = 128 credits + 10 one-credit extras = 138 credits

Possible New Curricular Structure, BSCE

Arts, Hum., S.S. Writing

Science

Freshman Eng.

ECE Broad Intro. + CE core.

Math

General Electives

Capstone

32 four-credit courses = 128 credits + ?ECE Tech. Electives can be EE Fundamentals, Level 1 or Level 2 ECE Electives.

CE Tech Electives

New BS in EE, Possible New Core

Freshman Engineering I

Freshman Engineering II

ECE Intro. IBiomedical Circuits

and Signals

ECE Intro. IISmart Home Engineering

EE FundamentalsElectromagnetics

EE FundamentalsCir./Electronics

EE FundamentalsSignals/Systems

ECE Fund. Comp. Organization

CE FundamentalsAlgorithms

CE FundamentalsSoftware

1 or 2 Freshman Engineering

2 Broad Introductory

4/6 ECE Fundamentals

4 Technical Electives

2 Capstone Capstone I Capstone II

Electronics I+

+5 General Electives(Technical electives can include CE Fundamentals)

Example Broad Introductory ECE Course

Biomedical Circuits and Signals

Example Unit: Electrocardiogram (EKG) measurements:Students build and test a multi-stage differential amplifier on a prototyping breadboard and then measure their own EKG signal by attaching electrodes to their forearms or chest

To understand the signals, they must first understand some basic “biology.”

- Anatomy of the heart- electrophysiology of the heart- ‘normal’ and ‘abnormal’ EKG signals

EKG Signal from a student (actual):

P

Q

R

S

T

How do I isolate and amplify the EKG signal while rejecting noise?- Operational amplifiers- Differential amplifier circuits

- input/output impedance considerations-multi-stage instrumentation amplifier configurations-common mode rejection ratio

- Frequency content of the signal - Fourier transforms, power spectral density

- matching the frequency response of the amplifier- Active filters vs. passive filters

ECE concepts involved in doing this lab:

How do I get the amplified EKG signal into a computer?- Embedded systems - Data acquisition, analog-to-digital conversion

- Sampling rate, Nyquist rate, ADC bit-depth, sources of ADC noise- Programming automated data acquisition (Matlab)

What information can I extract (process) from the EKG signal once I have acquired it?- signal filtering- automatic extraction of heart rate- automatic detection of electrophysiological abnormalities such as AV heart block, ectopic beats, flutter, fibrillation etc. on (hopefully) simulated data

Draft: EECE 2408, Biomedical Circuits and Signals Course Description

A combined lecture/laboratory course in which students learn elements of circuit theory, signal processing, and MATLAB programming, and apply their knowledge to build an EKG system that acquires and processes signals from the heart. In the circuits area, the course introduces the basic device and signal models and the basic circuit laws used in the study of linear circuits. The course proceeds to the analysis of resistive and complex impedance networks including the Thevenin and Norton theorems. Op-amp circuits are studied using the ideal operational amplifier model with a particular emphasis on differential amplifiers and active filter circuits. In the signal processing area, the course introduces the basic concepts of linearity, time-invariance, causality, and stability for both continuous and discrete time systems. The course proceeds with impulse response and the Fourier transform followed by the sampling theorem and conversion techniques from analog to digital signals. Finally, discrete-time linear filter design and application is demonstrated on the acquired signals in the MATLAB environment.

Credit hours: 4 SH, Prerequisites: GE 1111 or EquivalentTextbooks: Ulaby and Maharbiz, NTS Press; Schaum’s Outline of Signals and Systems 2nd Edition, by Hwei Hsu, McGraw-Hill, 2010

Optional Reference Books: Signals and Systems 2nd Edition, by A. Oppenheim, and A. Willsky with S. Nawab. Prentice Hall, 1997

Topics Covered: 1. R, L, C, sources, Kirchoff’s Laws2. Thevenin and Norton equivalent circuits3. Complex impedance4. System properties including linearity, time invariance, stability, and causality5. Impulse response, Fourier Transform, frequency response introduction6. Sampling and interpolation to transition between continuous and discrete time7. Linear filters, design and analysis 8. Basic neuron physiology, sources of biopotentials, nervous system organization and the cardiac cycle. Analysis of EKG signals. Normal and abnormal frequency content of EKG signals.9. Design, build, characterize and test a differential amplifier circuit, in the particular context of EKG10. Design signal processing algorithms to identify EKG signal features

EECE 2409: Smart Home EngineeringCourse Charter

THIS IS JUST A PROPOSAL!

A combined lecture/laboratory course in which students learn elements of digital logic design, networking, and software design that will enable students to build Smart Home subsystems.

In the design area, the course introduces the basics of combinational and sequential logic, including the implementation of finite state machines that can control lighting and major appliances. The course also introduced programming that allows the students to interface to the real world and move signals from the analog domain to digital environments. Finally, the 5-layer network stack model is studied using the network home system to explore how to manage a distributed network at different levels of abstraction. Networking coverage will include: (need input from networking faculty). The course proceeds with connecting subsystems to purposefully illustrate the power of subsystem specification and system integration.

• Credit hours: 4 SH, Prerequisites: GE 1111 or equivalent• Textbooks: TBD• Optional Reference Books: TBD

• Topics Covered: 1. Logic components 2. Truth tables and minimization3. Complex combination circuits4. Sequential circuits5. Finite state machines6. Software requirements and specification7. Network programming8. (4-5 Networking topics)

Transition Plan, First Year

• Teach the Biomedical Circuits and Signals course next fall in place of the circuits course.

• Consequences for the rest of the curriculum:– Electronics I in 2013 is now circuits and electronics.– Electronics II will not go as far as the current Electronics II.– Electronic design will be offered as an elective.– More student exposure to MATLAB.– More coverage of signals (linear systems will cover more).– More student programming experience.

• Option to teach CE introductory course as elective.