PREFACE

What Is Different about This Text?

Look around. Electrical technology is all around us. Today we talk about smart phones, 5G communications, electric vehicles (EV), wireless charging, drones, self-driving cars, solar power, windmill power generators, fiber communications, the internet of things (IoT), petaflop processors, cloud storage, gigabit laptops, automated factories, robots, radar, sonar, remote controls, distant learning and working, instrumentation of all kinds, and smart this or that. This technology is entwined in almost everything we use. Electrical engineers use it, mechanical engineers use it, aerospace engineers use it, and computer engineers use it – anyone who works with or creates modern technology uses it. This text will serve as a bridge to uncovering the basics of these electrical technologies.

But this text goes further than other circuit analysis texts in that it serves the desire of up-and-coming engineers to be creative. Most circuits texts do not focus on this basic desire, rather spend their pages teaching why and how electric circuits work without affording the student an opportunity to put this learning into practice. This text focuses on the art and science of design – creating a solution to a task or need. But it does not stop there. There are often several solutions to a problem. The question then arises – which solution should I choose? The answer is how to evaluate different solutions against the constraints of the problem. Do I minimize power usage, physical size, weight, standard parts, manufacturing ease, or whatever the need is?

We have learned over the last nine editions of the increasing importance and use of computers and software. Key software used in circuit analysis and design has become available for free or at very deep discounts for students. This edition of our text includes more software examples, exercises, and discussions geared to making the study of circuits more in line with the interests of today’s student and their future employers. However, learning to solve problems using software tools, while often fun and exciting to today’s students, often does not offer the same insight garnered using simple tools like manual-calculations and calculators. We have recognized that just using software does not replace the intuition that engineers must develop to analyze, design, and make smart judgments about alternate working solutions. We worked hard to meld manual solutions with the use of software throughout and point out the sources of potential errors.

The tenth edition of The Analysis and Design of Linear Circuits improves on earlier editions and remains friendly to users who prefer a Laplace-Early approach championed in our first edition, or those favoring the more traditional Phasor-First approach to ac circuits. A later section discusses how to use this text to pursue either approach using three different focuses. In this edition, we include skills-level examples, exercises, and problems that can help develop the student’s confidence in mastering the different objectives. The tenth edition assumes the same student prerequisites as past editions and continues to rely on students having access to personal computational tools. This edition targets students of all engineering disciplines who need an introductory circuit analysis course of one or two terms. The tenth edition continues the authors’ combined commitment to providing a modern, different, and innovative approach to teaching analysis, design, and design evaluation of electric circuits, especially in the spirit of today’s evolving technologies.

Continuing Features Objectives

This text remains structured around a sequence of carefully defined cognitive learning objectives and related evaluation tools based on Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives1. The initial learning objectives focus on enabling skills at the first three levels of the taxonomy that we call Chapter Learning Objectives. As students demonstrate mastery of these lower levels, they are introduced to higher-level objectives involving analysis, synthesis (design), and evaluation. Each learning objective is explicitly stated in terms of expected student proficiency in the Chapter Openers and are repeated in the homework sections. Then each is followed by homework problems specifically designed to evaluate student mastery of the objective. This framework has been a standard feature of all ten editions of this book and has allowed us to maintain a consistent level of expected student performance over the years. These objectives make it easier to assess student learning and prepare for accreditation reviews. Specifically, there are seven Student Outcomes required to fulfill ABET’s 2022–23 Criterion 3. Proper use of this text will facilitate the following two:

“The program must have documented student outcomes that support the program educational objectives. Attainment of these outcomes prepares graduates to enter the professional practice of engineering.

1. 1. an ability to identify, formulate, and solve complex engineering problems by applying principles of engineering, science, and mathematics.
2. 2. an ability to apply engineering design to produce solutions that meet specified needs with consideration of public health, safety, and welfare, as well as global, cultural, social, environmental, and economic factors.”

And it can be used to support item “d” in Criterion 5, Curriculum:

“ The curriculum must include:

1. d. a culminating major engineering design experience that 1) incorporates appropriate engineering standards and multiple constraints, and 2) is based on the knowledge and skills acquired in earlier course work.

Integrating Problems

Every homework section ends with integrating problems that test mastery of concepts that cover several objectives. These more in-depth problems test whether the student has not only mastered individual objectives in the chapter but also was able to integrate knowledge across several objectives from one or more chapters.

Circuit Analysis and Design

Our experience convinces us that an interweaving of analysis and design topics reinforces a student’s grasp of circuit analysis fundamentals. Early involvement in design provides motivation as students apply their newly acquired analysis tools to practical situations. Using computer computational (MATLAB) or simulation (Multisim) software to verify their designs gives students an early degree of confidence that they have actually created a solution that meets stated specifications. Ideally, a supporting laboratory program where students actually build and test their designs provides the final confirmation that they can create useful products. Design efforts as described in this text are very useful in helping to meet ABET’s design Criterion 3(2) noted earlier. We identify design examples, exercises, and homework problems with an icon .

Design Evaluation

Realistic design problems rarely have unique solutions, so it is natural for students to wonder if their design is a good one. Using smart judgment to compare alternative solutions is a fundamental trait of good engineering. The evaluation of alternative designs introduces students to real-world engineering practice. Our text includes judgment problems that ask students, for example, to evaluate an “off-the-shelf” design and ask if it could meet a specific need. In such problems, we ask the student “would you buy it?”, or “would you buy it if one change was allowed to be made to it?” Alternately, we ask students to compare two or three “solutions” and ask which best meets the given criteria. Including design and the evaluation of design in an introductory course helps to convince students that circuit courses are not simply vehicles for teaching routine skills such as node-voltage and mesh-current analyses, but also a vehicle for learning and practicing engineering judgment which is, in part, an art that needs to be practiced. Although this philosophy is implicit in all previous editions, this edition offers expanded coverage of design and evaluation among the worked examples, exercises, and homework problems. We use software extensively to help students visualize specifications, alternatives, and their design results. This, in turn, helps them to create better designs and make smart choices between competing designs. Evaluation generally involves the practical side of design and can support ABET Criterion 3(2) and contribute to Criterion 5(d). We identify evaluation examples, exercises, and homework problems with an icon .

The OP AMP

A central feature of this text continues to be an early introduction and integrated treatment of the ideal OP AMP. The modular form of OP AMP circuits simplifies analog circuit analysis and design by minimizing the effects of loading, which is an interaction among circuit components. This feature allows the interconnection of simple building blocks to produce complex signal processing functions that are especially useful to instrumentation and signal shaping applications. The close agreement between theory, simulation, and hardware allows students to analyze, design, and successfully build useful OP AMP circuits in the laboratory. The text covers numerous OP AMP applications, such as digital-to-analog conversion, transducer interface circuits, comparator circuits, block diagram realization, first-order...