The ECE department strives to allow non-ECE majors to take ECE classes. However, ECE445L is particularly difficult to master as a non-ECE major, because it is a junior level class the builds on all required ECE classes taken in the first two years: ECE302, ECE306, ECE319K, ECE312, ECE313, and ECE411.
Warning: ECE students historically rank ECE445L as the second most difficult class in the department, because of the intensity of the lab assignments.
Official prerequisites: ECE312, ECE319K, ECE411 and ECE313. Credit/registration for 333T.
Specific ECE319K topics needed for ECE445L: LED interface, switch interface, busy-wait synchronization, serial communication concepts (start bit, data bits, stop bit, baud rate, bandwidth), UART programming, analog to digital conversion (range, resolution, precision, accuracy), ADC programming, digital to analog conversion (range, resolution, precision, accuracy), interrupt concepts (arm, enable, acknowledge, vector), periodic interrupt programming
Specific ECE312 topics needed for ECE445L: Modular programming, differences between pointers and numbers, when to use permanent allocation and when to use temporary allocation, definitions of char, short and long, understanding and use of static, const and volatile, understanding call by value versus call by reference, stack frames, structures, linked lists, fifo queues, verification. The most important component students must be able to accomplish is the translation of a problem statement into software code. The second most important skill we expect students to have is the ability to debug software.
Specific ECE302/ECE411/ECE313/ECE438 topics needed for ECE445L: RLC circuits, NPN and PNP transistors, input impedance, output impedance, linear amplifiers using op amps, oscilloscopes, sampling, frequency response, Bode Plots, Fourier Transform, spectrum measurements.
Please take ECE319K prior to ECE445L. Some of these topics may be presented in RBT350. We strongly recommend taking ECE319K prior to ECE445L. ECE319K is a freshmen-level class and it quite managable for non-ECE majors with some programming experience and just a tiny bit of circuits. If non-ECE majors take ECE319K and RBT350, we will allow them into ECE445L.
Non-ECE major students in the Robotics minor who wish to take ECE445L without ECE319K must complete the following tasks prior to the first day of the semester.
If you cannot complete Labs 3,6,8 prior to the start of classes, you will be removed from ECE445L