Appendix E
Discussion About EE411

by Jack Lee
with comments from Brian Evans, Takis Konstantopoulos, and John Pearce

E.1 Introduction

One proposal for the 2002-2004 electrical engineering curriculum is to form six parallel tracks of required courses. The current proposal parallel tracks give a balanced emphasis among the analog circuits, signals and systems, software, and electromagnetic subsystems that enable new technologies, and train the engineer to communicate technological innovation to peers and managers effectively: Although the tracks are conceptually parallel, there is some crossover. EE411 is a pre-requisite for EE313 and EE325, which means that it is the gateway into the systems and electromagnetics tracks.

In the Circuits track, EE302 is about 60% analog circuits and covers circuit elements, resistive circuits, and circuit analysis techniques. Since EE302 is a pre-requisite for EE411, EE411 could pick up where EE302 would leave off. Section E.2 presents the topics for EE411 in the 1998-2000 catalog. For the 2002-2004 catalog, Section E.3 proposes to spend less time in EE411 reviewing EE302 material, add the topics of Operational Amplifiers and Three-phase Circuits, and move the topic of Two-Port Networks to EE338. Section E.4 summarizes discussions about EE411.

E.2 Topics for EE411 in the 1998-2000 Catalog

The description for EE411 in the 1998-2000 catalog follows:

EE411. Circuit Theory Analysis and design of linear circuits; steady state response to signals; simple transient response; nodal and loop analysis; two-port networks. Prerequisite: EE 302 with a grade of at least C and credit or registration for Mathematics 427K and Physics 303L and 103N. Three lecture hours and two recitation hours a week for one semester.

The list of topics covered in EE411 follow. The chapters refer to the current EE411 textbook which is James W. Nilsson and Susan A. Riedel, Electric Circuits, Addison-Wesley, 5th edition, ISBN 0-201-55707-x.

Topic Chapters
Review and circuit elements 1-2
Resistive circuits 3
Circuit analysis technique 4
Capacitance, inductance and mutual inductance 6
First-order circuits 7
Second-order circuits 8
Phasor and sinusoidal steady-state analysis 9
Sinusoidal steady-state power calculations 10
Two-Port networks 18

The following courses list EE411 as a pre-requisite:

E.3 Proposed Topics for the 2002-2004 Catalog

EE302 covers circuit elements, resistive circuits, and Thevenin's equivalent and introduces nodal and mesh analysis. Since EE302 is a pre-requisite for EE411, EE411 can pick up where EE302 left off. This would free up 2-3 weeks of lecture. In addition, the topic of two-port networks can be better motivated in EE338. Moving two-port networks would free up another week of lecture. We suggest to add the following topics to EE411 because of their importance in both required and elective courses: In the 1998-2000 catalog, Laplace transforms were relegated to 5-6 lectures in EE313 and a few lectures in EE362K. They were not covered in EE411 or M427K. In Spring 2000, three special sections of M427K were opened to cover Laplace transforms. For the 2002-2004 catalog, the treatment of Laplace transforms in EE411 is intended to leverage the coverage of Laplace transforms in M427K, which is a co-requisite for EE411. To be safe, Laplace transforms should probably be covered at the end of the semester in EE411, unless we can arrange with the Mathematics Department to teach the Laplace transform earlier in the semester in M427K.

A description for EE411 proposed for the 2002-2004 catalog follows:

EE411. Circuit Theory Linear circuit elements; nodal and loop analysis; operational amplifiers; capacitance and inductance; simple transient response; sinusoidal steady state analysis; Bode plots; three-phase circuits; Laplace transforms; computer-aided analysis and design. Prerequisite: EE 302 with a grade of at least C and credit or registration for Mathematics 427K and Physics 303L and 103N. Three lecture hours and two recitation hours a week for one semester.

The list of topics proposed for coverage in EE411 follow. The chapters refer to the current EE411 textbook which is James W. Nilsson and Susan A. Riedel, Electric Circuits, Addison-Wesley, 5th edition, ISBN 0-201-55707-x.

Topic Chapters
Review of EE302 (circuit elements and resistive circuits) 1-3
Circuit analysis technique 4
Operational amplifier 5
Capacitance, inductance and mutual inductance 6
First-order circuits 7
Second-order circuits 8
Phasor and sinusoidal steady-state analysis 9
Bode plots
Sinusoidal steady-state power calculations 10
Three-phase circuits 11
Laplace transforms 15 (?)

E.4 Discussion of Changes to EE411

Prof. John Pearce -- EE 411 is already too full. Pushing Laplace transforms into it without other changes is a bad idea. It certainly will not decouple 411 from 313 if you do that.

Prof. Takis Konstantopoulos -- Here is a list of topics that should be in it [a revised version of EE 411]:

  1. Review of KVL, KCL and circuit elements.
  2. Techniques for analyzing circuits.
  3. Time-dependent circuits.
  4. State-space methods.
  5. Input-output methods (Laplace transforms).
  6. Interesting special cases (oscillators, amplifiers,...)
  7. Frequency analysis (introduction).
  8. Some nonlinear circuits (e.g. diodes and transistors), as well as
  9. Generalization of the "circuit" concept.
It will be demanding, but, with a proper revision (and a mandatory pre-requisition!) of 302, that will be feasible.

Last updated 04/10/00. Mail comments about this page to bevans@ece.utexas.edu.