The following is the final blog in the Analog Curriculum series. In the previous blog, we discussed the need for a shift towards analog system design as a basic analog electronics course. In the following blog, Dr. KRK Rao highlights how ASLK PRO can be easily used to implement these changes in analog labs.

Given the need for system design, how should the lab course be structured?

The lab should correlate with the flow of the theory sessions and have the same faculty teaching both theory and lab to ensure students experience what they learn in the class. The experiments should provide the students with hands-on experience in building analog systems for a given specification using the basic building blocks.

Each experiment should be focused on measuring and analyzing macro model parameters, input/output and transfer characteristics of integrated circuits (ICs) and their effects. Students must also practice fault finding in circuits with deliberately introduced faults to build problem solving skills. It is with this approach, we have designed the ASLK PRO and the Analog System Lab Manual.

What is ASLK PRO?

ASLK PRO is a kit that helps students understand the basic analog signal processing functions by allowing students hand-on experience using system building blocks like op-amps, multipliers and comparators. The kit includes the TL082CP dual JFET input operational amplifier, chosen for its higher gain bandwidth and slew rate and the MPY634KP wide bandwidth precision analog multiplier, chosen for communication functions like modulation, demodulation, mixing and phase detection. The MPY634KP  can also be used for power measurement.

A comparator was not included intentionally, to make students aware of the misuse of op-amp as a comparator because of the slew rate limitation. Today the timer circuits in all the applications are dominated by the microcontrollers. We introduce the function generator as a better building block to cover the mixed mode circuits instead of 555 timers owing to higher dynamic range of operation. Hence 555 timer is also not included in ASLK PRO.

What value does ASLK PRO bring to the lab?

ASLK PRO is designed to allow students to make important connections, while building a circuit to facilitate fault detection and to study new topological connections. ASLK PRO enables quick prototyping of the circuit, which ensures students spend most of their time learning the behavior of the system instead of on correcting connection errors while working on the breadboard.

The experiments included with the ASLK PRO kit cover the design of all important analog systems used in electronics, each with well-defined measurements and analysis towards specific learning. The table below highlights the learning objectives of a few of the experiments:

Experiment name Learning objective
Negative Feedback Amplifier
  • Understand the use of amplifiers to improve the signal-to-noise ratio
  • Study the effect of the op-amp parameters like gain bandwidth product & slew rate
Analog Filters
  • Understand the advantages of universal active filter topology
  • Use second order filter of different pole Q with different pole frequencies for building higher order filter 
Voltage Controlled Oscillator
  • Introduce the use of multiplier for the voltage controlled integrator
  • Learn the concept of frequency generation such as in communication applications

On performing all the experiments enabled by ASLK PRO students will learn:

  • Characteristics and specification of analog ICs
  • How to decide which ICs to use for a given specification
  • How to perform basic fault diagnosis of an electronic system

Current analog curriculum does not reinforce these indispensable skills for an analog system design engineer. Therefore, there is a need for a shift in the analog curriculum in universities – both in theory and lab work towards system design.

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