Help me choose a topic for school electronics project! - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / projects

author: FenderBender
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 07, 2012, 02:52:21 am
content: Hello,You guys might remember me asking some questions about power supplies in regards to a presentation I made for my electronics class in school. This is a high school course.I have been assigned another project, though this one wont be due for a month or two, though the standards are still pretty low.If you want to see my previous project, here is the LINK to the download:http://ge.tt/9FTnjfE/v/0?cYou will need Powerpoint.Please note!!The presentation only makes sense if you actually hit "View Presentation" otherwise it's a mess of stuff. Keepclickingto advance the animations.For the real question,This is a pretty low leveled course, in the sense that all of our assessments are open-book and the teacher is fairly lenient, though he does actually know what he's talking about. I'm looking for ANY suggestions. I like the idea of audio, since it is a subject I have experience in, in regards to electronics. Perhaps the history of audio reproduction. (ie Tubes->Transistors->Chip Amps-> Switching Amps) And then generally how everything works....But I'm seriously open to ANYTHING. I wouldn't suggest FPGA design or any fancy-shmansy stuff like that...but something relate-able.Any ideas?

author: dcel
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 07, 2012, 05:22:05 am
content: Report on the first "transistor amplifer", ie how the man that did it discovered that it had gain.Chris

author: Psi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 07, 2012, 07:05:49 am
content: Microcontrollers!You can show how basic logic can be done using logic gates worth around 50 cents a chip.Then explain how microcontrollers have changed everything and how a $2 IC can do things that would require a room full of logic gates.

author: mtkaalund
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: March 07, 2012, 10:22:47 am
content: What about a microcontrolled amplifier ?I personerally like that idea, perhaps I going to do it some time in the near futureBut good luck with the project

author: Psi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 07, 2012, 11:41:05 am
content: Quote from: mtkaalund on March 07, 2012, 10:22:47 amhaha, so like ADC --> MCU --> DAC and the signal gets amplified in software?That could be quite interesting, bit pointless but definitely interesting.You could even use one of the micros that has built-in 200x gain on the differential adc channels.So input signal could be ultra small.

author: slateraptor
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 07, 2012, 11:44:52 am
content: Quote from: Psi on March 07, 2012, 07:05:49 amI'm with Psi on this one. A crap ton of history to talk about, and it has that grandiose powers-of-ten feel that puts things into perspective.transistor --> logic gate --> flip-flop (SSI) --> mux/adder (MSI) --> alu (LSI) --> cpu+peripherals=uc (VLSI)

author: dcel
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 07, 2012, 02:26:14 pm
content: VACUUM TUBE (VALVES) --> transistor --> logic gate --> flip-flop (SSI) --> mux/adder (MSI) --> alu (LSI) --> cpu+peripherals=uc (VLSI)Everyone forgets to start with the first active device, the humble vacuum tube. The transistor was what started the elecrtonics evolution. Without its discovery, I wouldnt be typing this.Chris

author: T4P
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 07, 2012, 03:04:40 pm
content: Quote from: dcel on March 07, 2012, 02:26:14 pmNeither would i .

author: mtkaalund
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: March 07, 2012, 03:29:56 pm
content: QuoteNo, not the signal being amplified in software, but more the control of the amplifiers gain is controlled in software.A little like Dave is doing in his PSU design.And if he want to, he could take a look on some DSP, where he could do some digital filtering, which is fun to play withDSP Producents:http://www.ti.com/lsds/ti/dsp/home.pagehttp://www.analog.com/en/processors-dsp/processors/index.htmlhttp://www.freescale.com/webapp/sps/site/homepage.jsp?code=DSP-DSC_HOME&tid=vandsphttp://www.ceva-dsp.com/Magazine for DSP and fpga:http://dsp-fpga.com/Tutorial for DSP:http://www.bores.com/courses/intro/chips/index.htmIIR filtering:http://www.kapik.com/publications/rcpapers/XGao91b.pdf<-- PDF Warninghttp://cnx.org/content/m10025/latest/An introduction to IIR filterhttp://www.lavryengineering.com/white_papers/iir.pdfAn another introduction to IIR filter <-- PDF WarningUPDATE:FIR filtering:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finite_impulse_responseWiki page for FIR filtershttp://www.dspguru.com/dsp/faqs/fir/basicsA basic introduction to FIR filtershttp://www.dspguru.com/dsp/faqs/firFAQ for FIR filtershttp://www.netrino.com/Embedded-Systems/How-To/Digital-Filters-FIR-IIRDesign of FIR filtershttp://www-sigproc.eng.cam.ac.uk/~op205/3F3_5_Design_of_FIR_Filters.pdfDesign of FIR filters <-- PDF Warninghttp://www.waset.org/journals/waset/v26/v26-12.pdfIntroduction to FIR filter design <-- PDF warninghttp://arc.id.au/FilterDesign.htmlan FIR filters calculator

author: FenderBender
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 07, 2012, 10:53:47 pm
content: Thanks for all of the replies guys.I must say, I've always been an analog guy, so this MCU stuff is still a little foreign to me...but I'm quite interested in expanding my knowledge. The thing I liked abut making a presentation on power supplies is because I knew a lot about it.So, perhaps another question I have is: Do you guys know any good literature that might help me understand the progression of digital/logic circuits and how they work?Right now all I have is an Aruduino. I kind of wish I got a Pic Kit 3 and a Pic...though I guess I still can. My income is pretty shite these days.

author: vk6zgo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 08, 2012, 12:16:40 am
content: Quote from: mtkaalund on March 07, 2012, 03:29:56 pmThe last generation of hearing aids before they went fully digital,used this method.The Audiologist could test a patient,& program gain,frequency response,dynamic range,etc,into the device.When they needed to be repaired,the Tech could access this information & check that the program was still correct.When I was fixing them,we hadn't completely "closed the loop",& you had to do an acoustic sweep & compare it visually with that shown on the PC for that particular aid.The chip that did all this was just an anonymous blob on the board!

author: damo
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: March 08, 2012, 05:34:13 am
content: If you're an analog guy, maybe you should take a look at the old magnetic amplifier. It actually sort of fits in between the valve and the transistor and is easier to construct than either of those. Maybe you could actually build one as a demo

author: FenderBender
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 08, 2012, 10:41:19 pm
content: Analog in the sense of discretes vs microcontrollers. But that's interesting.

author: bearman
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 25, 2012, 08:32:28 am
content: How about a NiMh battery charger. You would have to learn about the various modes of charging them. Constant voltage, constant current, delta time, delta temperature and delta voltage charge charicteristics.This would involve several sensor types that you would need for monitoring each of these battery charging characteristics.B

author: adept
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 26, 2012, 10:31:25 pm
content: Make an 8 bit NAND register from 8 D flip flops. You can even get fancy and add in enable pins, 0 pins, or anything else you think is useful. A whole 8 bit register is only 10 74HC00 Quad NAND Chips away! If you want to REALLY impress the women, make a 4 bit decoder from the 7400 IC series. You will want more than NAND because it gets excessively complicated using only NANDS after a while.Anyway, it is way too cool that your high school offers that. My school doesn't even offer electronics as a dual credit at the university. I started the electronics club at my school, so I know lots of easy projects. For example, use a dual opamp to make a light following robot. (about 10 bucks from parts at radioshack...) Or a laser communicator using photocells and opamps. But yeah, have a heck of a lot of fun doing this project!