From picone at ece.msstate.edu Wed Sep 3 09:43:31 2008 From: picone at ece.msstate.edu (Joseph Picone) Date: Wed Sep 3 09:45:33 2008 Subject: [ece3163] Homework No. 2 Message-ID: <48BEA293.3010100@ece.msstate.edu> I have posted homework assignment no. 2 on the course syllabus and the solutions on the web site. You should plan to start working these problems before next Tuesday's recitation class, and then spend the next two recitation classes working these. -Joe From picone at ece.msstate.edu Sat Sep 6 07:50:03 2008 From: picone at ece.msstate.edu (Joseph Picone) Date: Sat Sep 6 07:51:26 2008 Subject: [ece3163] updated lecture 8 Message-ID: <48C27C7B.6080109@ece.msstate.edu> I added a slide at the end of lecture 8 explaining the issue we were discussing about how an amplifier's nonlinearities can generate harmonics of the input signal. -Joe From picone at ece.msstate.edu Fri Sep 12 06:07:22 2008 From: picone at ece.msstate.edu (Joseph Picone) Date: Fri Sep 12 06:09:25 2008 Subject: [ece3163] class web site Message-ID: <48CA4D6A.1060402@ece.msstate.edu> is down right now, so I cannot upload lecture 11. The admins will look at it first thing in the morning. -Joe From picone at ece.msstate.edu Sat Sep 13 09:02:49 2008 From: picone at ece.msstate.edu (Joseph Picone) Date: Mon Sep 15 00:02:18 2008 Subject: [ece3163] HW No. 3 and Exam No. 1 Message-ID: <48CBC809.7060400@ece.msstate.edu> I can't access the course web site right now due to some computer problems, so I'll send this information via email for now. The homework assignment for Chap. 3 consists of problems no. 3, 9, 13, 14, 17, 22, 25, and 29. The solutions are attached. Exam no. 1 is scheduled for Friday, September 19, and will cover everything through Friday's lecture - sect. 3.6. The exam will consist of three problems: one from each chapter. The exam is closed book and notes, as described in the syllabus. You are allowed one double-sided page of notes. To prepare for the exam, you need to know how to work all the homework problems and the examples in the textbook. Also, you need to understand the lecture notes, including the derivations of key equations. The exam problems will be drawn from this material. The emphasis on Chapter 3 will be on basics, such as some of the examples we worked in class, since you haven't had a lot of time to look at the homework problems for that chapter. Let me know if you have additional questions. -Joe -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: hw_03.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 885007 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://www.ece.msstate.edu/pipermail/ece3163/attachments/20080913/aea13d60/hw_03-0001.pdf From picone at ece.msstate.edu Mon Sep 15 17:47:01 2008 From: picone at ece.msstate.edu (Joseph Picone) Date: Mon Sep 15 17:49:20 2008 Subject: [ece3163] Electromagnetic Spectrum Auctions: 700 MHz Message-ID: <48CEE5E5.7010001@ece.msstate.edu> Here is a nice article on how the government auctions the electromagnetic spectrum: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/700_MHz_wireless_spectrum_auction They raised $20B for the 700 MHz band :) You also need a "real estate" map of the electromagnetic spectrum: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_spectrum The recovery of the 700 MHz band was made possible by the conversion to digital television that will take place in Feb. 2009. -Joe From picone at ece.msstate.edu Fri Sep 19 16:56:18 2008 From: picone at ece.msstate.edu (Joseph Picone) Date: Fri Sep 19 16:59:12 2008 Subject: [ece3163] This Is Spinal Tap -- "It is one louder." Message-ID: <48D42002.6050508@ece.msstate.edu> While you are waiting for your exams to be graded, I thought I would offer you some entertainment. If you want to see a very good mockumentary on an aging rock band, you must see this movie: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088258/ - "This Is Spinal Tap" One of the more famous scenes in the movie is this clip on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akaD9v460yI In it, the band, known in their early years for being the loudest rock band in the world, explains that their secret to success is that their amplifiers go up to 11, while others only go up to 10, so therefore "It's one louder." In the Thursday night study session, we were talking about how products are designed to operate over a range that is usually only a fraction of their full scale. Amplifiers, for example, are typically linear over only about 50% or 75% of their operating range. The speakers in a car audio system will most likely fail quickly if the radio is played continuously at full volume. Operating equipment at the extremes, such as full scale, often leads to quick burnout of the device, because devices are normally not designed to operate at full scale continuously. The full scale setting is more so they can advertise a certain operating range that is greater than their competitor (e.g., 200 Watts of power) when in fact it is probably more optimal to operate that device at half its rating (e.g., 100 Watts). This is called "specmanship" (or specification engineering). Anyway, the YouTube clip is a famous take-off on this concept. Hope you enjoy it. -Joe From picone at ece.msstate.edu Sun Sep 21 11:40:41 2008 From: picone at ece.msstate.edu (Joseph Picone) Date: Sun Sep 21 11:43:36 2008 Subject: [ece3163] exam no. 1 results Message-ID: <48D67909.2030900@ece.msstate.edu> Below are the results for exam no. 1. If you send me an email, I will send you your individual grade. I am sure some of you are not happy with your grades. A number of you lost a lot of points because you simply wrote down the answers and did not show your work, as I requested. I want to give you a chance to redeem yourself if you think your grade is not truly indicative of your performance in the course. Hence, I am offering you the following options: (1) Accept your current grade. (2) Take a new exam that will consist of those unique Signals and Systems problems I am known for. Your grade on this exam will replace your current grade (note I will not take the higher of the two grades). (3) Take an oral exam where you answer questions at the whiteboard as I think them up. (Again, the grade on this will replace your current grade.) Should you elect options (2) or (3), you must take the retest sometime this week, no later than 11:59 PM on Saturday, September 27. I have also posted the solutions to the course web site. Let me know if you have further questions. -Joe ===================== Avg 55 Median 53 Stdev 20 Min 21 Max 98 Histogram: below 10 0 10-19 0 20-29 2 30-39 3 40-49 4 50-59 3 60-69 7 70-79 1 80-89 2 over 90 1 From picone at ece.msstate.edu Tue Sep 23 17:07:16 2008 From: picone at ece.msstate.edu (Joseph Picone) Date: Tue Sep 23 17:10:19 2008 Subject: [ece3163] [Fwd: exam no. 1 results] Message-ID: <48D96894.8010009@ece.msstate.edu> If you are planning on selecting option 2 below, the retest is tentatively scheduled for this Friday at 1 PM. I need your decision by noon on Wednesday so we can finalize the time - let me know either by email or at the end of class. If you want to see what the problems will be like, look at the previous exams available online. Note that your commitment is binding. If I have to make up this exam, you have to take it ;) -Joe -------- Original Message -------- Subject: exam no. 1 results Date: Sun, 21 Sep 2008 11:40:41 -0500 From: Joseph Picone Reply-To: joseph.picone@gmail.com To: ece3163@ece.msstate.edu Below are the results for exam no. 1. If you send me an email, I will send you your individual grade. I am sure some of you are not happy with your grades. A number of you lost a lot of points because you simply wrote down the answers and did not show your work, as I requested. I want to give you a chance to redeem yourself if you think your grade is not truly indicative of your performance in the course. Hence, I am offering you the following options: (1) Accept your current grade. (2) Take a new exam that will consist of those unique Signals and Systems problems I am known for. Your grade on this exam will replace your current grade (note I will not take the higher of the two grades). (3) Take an oral exam where you answer questions at the whiteboard as I think them up. (Again, the grade on this will replace your current grade.) Should you elect options (2) or (3), you must take the retest sometime this week, no later than 11:59 PM on Saturday, September 27. I have also posted the solutions to the course web site. Let me know if you have further questions. -Joe ===================== Avg 55 Median 53 Stdev 20 Min 21 Max 98 Histogram: below 10 0 10-19 0 20-29 2 30-39 3 40-49 4 50-59 3 60-69 7 70-79 1 80-89 2 over 90 1 From picone at ece.msstate.edu Tue Sep 23 20:45:11 2008 From: picone at ece.msstate.edu (Joseph Picone) Date: Tue Sep 23 20:48:34 2008 Subject: [ece3163] lecture 15 Message-ID: <48D99BA7.50705@ece.msstate.edu> I wasn't happy with the feedback I was getting, mainly those long, sad looks on your faces, during lecture 15 on Monday. This was a fairly important lecture because we introduced the Discrete-Time Fourier Transform (DTFT), one of the major transforms we will cover in this course. Of course, you were in the middle of a post-first exam funk, so it is understandable you might be a little distracted. I have updated the lecture notes to include two slides deriving the Discrete-Time Fourier Series, which we needed in the derivation of the DTFT. The textbook is a little thin on details of these derivations, so I added some material from the Oppenheim and Willsky book (listed as a reference). This book is much more rigorous than our textbook and is an excellent reference book for those of you interested in digging deeper. This added material makes the derivation of the DTFT more solid. Regarding those long faces and spacey looks, that is pretty common after the first exam. Many of you are disappointed that you didn't do better, and probably feel your exam grade does not accurately represent your understanding of the material. I don't think this is entirely your fault since this course requires you to apply much of the theory you have been learning in prior courses. Though we teach you many practical things in this course, it is hard to feel comfortable with the techniques without understanding the underlying theory. Every homework or exam problem looks a little different, and your understanding of the theory will be the only thing that guides you down the right path. Stated another way, once you solve a problem, it becomes just another piece of MATLAB code, and you move on to the next problem. There is no value-added in developing skills to solve tedious problems that are essentially the same. You are also beginning to transition from "technicians," where a premium is placed on vocational skills, to engineers, where design and analysis are critical skills. The reason I stress the latter is that in your lifetimes, the most important value-added you will bring to your job as an engineer is your ability to think creatively. Mundane, routine jobs will be automated or outsourced. The bulk of the engineering work that will remain in high-priced labor markets like the U.S. will be jobs that require some form of creativity. That doesn't mean everyone has to be a design engineer, but your ability to justify your high salaries will depend on your ability for your company to received a high return on investment for the money they invest in you. Therefore, you need to be doing something that brings added value to your company. Whether that is in manufacturing, development or research, the important thing will be for you to look at problems in a new way, do some analysis of that problem, and propose a new solution or a more efficient solution. Courses such as Signals and Systems are really all about helping you function at a much higher level as an engineer. So hang in there... over time this material will sink in if you keep studying it on a regular basis. But that means spending a few hours every couple of days on this course rather than trying to catch up the week of an exam. I would recommend you develop a study schedule that includes 9 hours of time spent on this course each week. Also, we need to maximize the productivity of the recitation section. That means, for example, looking at the problems before the session and coming to the session with specific questions. Again, hang in there. Things always look bleak after the first exam. -Joe From picone at ece.msstate.edu Fri Sep 26 12:38:45 2008 From: picone at ece.msstate.edu (Joseph Picone) Date: Fri Sep 26 12:41:46 2008 Subject: [ece3163] attendance Message-ID: <48DD1E25.7060909@ece.msstate.edu> Today less than half the class was present when class started. Fortunately for the students who attended, we had an impromptu quiz at the beginning of class. This quiz was worth 1% extra credit on their final grade - a fairly substantial amount of extra credit. Though I don't take attendance in class, I expect you to show up for every lecture. If you are going to miss class, email me ahead of time. It is very hard to pass this class without attending the lectures - that is a very simple historical fact validated over 25 years of teaching this type of material. I don't think you want to bet against such odds. In the future, if class attendance does drop below 50%, we will continue to have such impromptu extra credit quizzes. I appreciate students who work hard. They will, sooner or later, get the material because of their diligence. On top of that, they will gain my respect, and that might be useful to you down the line when you ask me for a letter of reference. Now I'll give you a parent's perspective :) This is the first time I am teaching this class while one of my children (my oldest daughter) is in college. I can tell you as a parent I would be very upset if she missed class, especially given how much I am paying for her college education ;) So if nothing else, show up to keep your parents happy :) -Joe From picone at ece.msstate.edu Tue Sep 30 23:01:27 2008 From: picone at ece.msstate.edu (Joseph Picone) Date: Tue Sep 30 23:02:13 2008 Subject: [ece3163] HW #4 Message-ID: <48E2F617.2060900@ece.msstate.edu> I have posted homework no. 4 along with solutions to the web site. -Joe