User:Chapman

From Ece

TA Instruction

Workstation Equipment

Power Supply
Oscilloscope
Function Generator

Digital Devices

Digital Oscillope
Xilinx ISE software (FPGA logic)

Emag (1)
Electric field meter
resistance/capacitance and inductance measurement
Teslameter
Different kinds of magnetic probes

Emag (2)
microstrip line kits
waveguide kits

Plagiarism, Academic Honesty and Honor Code

Personal Hygiene - Etiquette

Diversity
Race
Gender
Nationality

ECE3724 Microprocessors

Graders

• Verify:
  • Access to http://mycourses.msstate.edu to enter homework grades
  • Access to the Google docs for grading (homework 1 solutions; homework point assignments).
  • Access to the Robotics lab and location of the ECE3724 drop box in order to pick up and return homework.
  • Membership in the ece3724 mailing lists in order to receive homework due dates and clarifications
• Check your e-mail and the schedule page regularly to determine when the next homework assignment is due.
• Pick up homework on its due date from the robotics lab drop box.
• Grade them (out of 100 points) using the Google Docs point assignments then enter grades. If a students does not turn in an assignment, enter a 0 rather than leaving the field blank, since blank fields cause the homework average to be mis-calculated.
• Return them before the following class.
• Report on any particular problem areas students have.
• myCourses tweaks:
  • By default, myCourses only displays 20 records per page, requiring several clicks per session to overcome (after clicking the "view all" button on the bottom left side of the page, click on the "Page" drop down list box at the bottom right of the page and choose "All"). To get around this, click on the multiple-sheet-of-paper icon in the bottom right of the entire page (scroll to find it), then enter 999 for number of records per page. This get saved from session to session, so you don't have to re-do it.
  • You can also enter grades in a spreadsheet them simply import the grades, if that's easier than entering the grades directly to myCourses.

Lab assistants

Lab preparation

• Clean the lab. Throw away any known junk; keep known useful items; make a pile of unsure items
  • Open all drawers (lab bench and desk)
  • Report any facilities problems (lights out, broken/malfunctioning cabinets, etc.)
• Inventory the spare parts for students parts kits
  • Make a list of all parts with low quantities (< 10 for a qty 1 in student parts kits, more for higher quantities)
  • Make a list of all outdated parts. Put this in labeled drawers in the Senior Design lab (label new drawers if necessary)
• Inventory spare parts for laboratory equipment
  • Old multimeter fuses (1.25" x 1/4" 2A?)
  • New multimeter fuses (5x20 mm, 2A)
  • Scope probes
  • Spare scope ground leads
  • Solder / solder wick / wire for soldering station
• Inventory laboratory equipment
  • PicKit2 programmers
  • One scope and multimeter per station
  • PicKit2 ZIF boards
  • Soldering iron, wire, and accessories
• Test laboratory equipment
  • Power up all meters to verify fuses are good. Check that resistance works by shorting probes together.
  • Test all scopes and scope probes. Each scope should have at least one probe with a "grabber" lead and ground lead.
    1. Take a probe and see if you can measure the 5 V square calibration signal on the scope.
    2. Change the horizontal setting to 5V per division. Plug a wall transformer in, and touch the ground plug of the probe to the outside of the wall transformer plug tip (-), and the scope probe tip to the center of the wall transformer plug tip (+). If you see 6 V to 15 V, the probe is fine. If anything other than a steady DC voltage appears, suspect that the ground wire of the probe is broken. Check its continuity; if broken, fix it.
  • Verify lab PCs work. On each PC, program a PIC using the PicKit2 with the bootloader then program reset.c using the bootloader.
  • Verify soldering iron works

Personal preparation

• Before the class begins:
  • Review the lab schedule and divide the sections (3 per TA)
  • Choose TA hours (1 per week, growing to 3 per week for difficult labs)
  • Produce TA schedule (including TA hours and e-mail address) then post these on the Micro wiki.
  • Review and update lab 0 notes
• Hardware / software
  • Obtain a parts kit and breadboard if you don't have one
  • Install all software
  • Program your board with the bootloader using the PicKit2 then program reset.c using the bootloader
• Verify:
  • Access to the Micro lab.
  • Access to http://mycourses.msstate.edu to enter lab grades
  • Access to the Google docs for grading (all lab instructions; Lab 5 formal report solutions).
  • Membership in the ece3724 mailing lists in order to receive lab updates
  • Access to the TA grading system; see the electronic grading of lab reports and similar links on the TA information page
• Grading
  • When entering lab grades, enter a 0 for a lab not submitted, rather than leaving it blank. Blank entries confuse the average function, causing grades to be incorrectly computed.
  • By default, myCourses only displays 20 records per page, requiring several clicks per session to overcome (after clicking the "view all" button on the bottom left side of the page, click on the "Page" drop down list box at the bottom right of the page and choose "All"). To get around this, click on the multiple-sheet-of-paper icon in the bottom right of the entire page (scroll to find it), then enter 999 for number of records per page. This get saved from session to session, so you don't have to re-do it.

Weekly meetings and updates

• If a student does not turn a lab report in on time, e-mail the Micro professor.
• Weekly meetings occur at 3:30 PM in the lab. Finish grading of all reports and have grades entered for labs which occurred two weeks ago.
• Report on any particular problems encountered in lab, any equipment that needs repair, and anything else of note.

Policy for selling lab kits and spare parts

When cash on-hand exceeds $20, take a completed deposit form no later than 4:00 PM to Ms. Ellen Harpole in the Simrall office to deposit the amount. For parts kits:

• Verify the number of kits that arrive
• Record number of kits sold that week and report this in the weekly meeting. The Micro professor will verify that the appropriate fees were received by Ms. Harpole.
• After the kits are sold, count the number of unsold kits.

Soldering with care

I accidentally soldered it in the wrong place.
And when i was trying to get it off my pliers broke the
part. It looked like it

Here are some important points to follow:

1. Please be very careful while soldering the parts and always doubly check the components before soldering them to the board. It is easier and faster to check the components twice instead of soldering a component at an incorrect place, desoldering it and then, soldering back the correct component.
2. Use appropriate instruments like an de-soldering iron or a copper braid to desolder any component. You can buy these at RadioShack or any other shop that sells these instruments. If you break the components because you were not using the appropriate instruments, it is your reponsibility to get a spare part.
3. If you have a faulty part, do not throw it away. You will need to experimentally demonstrate to your TA that the part is indeed faulty before the TA will try to provide you with a spare.
4. The coils in AM/FM radio are very fragile. While tuning the coils, turn them gently and use an appropriate screwdriver that fits well. Also note that while turning the coil, once it hits either end, do not keep on turning by using excessive force. At either end, excessive force is very likely to break the coil and render it useless.