Learning Outcomes:
Part I: definition of basic electronic quantities; identification of nodes and branches in simple circuits; annotation of simple circuit diagrams with node and branch voltages and with branch currents; writing Kirchoff's laws for simple circuits; identification of circuit elements including voltage and current sources, resistors, switches, short circuits, open circuits; combination of elements in series and parallel; use of voltage and current division rules; design of some simple instruments including ammeters and voltmeters.
Part II: Conversion of decimal numbers to binary and hexidecimal; conversion of ASCII text to binary (and vice versa); comprehension of sampling and quantisation on 1D and 2D signals; explanation of digital cameras and bitmap files; knowledge of AND/OR/NOT logic gates and truth tables; interpreting boolean statements and converting to/from logic gate representation; basic knowledge of history of telecomms, computing and the internet; knowledge of Moore's law; OSI 7 layer model of networks; definition of basic communication terms including broadcast, one-way, duplex, packet switching, star network, mesh network; simple representation of digital signals as electrical signals, including eye diagrams and basic understanding of channel effects including noise, delay, distortion, attenuation; description of structure and operation of optical fibre; basic structure of frames, synchronisation, error correction codes; operation of link layer including acknowledgements; character level and bit level encryption, substitution ciphers and their weaknesses, one time pads and their strengths and weaknesses, RSA and PGP; definition of the internet of things, with examples; design of a service.
Indicative Module Content:
This module deals with the fundamentals of circuit theory and an introduction to computing, networking and communications.