ELEN30011: Electrical Device Modelling

Final exam Open Book 60%
Workshop reports 30%
Mid semester test Closed Book 10%

This is a very difficult and demanding subject; don't take it unless you have to/you have a very good mathematics background (vector calc) and a good mark for physics 2. I'd say take vector calc before this subject many of my friends benefit from that; eng maths' vector calc is inadequate coz in eng maths vector calc is merely computational; for this subject you need to actually understand what the vec calc concepts mean. If you haven't taken ENED, I also suggest you don't take this subject because many of the examples in lectures talk about transfer functions, op amps, etc. and he just talks about it in lectures assuming you know them already (even transfer functions was in my exam). I took this subject purely out of interest, having only taking eng maths and the pre reqs, which is a fatal mistake (as my master degrees peers also told me way after its too late to withdraw )

The subject started off covering a general revision of vector calculus (yes its just revision although eng maths/vec calc is not a pre requisite, revise your vec calc course before going into the subject). It takes 3 weeks including the introduction lectures. The third week was mainly vec calc examples. Then in week 4 to 7 you start Maxwell's equations and device modelling (what is actually a resistor, an inductor etc). In week 8 to 9 you'll start learning about transmission lines (your telephone/fibre optic cable lines) and various models of it. Lastly in week 10 to 12 you talk about semiconductors (which models diodes and transistors that governs your iphones). Pretty cool stuff.

The first few weeks may seem easy, don't be fooled. You need to grasp these vector calc stuff very well because it will be heavily used in the later topics. Peter, the lecturer is very highly mathematical and his tests/exams, although this is a physics subject, requires you to do lots and lots of math. Some of the required vector calc concepts, for example projections of vector fields to a surface, is not even in the lecture notes. Various definitions of conservative fields are not even in the lecture notes. Hence you need to refer to your vector calc notes as well; don't merely rely on his lecture slides. I spoke to him and he said that he expects us to know these things already; he's merely revising.

The next topic (Maxwell eqn, resistor capacitor inductor conductor insulator modelling) expands on your knowledge of physics 2 and applies it to model various electrical devices. He will explain things as if you see them for the first time but he's gonna skip some very important details (e.g. surface of a conductor is an equipotential) because he assumes you know it already from physics 2. Hence also revise physics 2 thoroughly in your studies. I didn't do this and so spent my whole mid sem break revising these topics. Don't do the same mistake.

The transmission lines section were short but most of the stuff that he's gonna ask you on the exam for this topic is not on the lecture notes. He writes them on the board and so you need to keep good records of whatever he writes on the board. Especially termination strategies, it's nowhere in the lecture notes; he writes them on the board. This topic is not as difficult/mathsy as the other topics though but you need a solid understanding of circuit theory.

And the last (and the most difficult) topic is semiconductors. This topic is unlike any other; so many things jumbled around and it's very very confusing. The arguments given for some phenomenon are somehow ad hoc and so require memorisation. Each lecture builds on the previous one directly so attend the lectures. There are many logical explanations for each phenomenon that you might think is plausible but turns out to be wrong, so I highly recommend you don't just swallow what Peter tells you; think of objections and discuss it with him. He's gonna ask you some questions that require critical thinking in exam and so get them basics understood properly. This topic is full of partial differential equations and some Laplace operators so be prepared for those as well.

My worst nightmare. I thought I have mastered everything, brought all the textbooks and printed all the lecture notes (contact me if you want them rather than printing yourself) but it was just utterly difficult. My advice is to do the easy ones first (the straightforward calculations) and then do the difficult ones, because the difficult ones are both conceptually and mathematically challenging. Even if you have known what the physics is about and know how to do it, you're still faced with mathematical issues e.g. use rectangular or spherical coordinates in the integrals, converting between coordinate systems, actually computing the integrals etc. which chews up your exam time. I personally don't think you can finish the exam in 3 hours; it even takes 10 minutes to read and understand each question! I suggest that you just write down the integrals/equations but don't solve for the final solution; move ahead to other questions and solve for the solution later, because I believe the marks are mostly for understanding and just little is allocated for correct final solution.

Another advice is to practice writing proofs/show that... questions at home by timing yourself, and see how detailed you can be in a given time limit.
All in all, this subject was the most difficult subject I've ever done in uni. Don't do this subject if you're not an electrical eng major, or if you don't have solid vector calc background knowledge. One good news though is I heard gossips that this subject scales the exam/final subject marks, which for me is the only possible explanation as to how I got a H1 . I learnt a lot of cool and useful stuff, however the stress and the confusion was definitely not worth it.

Yes, but useless because Peter (the lecturer) writes on the board

Peter Dower

The lectures are not too bad. They are full of real life examples of the stuff you learn in the subject. However Peter spends wayyyyy too much time in these examples and spends little time in explaining the required concepts. Really he should've used this time to do some worked examples. Oh, and he does everything on the whiteboard, nothing is recorded only his voice which is useless without the board so do attend lectures; as I said many things that are examinable he writes on the board, but are not necessarily on the lecture notes.

Lecturer is very approachable and talkative; he wouldn't mind explaining things to you even to the minutest detail. Very smart and knowledgable guy. Do ask questions to him, he doesn't mind spending an hour after lectures just answering your questions.

1 hour standard mid sem. Similar to previous years, but it seems to me it gets more difficult as the years pass by (e.g. 2015 and 2016 is much harder than 2010). The first few questions really checks your conceptual understanding of the physics, where the last questions test your mathematical skills. Study hard, because the average mark of mid sem of the class for 2015 and 2016 is ~50%.

Yes from 2010 (7 if you're taking this subject in 2017). Past mid sems were also available with detailed solutions

2 Out of 5

Peter gives worked problems as well as past mid sems, with fully (and meticulously) worked solutions. However I must emphasize the worked problems are much easier compared to the mid sems and exam. It's not adequate for exam prep; you need to google around to prep for his exams/mid sems. The worked problems also sometimes merely asks you to derive the theorems/skipped steps in the lecture notes and so is not a good exam mock up.

I found http://www.propagation.gatech.edu/ECE3025/index.html
to be mostly in line with Peter's syllabus and also quite helpful. It also has worked problems which is very nice.
Another resource is ocw.mit.edu , and just type in electromagnetism. It's basically physics 2; so if you lost your notes for physics 2 just refer to that website, lots of worked examples.

Some other resources were the prescribed book; READ IT! I don't recommend buying; just borrow from library. The book by Hayt (which is for weeks 1-9) is much more useful rather than the other book (for weeks 10-12).

For some more good worked problems, borrow Schaum's Electromagnetics from the library. That book is simply king.

He has consultations hours but doesn't advertise it; you have to email him personally. Otherwise he is approachable after lectures and is quite willing to spend an hour after lecture for discussion which is nice!

W.H. Hayt, J.A. Buck, Engineering Electromagnetics. McGraw-Hill, 8th Edition (For week 1-9)
B.G. Streetman, S. Banerjee, Solid State Electronic Devices. Prentice-Hall, 6th Edition (For week 10-12)

3x1 hr lectures per week for 12 weeks
1x3 hr workshop per week for 12 weeks

In-semester assessments are only workshop reports and a mid sem test on week 8.

11 workshops in total; 6 workshops sheets some sheets take 2 or 3 workshops to complete. Basically all you have to do with your partner is to complete the sheets within the allocated time for that particular sheet, and then submit a workshop report for that sheet. The first three sheets are purely calculations, the last 3 are combinations of answering questions and hands on work (using oscilloscope etc).
The first 3 workshops should be easy enough provided you catch up with the lectures. The last 3 are the beasts.
The last 3

2016 Semester 2

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