CE164 – Foundations of Electronics
Foundations of Electronics
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CE164 – Foundations of Electronics
All questions about it must be sent to email f.sepulveda by 17:00 on 20-Feb-2024.
Questions sent to me after this date/time may not be answered before the deadline.
Goal: To assess your knowledge and understanding of topics covered in weeks 16 to 20 in CE164.
Assignment rules. Please read carefully
Assignment weight: this unit of assessment is worth 10% of the module marks.
Submission: on FASER, before 13:59:59 on 22 Feb. 2024. (with evidence of prior work
in your designated CE164 folder)
What to submit:
o To FASER: The final version of the answers file, XXXXXXX_CE164_ASG1_Answers.docx
(available in your designated Onedrive folder), where XXXXXXX is your student registration
number (the one with numbers only, without letters).
o To Onedrive: Evidence that you did the work over a period of time (see the highlighted
paragraph below); your answers file must be frequently updated and saved as you work on
them. Onedrive puts time stamps on your files whenever you edit and save them, so the
file history can be checked.
IMPORTANT: Your personal CE164 Onedrive folder (the link for this will have been sent to you
by email on 5 Feb.) must have clear evidence (i.e., either writing your answers directly to the
answers file or uploading photos of your handwritten work) of work done progressively from 6
Feb. or soon thereafter. The evidence must be uploaded frequently and must not be uploaded
in bulk shortly before the submission deadline. Submitting the answers file to FASER without
this evidence in Onedrive will not be accepted and a zero will be given for the assignment.
THIS IS AN INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT the work you submit must be your own and only your
own. Collaboration of any kind and with anyone is not allowed. You must not discuss the
assignment and/or the work therein with anyone (including sites and/or individuals in the
internet) except the module supervisor.
This assignment brief is copyrighted by the University of Essex. It or portions of it must not be
copied to anyone or anywhere outside the CE164 2024 students without explicit authorisation
from CSEE.
Copying work from others without fully acknowledging it, having someone else (or
AI) do the work (fully or partially), using ideas and/or information from others
without fully referencing the source, and other infractions, constitute academic
offenses which: 1) undermine the hard work done by most of your classmates, 2)
diminish the value of the degree towards which you are working, and 3) are a
declaration that you find yourself not competent enough to do the required work.
Remember this if the thought of breaking academic rules ever crosses your mind.
Page 2 of 6
CE164 – ASG1 – 2024
The variable Reg in the questions below is the last four numbers in your student
registration number, i.e., the one with numbers only. This is for anonymity purposes as the
other student codes (PRID and email) readily reveal your identity.
All results, calculations, background material, references, discussions, diagrams, signal plots, screenshots, and tables
should be entered in the XXXXXXX_CE164_ASG1_Answers.docx file available in your designated Onedrive folder.
If you have scanned or photographed hand-written answers (preferably in grey-scale) they must be uploaded to
Onedrive as soon as you have them, and they must be easily readable.
The maximum marks (i.e., the percentage of the full assignment marks) for each question is shown in brackets next to
the question number. Marks will be allocated for each question based on the following criteria:
a) how correct the answers are,
b) how complete the answers are, and
c) the level and clarity of the explanations and discussions, where applicable.
Note: You must show all the step-by-step work required to reach the final answers. If only
the final answers are given for a particular question, zero marks will be given for that
question even if the final answer is correct.
Unless stated otherwise, assume that AC voltages and currents are in rms values and that they have no
DC offset.
The assignment has 14 questions of different weights.
PART 1 – AC Fundamentals [10%]
Question 1 [3%] – Explain the difference between AC and DC signals. Use the strict definition of these terms. Also,
draw an example of each and explain what exactly makes them AC or DC.
Question 2 [4%] – Calculate Vrms for two sinusoidal signals, S1 and S2. S1 has VDC = –15V and Vmax = 15V. S2 has a
DC offset of +5V and Vpeak-to-peak = 20V. Draw one full cycle for each signal with the appropriate axis labels. If you
use software for the plots, you must include the code and/or script you used for this.
Question 3 [3%] – Calculate the instantaneous voltage v at a phase of pi/7 for signal S1 (from Question 2). Draw the
signal with the appropriate axes labels.
Page 3 of 6
PART 2 – RC Circuits [35%]
Question 4 [8%] – For the circuit in Fig. 4:
a) Find the total current, total impedance, phase angle, and reactive power.
b) Draw the voltage phasor diagram.
R1 = (2500 + Reg/25) , R2 = (1500 + Reg/20) C1 = 1F + 1/(2000 Reg) F, and C2 = 1F + 1/(5000 Reg) F, and
Vin = 10V.
Solve this problem using phasor diagrams without explicitly using complex numbers.
Fig. 4
Question 5 [7%] – Redo Question 4a, but now using the analytical method, i.e., using the equations for the complex
number representation of phasors, in rectangular form.
Question 6 [10%] – For the circuit in Fig. 6:
a) Calculate the total current, the current in each branch, total impedance, phase angle, and the real power.
b) Draw the impedance phasor diagram.
R = Reg/20 C = 1 / (100 Reg) F, and Vin = 10V.
Solve this poblem without explicitly using complex numbers.
Fig. 6
Page 4 of 6
Question 7 [10%] – For the circuit in Fig. 7:
a) Calculate the total current, the current in each branch, impedance, phase angle, and apparent power.
b) Draw the impedance phasor diagram.
R1 = Reg/20 R2 = 2 R1 C1 = 1 / (100 Reg) F, C2 = 2 C1.
Solve this poblem using the analytical method.
Fig. 7
PART 3 – Inductors & RL Circuits [35%]
Question 8 [6%] – For the circuit in Fig. 8:
a) Draw the impedance phasor diagram and, from it, the current and power phasor diagrams, respectively.
b) Calculate the magnitude of the current through each inductor. Do this without explicitly using complex
numbers.
Vin = 5 V, R1 = R2 = (500 + Reg/10) L1 = L2 = L3 = 10mH + 1/Reg H.
Figure 8
Page 5 of 6
Question 9 [5%] – Redo Question 8a, but now using the analytical method.
Question 10 [8%] – For the circuit in Fig. 10:
a) Calculate the total impedance, the total current, the currents through each branch, the voltage drop at R2,
and the apparent power.
b) Draw the voltage phasor diagram.
R1 = 2 Reg R2 = 3 Reg and C = 1/(2000 Reg) F.
Use the analytical method.
Fig. 10
Question 11 [10%] – Revisit the circuit in Fig. 8 (from Question 8).
a) What type of filter is this if the output voltage is measured across R2? Explain your answer.
b) Find the frequency response of this filter for at least 10 frequency values ranging from 10Hz to 100 kHz. Do
this by plotting and tabulating VR as a function of frequency.
You may need to plot the data using logarithmic scales in order to accommodate for the range of data. For plotting
the data, you can use a software tool (but this is not compulsory), in which case you must submit (to FASER and
Onedrive) the file and/or script you used for plotting the data.
Question 12 [6%] – For the circuit on the left in Fig. 12, calculate the current at 60 s and at 120 s. The plot
on the right shows one cycle of the input voltage. R = (15000 + Reg) , L = (0.6 + 10/Reg) H.
Hint: start by converting the phase to actual time from 0s.