How to study electronics

Education and training

Electronics engineers typically possess an academic degree with a major in electronic engineering. The length of study for such a degree is usually three or four years and the completed degree may be designated as a Bachelor of Engineering, Bachelor of Science, Bachelor of Applied Science, or Bachelor of Technology depending upon the university. Many UK universities also offer Master of Engineering (MEng) degrees at undergraduate level.

The degree generally includes units covering physics, chemistry, mathematics, project management and specific topics in electrical engineering. Initially such topics cover most, if not all, of the subfields of electronic engineering. Students then choose to specialize in one or more subfields towards the end of the degree.

Some electronics engineers also choose to pursue a postgraduate degree such as a Master of Science (MSc), Doctor of Philosophy in Engineering (PhD), or an Engineering Doctorate (EngD). The Master degree is being introduced in some European and American Universities as a first degree and the differentiation of an engineer with graduate and postgraduate studies is often difficult. In these cases, experience is taken into account. The Master's degree may consist of either research, coursework or a mixture of the two. The Doctor of Philosophy consists of a significant research component and is often viewed as the entry point to academia.

In most countries, a Bachelor's degree in engineering represents the first step towards certification and the degree program itself is certified by a professional body. After completing a certified degree program the engineer must satisfy a range of requirements (including work experience requirements) before being certified. Once certified the engineer is designated the title of Professional Engineer (in the United States, Canada and South Africa), Chartered Engineer or Incorporated Engineer (in the United Kingdom, Ireland, India and Zimbabwe), Chartered Professional Engineer (in Australia) or European Engineer (in much of the European Union).

Fundamental to the discipline are the sciences of physics and mathematics as these help to obtain both a qualitative and quantitative description of how such systems will work. Today most engineering work involves the use of computers and it is commonplace to use computer-aided design programs when designing electronic systems. Although most electronic engineers will understand basic circuit theory, the theories employed by engineers generally depend upon the work they do. For example, quantum mechanics and solid state physics might be relevant to an engineer working on VLSI but are largely irrelevant to engineers working with macroscopic electrical systems.

PRACTICAL MAKES THEORY PERFECT

That is the way we all of us have learnt even as a child-to talk, walk, ride a cycle,etc.,.Many arts and special skills like dancing, singing swimming, and martial arts are all learnt by going to an expert or a teacher who makes us learn by doing rather than by listeningto lectures or reading books

.Why “learning by doing” is so important? Because, while doing we tend to fail and failures are very important in the learning process. Once we fail we start analyzing what went wrong. Thus at the point of failure a profound learning takes place.

That is why people say:FAILURES ARE STEPPING STONES TO SUCCESS!In order to master the basic principles of electronics one has to study about the different components, circuits And measuring instruments used in electronics. There are two types of components that we come across namely Active and Passive components.

Resistors, Capacitors,etc., are known as passive components because they can only attenuate the electrical voltage and signals And cannot amplify. Whereas deviceslike transistors, operational amplifier(Op Amp) can amplify or increase the amplitude And energy associated with the signals. Hence the transistors and OpAmp come under active devices.

These components can be combined in different configurations by interconnecting them with conducting wires to build different useful Electronic circuits. We would here study about rectifiers, amplifiers, Oscillators, etc., under the category of circuits.

Apart from the components and circuits we must also have familiarity on the principle of operations and usefulness of Some of the essential electronic measuring instruments such as digital multimeters, regulated power supplies, Function generators, oscilloscopes, etc., These help us in trouble shooting the circuits and identify the faulty components Whenever the circuits that we build do not work as expected.

HAVE SOME INFMN ABOUT ELECTRONICS

We are living in an age of Information Technology. Electronics is at the very foundation of the Information and Computer Age. The giant strides that we have made in the areas of Communications and Computers are possible only because of the great successes that we have achieved in the field of Electronics.

It is sometimes unbelievable, how many electronics gadgets that we carry these days in our person –Digital Wrist-watch, Calculator, Cell-phone, Digital Diary or a PDA, Digital Camera or a Video camera, etc.

The different types of Electronic equipments that has invaded our offices and homes these days is also mind boggling. Many things we use at home and office are “remote controlled”, for example, Television (TV), Air-Conditioners, Audio equipment, Telephone, etc. It is almost close to “magic”how even a child, now-a-days, can switch channels, or increase decrease the volume of sound in a TV at home by just clicking on a few buttons sitting at the comfort ofa sofa away from the Television apparently without any physical wiring or connection!

Again, we are astonished, how we are able to talk to ournear and dear living several thousands of kilometers away, from wherever we are, at home, office, on the road in a car, or in a classroom –by just clicking a few n umbers on our palm sized cellular phones

Electronics has made deep impact in several vital areas such as health care, medical diagnosis and treatment, Air and space travels, Automobiles, etc. In short, the technological developments of several countries of the globe are directly related to their strengths in electronics design, manufacture, products and services.

It appears as though we have to add inevitably an “E” to the three “R”s, namely, Reading,wRiting, and aRithmatic, to declare a Man or Woman to be “literate”! Needless to add that the “E” here means “Electronics”! Thus Electronics has become surely a “BasicScience”. It is no more an “applied science”. Just as we teach physics, chemistry, biology and mathematics in our schools, it is high time we start teaching our children at school, Electronics as a separate subject by itself

.This brings us face to face to an important question : How to teach the basic concepts of such an important subject like Electronics most effectively? If one wants to gain a good understanding of electronics, he or she should build circuits and test them independently. For this one should acquire a practical knowledge of the characteristics of different devices and in constructing the various circuits. Let us try to learn such skills by the proven scheme of “ LEARNING BY DOING”.

An old Chinese Proverb says:
•I Read -I Forget
•I See -I Remember
•I Do -I Understand
There is only one way to learn to do anything: JUST DO IT!