Audio Engineering Laboratory

(0-0-3-1)

CMPE Degree: This course is Selected Elective for the CMPE degree.

EE Degree: This course is Selected Elective for the EE degree.

Lab Hours: 3 supervised lab hours and 0 unsupervised lab hours.

Technical Interest Groups / Course Categories: Threads / ECE Electives

Course Coordinator: Robert Allen Jr Robinson

Prerequisites: ECE 4445 [min D, with concurrency]

Catalog Description

A companion laboratory to ECE 4445. Design, analysis, construction, modeling, and testing of circuits and systems pertaining to audio engineering.

Textbook(s)

Course Outcomes

design and implement circuits and systems related to sound generation and modification. 

develop evaluation methods for these circuits and systems and interpret the resulting data. 

write laboratory reports and documentation conforming to technical writing standards. 

identify components of a complex impedance from measured data. 

determine equivalent circuit models for various acoustical, mechanical, and electrical systems from measured data. 

use circuit models to make predictions about systems containing the modeled components.

use laboratory instrumentation to measure data generated by various structures/systems/circuits. 

relate time domain, frequency domain, and audible characteristics of signals. 

identify non-ideal characteristics of passive circuit elements.

Strategic Performance Indicators (SPIs)

N/A

Topic List

  1. Basic Principles: Introductory concepts and definitions
  2. Fundamentals of Acoustics: An introduction to the fundamentals of acoustics.  Pressure, particle velocity, volume velocity, intensity, diffraction, reflection. Plane wave and spherical solutions to the wave equation.
  3. Electro Acoustical Analogous Circuits: Development of analogous circuits for acoustic sources and elements. Plane wave tubes, acoustic resistance, acoustic mass, and acoustic compliance. Analogous circuits for radiation impedances.
  4. Electro Mechanical Analogous Circuits: Development of analogous circuits for mechanical sources and elements. Mobility and impedance analogs. Transducer analogous circuits.
  5. Microphones: Microphone classifications, analogous circuits, pressure microphones, pressure gradient microphones, combination microphones, SPICE simulations of microphones, promximity effect.
  6. Moving Coil Loudspeaker Drivers: Direct radiator loudspeaker driver construction and modeling. Analogous circuit, pressure response, radiated power, small-signal parameters. SPICE simulations.
  7. Loudspeaker Driver Parameter Measurements: Methods for the measurement of small-signal loudspeaker parameters.
  8. Closed Box Loudspeaker Systems: The analysis and design of closed-box direct-radiator loudspeaker systems. SPICE simulations.
  9. Vented Box Loudspeaker Systems: The analaysis and design of vented-box direct-radiator loudspeaker systems.  Applications of network synthesis to vented-box design. SPICE simulations.
  10. Crossover Networks: Analysis and design of passive and active loudspeaker crossover networks. Effects of loudspeaker phase response on crossover network design. SPICE simulations.
  11. Acoustic Horns: Solutions to the Webster horn equation.  Exponential, conical, parabolic, and hyperbolic horns.  Analogous circuits for horns and horn driving units. Frequency response.
  12. Audio Power Amplifiers: Concepts of feedback amplifier design. Stability, frequency compensation, circuit topologies, gain-bandwidth and slew-rate relationship, power supply decoupling and grounding, protection circuits.