Lab Practice: Measurement, Simulation & Debugging

Lab Practice: Measurement, Simulation & Debugging: Measurement Techniques & Lab Instruments for Analog, Bridges, SPICE Simulation for Analog Design, Debugging Analog Circuits: Methodical Fault Finding.

• Measurement Techniques & Lab Instruments for Analog — Measuring analog circuits without fooling yourself. Learn DMM voltage, current and resistance measurement (input impedance, burden voltage, 4-wire ohms), oscilloscope bandwidth, sample rate, rise time and probe selection (10×, active, differential, current probes), probe loading and grounding (ground-spring vs long lead), triggering and measuring ripple and noise, function generators and their 50 Ω output, bench power supplies (current limit, remote sense), spectrum analysers and FFT, LCR meters, network/Bode analysers for loop gain, and measurement uncertainty — with Python quantifying probe loading, system rise time, ground-lead ringing and meter burden voltage.
• Bridges — Bridge circuits measure small changes in impedance with great precision. Learn the Wheatstone bridge balance and output equations, quarter/half/full strain bridges, the Kelvin bridge for low resistance, and AC bridges for L and C.
• SPICE Simulation for Analog Design — Using circuit simulation effectively. Learn what SPICE does (modified nodal analysis, Newton iteration, numerical integration), analysis types (.op, .dc, .ac, .tran, .noise, .tf, .four), netlists and models (.model, subcircuits, op-amp macromodels, vendor models), parameter sweeps (.step), temperature and Monte Carlo analysis, loop-gain probing, convergence problems and fixes, time-step and accuracy settings, and the golden rule — simulation supplements hand analysis and measurement, never replaces them — with Python implementing a tiny SPICE-like backward-Euler transient of an RLC circuit and a Monte Carlo sweep of a divider.
• Debugging Analog Circuits: Methodical Fault Finding — A systematic approach to circuits that don't work. Learn the debugging workflow (observe, hypothesise, predict, test, fix, verify), power-up checks (current-limited supply, rail voltages, hot components), DC operating-point comparison against expected node voltages, signal tracing stage by stage, divide-and-conquer, fault signatures of opens, shorts and wrong parts, oscillation and instability hunting, noise and hum sources (ground loops, coupling, mains, switching), thermal and intermittent faults, and documenting findings — with Python comparing measured node voltages against a model to diagnose four faults in a CE amplifier.