Electrical Measurements Lab
Electrical lab safety and measurement categories, SI units and traceability, uncertainty analysis, digital multimeters, bench supplies and function generators, oscilloscopes and probes, bandwidth, sampling and grounding, bridges and LCR meters, prototyping, systematic debugging, data acquisition and technical reports.
ELE-280 Year 2 3 credits 12 lessons · 4 h 53 min ▶ Video lessons coming soon
Offered by HSM University · Electrical Engineering
This is the American version of this course. See the Canadian version.
What you'll learn
- Work safely on energized circuits by applying body-current limits, safe bench habits, measurement categories and live-dead-live verification.
- Explain SI electrical units, traceability and calibration, distinguish accuracy, precision and resolution, and read instrument accuracy specifications.
- Evaluate Type A and Type B uncertainties, combine and propagate them, and present results with expanded uncertainty and an uncertainty budget.
- Use a digital multimeter in each mode while accounting for loading, burden voltage, lead resistance and the difference between average-responding and true-RMS readings.
- Operate bench power supplies in constant-voltage and constant-current modes and use function generators correctly, including the effect of their 50 Ω output.
- Set up an oscilloscope's vertical, timebase and trigger controls, use automatic measurements, and connect and compensate passive probes.
- Judge oscilloscope bandwidth, rise time, sampling and probe loading limits, avoid aliasing and grounding faults, and use the FFT.
- Measure low resistances with four-wire connections, analyze Wheatstone bridges, and measure capacitors and inductors with an LCR meter.
- Build reliable prototypes on breadboards and soldered boards with proper layout, decoupling, component choices and pre-power checks.
- Debug circuits systematically using precise symptoms, quick checks, half-splitting, single changes, written logs and triggered captures.
- Design a data acquisition chain from sensor through conditioning and ADC, choosing resolution and sample rate, and automate instruments with SCPI.
- Keep a complete lab notebook, fit and assess data with least squares and residuals, and write clear, honest technical reports.
Course content
12 lessons · 4 h 53 min total · final exam
- 1 Electrical lab safety 27 min · quiz
- 2 Measurement fundamentals, units and standards 23 min · quiz
- 3 Uncertainty and error analysis 23 min · quiz
- 4 Digital multimeters 26 min · quiz
- 5 Power supplies and function generators 26 min · quiz
- 6 Oscilloscopes I: triggering, timebase and probes 25 min · quiz
- 7 Oscilloscopes II: bandwidth, sampling and grounding 27 min · quiz
- 8 Bridges and impedance measurement 25 min · quiz
- 9 Breadboarding and prototyping practice 23 min · quiz
- 10 Debugging methodology 24 min · quiz
- 11 Data acquisition and sensors 23 min · quiz
- 12 Lab notebooks and technical reports 21 min · quiz
- E Final exam 20 questions
Requirements
Recommended background. You can start any course at any time.
Description
Electrical lab safety and measurement categories, SI units and traceability, uncertainty analysis, digital multimeters, bench supplies and function generators, oscilloscopes and probes, bandwidth, sampling and grounding, bridges and LCR meters, prototyping, systematic debugging, data acquisition and technical reports.
Part of the Engineering stream, typically taken in year 2.