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Foundations of Electric Circuits

Dr Francesco Fornetti

Associate Professor of Radio Frequency Engineering

Why should I take this course?

It's unlike any other courses on Electric Circuits!

The content of this course is aligned with that of many typical first-year modules taught on electrical and electronic engineering degree programmes. It introduces the most fundamental circuit elements (voltage and current sources, resistors, capacitors and inductors) and their models, and illustrates the techniques employed to analyse linear circuits. It is modelled after Dr Fornetti's first-year undergraduate course, which he developed from the ground up and currently teaches at the University of Bristol, UK.

Each module contains:

  • A set of slides and video tutorials that provide a theoretical explanation of the topic, and a comprehensive set of worked examples.
  • Problems sets with detailed solutions.
  • Simulation-based video tutorials that enable students to create a 'virtual laboratory' through which they can explore through virtual experimentation.
  • Guidance for physical experiments.

A detailed overview of the course content, learning objectives,  and a video that illustrates how to navigate through the material are provided below.

Content Overview

Module "0"

This module provides a very simplified introduction to the basic physics of electric circuits. This is not a rigorous treatment; it is meant to help students make a physical sense of the concepts of electric potentials and currents.

Module 1

  • Passive circuit elements: Ohm’s Law, Resistance and Conductance
  • Power & Passive Sign Convention
  • Nodes, Branches and Loops / Series and shunt elements
  • Active circuit elements: Voltage and Current sources

Module 2

  • Kirchhoff's Current Law (KCL)
  • Kirchhoff's Voltage Law (KVL)
  • Resistors in series and parallel
  • Voltage and Current dividers

Module 3

This module provides comprehensive treatment of 'Nodal Analysis'.

The module features numerous original examples, encompassing almost every possible scenario that a student may encounter when applying this technique. 

Module 4

This module provides a comprehensive treatment of 'Mesh Analysis'.

The module features numerous original examples, encompassing almost every possible scenario that a student may encounter when applying this technique. 

Module 5

  • Superposition
  • Equivalent Circuits: Thevenin's & Norton's Theorems
  • Source Transformation

Module 6

Capacitors and inductors:

  • Physical operation
  • Voltage-current relationships
  • Calculation of the energy that they can store
  • How to combine them in series and parallel
  • The use of capacitors in touch screen technology
  • R-C  and RL circuits

Module 7

  • Properties and analytical representation of sinusoidal signals
  • Response of passive circuit elements to sinusoidal stimuli
  • Voltage and Current Phasors
  • Impedance
  • Circuit Analysis in the Frequency Domain
  • Introduction to Transfer Function and Frequency Response


Module 8

  • Low-pass Filters (R-C, L-R)
  • High-pass Filters (C-R, R-L)
  • Bandpass Filters (Series R-L-C)
  • Bandstop Filters (Parallel R-L-C)
  • Order of passive filters
  • Transmission zeros


Learning Objectives

Course Structure

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