CNN’s CEO is out. Can the network still get where it wants to go?

With the clock crawling toward 6 p.m. on the afternoon of June 1, 1980, Ted Turner swaggered onto a temporary stage outside a retrofitted country club in midtown Atlanta. Inside, his crew tinkered and prepped for the momentous launch of a then-revolutionary idea: A round-the-clock news network, made possible through the then-emerging technologies of satellites and cable.

Outside, Turner — nicknamed “the Mouth of the South” for his brash personality and showmanship — decided to mark the occasion, for at least a moment, with unusual solemnity. He pointed at three flags flapping in the wind nearby: One for Georgia, one for the United States, and one for the United Nations. The latter, he explained, was especially significant. “We hope that the Cable News Network, with its international coverage and greater-depth coverage, will bring both, in the country and the world, a better understanding of how people from different nations live and work together … so that we can perhaps, hopefully, bring together in brotherhood and friendship, in kindness and peace, the people of this nation and this world.” 

It was a high-minded declaration from a man who once lived by the mantra “no news is good news.” He had long believed that the news was too depressing — and, even back then, that its slant was too politically liberal. But with the launch of his most ambitious project, he’d since changed his mind. News, he’d decided, could influence opinions and situations in a good way. News could be a uniting force. News could save the world. Or, at least, that’s what he said at the time.

More than 40 years later, when the now-ousted Chris Licht first visited CNN’s Atlanta headquarters shortly after becoming the company’s CEO in April 2022, that goal still echoed in the network’s mission statement. Employees should be “united by a mission to inform, engage and empower the world,” it says. But Licht’s arrival, unlike Turner’s, was not heralded with pomp and circumstance and a rendition of the national anthem. Once Donald Trump left the White House, CNN’s ratings tanked. And regardless of your political persuasion, the network had failed during the Trump presidency. For conservatives, it had leaned way too hard into the “resistance.” For progressives, it had not done enough to combat Trumpism. 

The company had just been acquired by a new owner, the Warner Bros. Discovery media conglomerate, and all reports indicated the new owner had major changes in mind. Licht’s directive, then, was a course correction. “There was definitely a sense of impending doom,” says one current employee, “and this being the person who is bringing it.” The employee spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid reprisals from her employer. 

“There [was] a general sense that he’s not going to be here that long,” she added. “We [thought],  he’s the guy who is going to come in, make all these big changes, and then somebody else is going to step into place for him. And most other people I’ve talked to have said something similar.” As it turned out, those people were correct. On Wednesday, Licht was fired. Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav announced the decision on a company editorial call, wishing Licht well and taking personal responsibility for his failures. “For a number of reasons, things didn’t work out and that’s unfortunate,” Zaslav said. “It’s really unfortunate. And ultimately that’s on me.”

Licht was hired to rescue CNN from a ratings nose dive, and while the cable network no longer reaches as big an audience as it once did, it still remains highly influential.  

Over 60% of American adults, per Pew Research Center, still sometimes or often turn to television for news. And when it comes to older Americans, who tend to vote at a much higher rate, TV news still has significant reach: 74% of Americans from the ages of 50 to 64 say they get at least some of their news from TV, while a whopping 85 percent of Americans over the age of 65 say they do. 

And while those numbers include local news broadcasts and rabbit-ear-accessible network programs like NBC’s “Nightly News,” it’s cable news that holds an outsized influence over agenda setting — the medium that’s more likely to tell viewers what to think, rather than just what happened today, and therefore wields enormous power over how Americans perceive the world, their politics and their democracy. With that kind of potential to shape the nation’s future, Licht’s CNN wanted to rebrand itself as what it once was: a reliable source of accurate information and reasonable, thoughtful analysis. 

And the approach he took in the beginning did beginning resemble the company’s original architects’ vision as a place where news is the star. “This role as the One True Reliable Source is, I think, the one that CNN wants to regain,” Slate correspondent Justin Peters wrote last September. But is it even possible to be the “one true reliable source” in 2023 and beyond? 

And even if the answer is yes, does anybody want objective, down-the-middle news anymore?

A common refrain among one segment of CNN critics is that the network should stick to “just the facts,” harkening back to an idyllic time when anchors read the news and left the hot takes and squabbling to the viewers. Among such critics is John Malone, a billionaire media mogul and influential shareholder in CNN’s new parent company. “I would like to see CNN evolve back to the kind of journalism that it started with,” he told CNBC in November 2021, “and actually have journalists, which would be unique and refreshing.” To be sure, the balance between hard news and opinion has shifted over the years, at every TV network. But did this simpler time ever really exist?

Certainly, trust in news media used to be much higher than it is today — despite what Ted Turner saw as a liberal bias among network anchors and the depressing nature of many news stories. His first cable success, an outfit called Channel 17 that eventually became TBS Superstation, even sought to counterprogram the evening news with comfort viewing, like reruns of “Star Trek” and “Hogan’s Heroes.” 

Despite his eventual conversion, CNN didn’t come about because Turner changed his mind about news and its importance. It was — and, importantly, remains — a profitable business opportunity. Turner wasn’t even the one who came up with the idea; one of his deputies did. “It wasn’t Ted Turner’s vision to have news be the star. It was the people he hired. Ted Turner didn’t care,” Lisa Napoli, author of the book “Up All Night: Ted Turner, CNN, and the Birth of 24-Hour News,” told me. “All he cared about was this interesting confluence of technology in cable television and satellites, and he wanted to find a way to deploy it. And news just seemed like the easiest thing for him to wrangle.” 

Turner was happy to support such a vision, but it quickly became apparent that the idea of having an entire day to gather and deliver the news, rather than a half-hour at suppertime, did not necessarily translate to more nuanced and substantive coverage. Some observers, according to Napoli’s account, dismissed CNN’s early approach as “junk-food news.” The reputation grew following the attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan in 1981, when CNN had to fill hour after hour with a huge story — despite very little new information. As Napoli writes, from that day forward, “news would mean following an endless shower of unfolding details, right before your very eyes. News, in other words, had become sports.”

CNN’s influence continued to grow in the decades following its launch, most memorably in 1991 when the network provided live, expansive, on-the-ground coverage as bombs fell on Baghdad to begin the Gulf War. “That was compelling to watch,” New York University journalism professor and media critic Jay Rosen told me. “It didn’t necessarily give you good information about what the entire war effort was … but it became a regular part of the media and the news system.” From there, Rosen says, CNN’s identity as a not-left, not-right, “we’re just the news” network started to develop. Despite occasional controversies over bias and fairness, that was, at the very least, the brand the company was courting; as recently as the 2012 presidential election, CNN advertised its coverage under the slogan, “The only side we choose is yours.” 

The central question facing CNN today is whether it’s possible to “evolve back” within a very new and different media environment. “The U.S. is a divided government. We need to hear both voices. That’s what you see,” said the man who hired Licht, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav, in a May interview with CNBC. “When we do politics, we need to represent both sides. I think it’s important for America.”

That sure sounds a lot like how Turner saw the company when it was founded; as a forum to promote a reasonable exchange of competing ideas; as a place where we could listen to each other and find commonalities and understanding through rigorous, fact-based reporting. But while Zaslav echoed Turner’s original vision of a “both sides” view of the political landscape, such a view doesn’t take the current moment into adequate account — nor does it promise profit. When the CNBC interviewer asked Zaslav whether people would actually watch CNN’s new approach, he was optimistic — but he also didn’t offer any concrete reason to believe him. “We’ve got a great political season coming,” he said. “This is a new CNN.”

CNN’s current identity crisis traces back to 2013, the year Jeff Zucker became president. His background was in both news and entertainment. He began his career first as a producer on the “Today Show,” then as president of NBC entertainment, and, in 2007, was appointed president and CEO of NBC Universal. When he came to CNN, he brought that entertainment bent with him. “When he arrived — and people forget this — he said CNN is not about politics,” says one ex-CNN staffer. He started a sports show hosted by then-ESPN reporter Rachel Nichols. Anthony Bourdain’s hit show, “Parts Unknown,” began during Zucker’s first year. “The reality was Jeff’s attempts to put on sports and lifestyle and entertainment, it fell apart,” says the ex-employee. “That fell apart the moment Trump came down the escalator.”

That was true not only at CNN, but across most of the mainstream press. When Trump announced his bid for the GOP nomination in 2015 he challenged, at a level no politician ever had, two traditional assumptions of political reporting: cordiality and (at least some semblance of) a good-faith give-and-take. No sitting president had vilified the press since the advent of TV news to the extent Trump did. CNN in particular constantly found itself in his “fake news” crosshairs, culminating in the revocation of a reporter’s press credential in November 2018 after a feisty exchange during a White House briefing. “(Some people) describe what happened (at CNN) when Trump showed up as shifting to the left or becoming more liberal. And I don’t buy that at all,” Rosen says. “What happened is, the president of the United States was an incredible liar. … So what you have is the most powerful source of misinformation in the culture is also the elected president of the United States. That’s a crisis for news organizations.”

Conservative observers — who’ve long been more skeptical of mainstream media than liberals — could argue that what Trump really provided CNN was a lucrative excuse to shed the albatros of “objectivity” once and for all. It’s certainly true that the network heaped (often negative) coverage of Trump onto its airwaves far more than past presidents; according to the Stanford Cable TV News Analyzer, CNN devoted well over twice as much airtime to discussing Trump during his four-year term as it did to former President Barack Obama during his second term. The most recently available data shows that CNN has so far covered President Joe Biden about 30% less than Trump. The disproportionate coverage could, in part, be the result of CNN pundits feeling like they’d suddenly been granted a license to bludgeon a despised politician. But even Trump’s biggest fans largely admit that he really is something different. Indeed, that was part of his appeal. And a mainstream cable network’s coverage of him, the thinking appears to have been, demanded difference, too.

CNN first responded to the unprecedented situation by hiring pro-Trump pundits to basically fight with the rest of their pundits on air. “And that can be exciting in a way. It can be satisfying to see someone put down on live television,” Rosen says. “But it’s a very weird solution because one person you’re paying is kind of making it harder for another person you’re paying to speak the truth.” CNN, according to one study, was found to have booked fewer conservative-aligned speakers as the Trump presidency unfolded, while Fox News doubled down. Whether that could really be called “moving left,” it at least exacerbated polarization in a very noticeable way.

Josh McCrain, a University of Utah political science professor who has documented this polarization, said he can’t speak with certainty about CNN’s motivations, but he suspects its apparent “move to the left” had to do with courting an audience. “One thing that we know very reliably about people’s media diet is that they want to consume media that basically confirms their prior beliefs. People do not choose to consume media, especially about politics, that is outside of things that they don’t already agree with,” he says. “That’s sort of what Fox News figured out relatively early on: If they appeal to one side of the political spectrum, then that’s a pretty viable business model.” Zucker was a master at juicing ratings, and given his entertainment background, such a model would seem perfectly acceptable, at least business-wise, to direct CNN’s future.

But as early as 2016, Rosen had already observed how Trump’s candidacy — let alone his eventual presidency — could “fry the circuits” of mainstream American media. His observation rested on the idea that journalists generally assume politics are a question of “warring philosophies.” They assume both political parties are symmetrical — two competing teams with competing ideas, but grounded in a mutual level of respect, sincerity and commitment to basic facts. Think John McCain shutting down a supporter who called his then-political rival, Barack Obama, an “Arab” during a town hall in 2008. And that’s the rule book mainstream journalists were playing by when Trump was elected. So, “Imagine what happens,” Rosen wrote, “when over time the base of one party, far more than the base of the other, begins to treat the press as a hostile actor.” Imagine what happens, he continued, if a major political leader is a hurricane of misinformation and conspiracy; if he denies the legitimacy of any outcome that doesn’t declare him the winner; if he refuses to engage with basic, verifiable facts.

Rosen’s advice to news organizations facing such a storm is to favor a “pro-democracy agenda.” Which, at the current moment, sounds a lot like saying a pro-Democrats agenda, but Rosen insists that isn’t the case. Republicans are perfectly capable of being pro-democracy, and Democrats are perfectly capable of being anti-democracy. But the movement Trump started, he argues, simply cannot be given the same good-faith platform media organizations have traditionally given politicians. The question then becomes, “Can you cover politics in a way that feels like it’s in the middle?” says one former CNN staffer. “I don’t even know how you’d measure that.”

Zucker resigned in February 2022 after failing to disclose a romantic relationship with a colleague — which one ex-employee described as a very well-known secret around the office. She viewed the rationale for his ousting as a scapegoat to bring in someone with a new vision for the company. And though this ex-employee didn’t much care for how Zucker handled the network’s coverage of the Trump presidency, she notes that he courted plenty of loyalty. First and foremost because of his unprecedented rating success — a chance to claim the moral high ground while also stacking the company coffers.  “During the Trump era, I got paid more on my bonuses than I had ever been paid,” the ex-employee says. She also liked that Zucker took a uniquely personal role in directing the company’s day-to-day operations. “He’d come sit in your meetings, he’d come sit by your desk and talk to you. Everybody felt like they knew him,” she says. “And Chris (Licht) was not like that.”

Licht began his tenure with a major trim. In late April, not even two months after he’d taken the job, he announced that the company’s $100 million streaming service, CNN Plus, would be discontinued after barely three weeks of operation. Then came a string of high profile sackings. In August, the company fired longtime media critic and host of “Reliable Sources,” Brian Stelter. In September, the ax found White House correspondent John Harwood. In December, a massive round of layoffs snagged political commentator Chris Cillizza, business reporter Alison Kosik and anchor Martin Savidge, among others. And none of that accounts for multiple employees who left the company amid the new direction, like investigations editor Pervaiz Shallwani. Licht also moved night time anchor Don Lemon from his night time slot to a revamped morning show (before eventually firing him).

Major changes were afoot. But, to hear Licht tell it, the common understanding of his vision — one where CNN is a “centrist,” vanilla network to balance out Fox News and MSNBC — was not correct. “You have to be compelling. You have to have edge. In many cases you take a side. Sometimes you just point out uncomfortable questions,” he said in a November interview with the Financial Times. “But either way you don’t see it through a lens of left or right.” In other words, his philosophy seems to have been when Trump makes news, report on it. When he lies, call him out on it — and treat Joe Biden the same way. 

On the surface, it sounded refreshing compared to what CNN’s programming often looked like during the Trump presidency. “I’m a big fan of … independent reporting and telling people what’s going on and doing it in as thoughtful and sensible a way as you possibly can,” says Bill Grueskin, a professor at the Columbia Journalism School. In his view, CNN hasn’t done a ton of that of late. “It’s usually people sitting around the table. Sometimes they’re bringing in the reporters from Ukraine, or Washington, or Boise, Idaho, or something. But a lot of it is commentators on both sides kind of providing their special sauce of the day.” 

But “telling people what’s going on” isn’t as simple a task as it once was. CNN and Fox News told their audiences very different things about “what was going on” in the aftermath of Jan. 6. And the fear among media observers is that, in the name of appearing neutral, CNN will apply criticism to both parties on a basis of equal time rather than equal merit. 

And then there’s the phenomenon of Trump, who has demonstrated a Svengali-like genius to attract media attention. If the thinking is to talk about Trump only when he “makes news,” he’ll make sure he’s the focus 24/7. Which raises the question of how much will actually change. “The way I view (Licht’s) strategy is to say (CNN’s) changed more than (it’s) actually changed,” one former staffer told me in May. In other words, to create a veneer of neutrality and impartiality, while still holding Trump accountable for his lies. “The volume is three or four decibels lower than it used to be,” the ex-staffer added. “But it’s still the same song.”

Underneath the high-minded overtures about journalism and truth, the question of the new CNN’s profitability still simmers. Ratings remain terrible in comparison to rivals, having dropped to a 10-year low in February to a little more than half a million viewers in prime time. Which is why it’s worth remembering that despite the clear vision of the company’s new leadership, their approach is still a gamble. “There’s not a huge amount of untapped demand for, quote unquote, ‘centrist reporting,’” McCrain says. “I’m not convinced that there really is a business model for whatever the middle-of-the-road option is.” Especially when the internet provides so many options for content — even the most “centrist” person in the world can find an outlet that suits them more than an aggressively nonpartisan cable news channel. “CNN isn’t going to regain its pre-internet stature, because that stature was largely a function of the era’s structural limitations,” Peters, the Slate contributor, writes. “People have more options now, and the big names in news and opinion no longer serve the same unifying roles that they once did.”

Yet in service of that goal, the faces on the network have changed. Licht made a much-publicized trip to Capitol Hill last June to invite Democrats and Republicans alike on air, but one of his major prerogatives was to convince Republicans that they wouldn’t be attacked — at least not outside the bounds of the particular policy issue they’d agreed to discuss. Come to CNN, he told them, to stress test your messages to a more mainstream audience than you’ll find on Fox or other conservative outlets. No more hosts seeking viral moments for viral moments’ sake; just thoughtful policy questions. 

Soon, though, the new CNN showed itself to be something else entirely.

Today’s CNN headquarters in downtown Atlanta no longer showcases the United Nations flag that marked the original. Instead, inside the sunlit atrium in the center of the building, above a display of flags from around the world, is a giant American flag. Which seems appropriate enough a metaphor for how Turner’s Cable News Network has changed. The company that claimed at its inaugural event in 1980 that it could usher in something very close to world peace — an “It’s a Small World” ride but with chyrons — is now left trying to retain relevance in its home country. 

America, too, is a very different place in 2023. When it came to programming, Licht opted to bide his time. He fired people and helped revamp the network’s morning show — but he waited more than a year to make a splash hire or fill a primetime slot or initiate a defining event. It finally arrived in May, when CNN announced it would air a live, hour-long town hall event with Trump.

The event would take place in New Hampshire, a full nine months before the state’s primary, supposedly to help undecided voters and the American public in general hear from the GOP’s undisputed presidential favorite. Many observers — Rosen and Grueskin among them — warned that it would be impossible to contain Trump; that giving him such a prominent platform would misinform its audience more than provide any useful new information. But CNN was unwavering. This was exactly the sort of thing the network wanted. “President Trump is the Republican frontrunner, and our job despite his unique circumstances is to do what we do best,” a CNN public relations rep said in defense of the network’s decision. “Ask tough questions, follow up, and hold him accountable to give voters the information they need to sort through their choices.”

The event, held on May 10 — in front of a crowd stacked with Trump supporters and undecided Republicans who planned to vote in the primary — came only one day after Trump was found liable for sexual abuse and defamation of E. Jean Carroll. 

“We’re here,” host Kaitlan Collins began, “to give voters the answers they deserve.” 

She then asked Trump why Americans should elect him once more when he still hadn’t acknowledged the 2020 election results. “Unless you’re a very stupid person, you see what happened (in that election),” he answered. “That was a rigged election.” He talked about stuffed ballot boxes. He talked about how Mike Pence should have helped overturn the results — to raucous applause. He got a round of giggles for calling Nancy Pelosi “Crazy Nancy,” as well as for calling Carroll a “whack job.” Collins herself got laughed at when Trump took issue with her attempts to refute his lies and called her “a nasty person.” 

One moment in particular was perfectly illustrative of Trump’s brilliance as a master media manipulator. Of all things, it occurred when Collins asked about raising the debt ceiling. “You once said using the debt ceiling as a negotiating wedge could not happen,” she said. 

“Sure,” Trump answered, “that’s when I was president.” 

“So why is it different now?” Collins asked. 

“Because now I’m not president.”

When asked whether he would accept the results of the 2024 election, he said he would only “if I think it’s an honest election.” Which, as we learned in 2020, means an election where he wins. 

The next day, one CNN journalist told Vanity Fair, “The mood (at the company) is absolutely the lowest it’s been in the Licht tenure, and that’s saying a lot.” And despite CNN’s own media critic observing that “it’s hard to see how America was served by (that) spectacle of lies,” Licht felt vindicated. At least that’s what he said. In a morning meeting with disgruntled employees, he expressed his understanding of the event as an unqualified success. “America was served very well by what we did last night,” he told them. He also defended putting Trump on stage with an overwhelmingly supportive audience, because the audience represented “a large swath of America” that was overlooked in 2016.

Which could be true, though it’s hard to argue that particular “swath” of America is still overlooked at this point. Trump-haters and Trump-lovers alike all know exactly who he is. So what did CNN’s town hall accomplish? The Atlantic’s Tim Alberta, who spent a year conducting on-the-record interviews with Licht and dozens of CNN employees for a 15,000-word piece published in early June, wrote that while Licht expressed outward confidence about the outcome, even he was transparently worried about what he’d unleashed. Self-doubt had infected the once-confident CEO, Alberta reported. That and other revelations elicited a firestorm in the media world, with more calls for Licht’s resignation.

Soon, Zaslav elevated a trusted lieutenant, longtime Discovery executive David Leavy, to be CNN’s new chief operating officer and Licht apologized to his staff for his failures, vowing to “fight like hell to win back their trust.” It wasn’t enough. On June 7, five days after the Atlantic story dropped, Licht was fired.

The network’s future remains uncertain. Licht had, in the eyes of many observers, squandered whatever opportunity he had to build something transformative. At a time when cable news’ relevance is tied to the drama, the controversy, the spectacle; at a time when America is so polarized that we can’t agree on a shared set of basic facts or see our fellow citizens as much more than political labels, CNN should be uniquely positioned to bridge that divide. Yet nearly every move the network has made in the past year  suggests a different approach — one with an uncertain future, and an already-undeniable impact.

Long before the town hall, before his advisors expressed their giddiness over the outcome, Trump took to Truth Social to declare his enthusiasm for the event and the new approach. “Going into the heart of Enemy territory,” he wrote, “but maybe the Enemy is changing?”

This story will appear in the July/August issue of Deseret Magazine. Learn more about how to subscribe.

Electrical & Computer Engineering Course Listing

This course is divided into two parts in which students focus on core skills to help them thrive in electrical and computer engineering. The first half of the course focuses on application programming in Matlab where students learn basics of Programming, Digital Signal Processing, and Data Analysis. In the second part of the course students program a micro-controller and learn about the function of basic electronic components. Students learn to use basic test equipment such as an Oscilloscope, Function Generator, Volt Meter. This course is project and lab based.

Curricula Practical Training. "Variable credit course, student chooses appropriate amount of credits when registering."

This course covers ideal elements, active and passive. It introduces and applies Ohm's Law and Kirchoff's Laws. Introduces concepts of network topology, independent and dependent variables, mesh and nodal analysis, the definition and consequences of linearity, source transformation, the superposition principle, Thevenin's and Norton's theorems, and maximum power transfer. Also covers ideal inductance and capacitance in simple circuits with the study of transient response and behavior under DC conditions.

Pre-req: MATH.1320 Calculus II, and Co-req: EECE.2070 Basic Electrical Engineering Lab I, and a 'C' or higher in MATH.1320.

This course covers AC circuits under sinusoidal steady-state conditions using the concept of the frequency domain. Introduces the use of complex numbers, phasors, impedance and admittance for the application of circuit laws introduced in Circuit Theory I: Thevenin and Norton's theorems, source transformation, superposition, maximum power transfer, nodal and mesh analysis. Covers power in the frequency domain, including RMS values, average power, reactive power, and apparent power. Introduction to magnetic coupling, mutual inductance, and the ideal transformer. Introduction to transfer functions, poles and zeroes in the s-plane.

Pre-Req: C- or better in EECE 2010 Circuit Theory I, or Spring 2020 grade of "P" and Co-Req: EECE 2080 Basic EE Lab II.

Experimental work designed to verify theory and to acquaint students with electrical measurement techniques: experiments on meters, bridges, and oscilloscopes. Experiments are correlated with Circuit Theory I and concern: resistive measurements, Kirchhoff's laws, network theorems, conservation of power and maximum power transfer, inductance and capacitance, and first and second-order transients, operational amplifiers. MATLAB will be utilized throughout the course.

Co-Req: EECE.2010 Circuit Theory I.

Presents experimental work designed to emphasize electrical measurement techniques of linear systems with time-varying signals. Waveform measurements with DC and AC meters as well as advanced use of the oscilloscope are also discussed. Experiments are integrated with Circuit Theory II. Experiments cover: Kirchhoff's laws for phasors, magnitude and phase measurements of impedance, network theorems, frequency response, resonance, inductance, maximum power transfer, and MATLAB techniques.

Pre-Req: EECE 2070 Basic EE Lab I; Co-Req: EECE 2020 Circuit Theory II.

This course serves as an introduction to direct current (DC) and alternating current (AC) analysis of electric circuits, with emphasis on energy and power. Covers the explanation of basic components (resistor, capacitor and inductor) and their use in electronics. Cover also the design and use of multi-range voltmeters, ammeters, and ohmmeters, series, parallel and series parallel circuits, the use of bridges, phasor analysis of AC circuits, transformers, relays, solenoids, etc. Different techniques like Superposition theorem, Thevenin equivalent circuit or Maximum Power will be presented. Students will also be introduced to DC and AC motors and generators, first and second order filters as well as basic sensors. Not for ECE students.

Pre-Req: MATH 1320 Calculus II.

This course serves to instruct sound recording technology through the concepts of voltage, current, power, resistance and Ohm's law; series, parallel and resonant circuits, Kirchhoff's voltage and current laws; the Wheatstone bridge, Thevenin equivalent circuits and maximum power transfer theorem; magnetism, electromagnetism, electromagnetic devices, and transformers; a.c. current, RF signals, capacitors, and inductors; RC, RL, and RLC circuits; d.c. power sources; diodes, transistors, tubes (thermionic emission), and amplifiers. Use of voltmeters, ammeters, ohmmeters, and oscilloscopes are discussed and used in lab throughout the course. Not for ECE students.

Sound Recording Technology majors; Pre-Req: MATH 1320 Calculus II.

Introduces C programming for engineers. Covers fundamentals of procedural programming with applications in electrical and Computer engineering and embedded systems. Topics include variables, expressions and statements, console input/output, modularization and functions, arrays, pointers and strings algorithms, structures, and file input/output. Introduces working with C at the bit manipulation level. Laboratories include designing and programming engineering applications.

Intended primarily for students majoring in the liberal arts. The course develops the theory of electricity from an historical perspective. Sufficient background in circuit theory, resonance, field theory and radio waves is given to provide an understanding of the principles of radio from its antecedents in the nineteenth century through the invention of the transistor in the mid twentieth century. The fundamental contributions of, for example Volta, Oersted, Morse, Maxwell, Faraday, Hertz, Lodge, and Marconi are considered. In the present century the technical advances of such figures as de Forest, Fleming, Fessenden, Armstrong and Shockley are studied. The growth, regulation and culture of American broadcasting are also central to the course. Laboratory work is required and students may use this course toward fulfilling the General Education (science/experimental component) requirement of the University. Not open to students in the College of Engineering.

This course is designed to convey the essentials of data communication and networking. This includes an understanding of the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI), TCP/IP and Internet models. It covers various protocols and architectures of interconnection technologies. Several concepts will be discussed that will enable students to apply the basic concepts of data communication and networking technology in many practical situations.

Pre-req: EECE.1070 Introduction to Electrical and Computer Engineering, and MATH.1310 Calculus I, and PHYS.1410 Physics I.

Number systems and binary codes. Boolean algebra. Canonical and fundamental forms of Boolean functions. Function expansion and its applications to digital circuit design. Minimization of Boolean functions by Boolean algebra and Karnaugh maps. Two-level and multi-level digital circuits. Decoder, encoders, multiplexers, and de-multiplexers. Latches and flip-flops. Registers and counters. Analysis and synthesis of synchronous sequential circuits. Design of more complex circuits: data-path and control circuits. Use of software tools to implement a design on modern hardware.

Pre-req: MECH.1070 intro to Mechanical Eng, or COMP.1020 Computing II, or EECE.1070 Intro to Elec. & Comp. Engin, or EECE.2160 ECE Application Programming.

Laboratory experiments coordinated with the subject matter of Electronics I. This lab explores the characteristics and use of electronic instrumentation for making measurements on electronic circuits. Labs will utilize the methods of designing and characterizing diode and transistor circuits. They will analyze the performance characteristics of digital and linear semiconductor circuits, including logic elements and amplifiers. The design and construction of circuits using monolithic op amps will also be explored.

Pre-req: EECE.2080 Basic EE Lab II, and Co-req: EECE.3650 Electronics I.

This course covers laboratory experiments coordinated with the subject matter of Electronics II, Study of high-frequency characteristics of transistors and transistor amplifiers. Covers feedback in electronic circuits, electronic oscillators and differential amplifier. Covers also the properties of linear IC operational amplifiers and their application in amplifier circuits and waveform generation circuits. Design and analysis of linear circuits.

Pre-req: EECE.3110 Electronics I Lab, and Co-req: EECE.3660 Electronics II.

Introduction to microprocessors, Uses assembly language to develop a foundation on the hardware which executes a program. Memory and I/O interface design and programming. Design and operation of computer systems. Study of microprocessor and its basic support components, including detailed schematics, timing and functional analysis of their interactions. Laboratories directly related to microprocessor functions and its interfaces (e.g. memory subsystem, I/O devices and coprocessors).

Pre-req: EECE.2160 ECE Application Programming, and EECE 2650 Logic Design.

Covers algorithms and their performance analysis, data structures, abstraction, and encapsulation. Introduces stacks, queues, linked lists, trees, heaps, priority queues, and hash tables, and their physical representation. Discusses efficient sorting (quicksort and heapsort) and experimental algorithm analysis. Examines several design issues, including selection of data structures based on operations to be optimized, algorithm encapsulation using classes and templates, and how and when to use recursion. Assignments include programming of data structures in an object-oriented language.

Pre-Req: EECE.2160 ECE Application Programming

Alternating current circuits, three phase circuits, basics of electromagnetic field theory, magnetic circuits, inductance, electromechanical energy conversion. Ideal transformer, iron-core transformer, voltage regulation, efficiency equivalent circuits, and three phase transformers. Induction machine construction, equivalent circuit, torque speed characteristics, and single phase motors. Synchronous machine construction, equivalent circuits, power relationships phasor diagrams, and synchronous motors. Direct current machines construction, types, efficiency, power flow diagram, and external characteristics.

Pre-Req: EECE.2020 Circuit Theory II.

Electromagnetics I is the study of fundamental electrostatic and magnetostatic equations building up to the foundation of electrodynamics, Maxwell's Equations. This course is put into an engineering perspective by describing transmission line properties using circuit models and deriving these model parameters directly from Maxwell's Equations. To accomplish these tasks, Engineering Electromagnetics I implements: Transmission lines as Distributed Circuits, Smith Charts, impedance Matching, Electrostatics and Capacitance, steady current flow and Resistance, and Magnetostatics and Inductance.

Pre-Req: EECE 2020 Circuit Theory II and PHYS 1440 Physics II.

This course covers various continuous voltage/current time functions and their applications to linear time-invariant (LTI) electrical systems. It reviews pertinent topics from previous courses on circuit theory, such as system functions, S-plane concepts and complete responses. It introduces step and impulse functions and their responses in LTI circuits. It covers the solving of convolution integrals and differential equations, the transformation of signals to Fourier series, the Fourier and Laplace transforms, with their application, in continuous and discrete time, and Parseval's theorem. It also describes analog filter responses and design. A computing project is proposed in this course.

Pre-Req: EECE 2020 Circuit Theory II and MATH 2360 Eng Differential Equations or MATH.2340 Differential Equations.

Introduction to probability, random processes and basic statistical methods to address the random nature of signals and systems that engineers analyze, characterize and apply in their designs. It includes discrete and continuous random variables, their probability distributions and analytical and statistical methods for determining the mean, variance and higher order moments that characterize the random variable. Descriptive and inferential statistics, as well as time-varying random processes and their spectral analysis are introduced. The course provides the skills required to address modeling uncertainty in manufacturing and reliability analysis, noise characterization, and data analysis.

Pre-Req: EECE.2020 Circuit Theory II.

Complex number, Argand plane, derivatives of complex numbers, limits and continuity, derivative and Cauchy Riemann conditions, analytic functions, integration in the complex plane, Cauchy's integral formula, infinite series for complex variables. Taylor series, Laurent series, residue theory, evaluation of integrals around indented contours. Linear vector spaces, matrices and determinants, eigenvalues and eigenvectors.

Pre-Req: MATH 2360 Eng Differential Equations or MATH.2340 Differential Equations.

A brief introduction to solid-state physics, leading to discussion of physical characteristics of p-n junction diodes, bipolar junction transistors, and field-effect transistors: active, saturated, and cutoff models of bipolar transistors and triode, constant current, and cutoff models of MOSFETs. Circuit models for diodes, and diode applications. Circuit models for transistors, and transistor applications in bipolar and MOS digital circuits and low-frequency amplifier circuits. Analysis of digital circuits and linear circuits based on application of circuit models of devices and circuit theory.

Pre-req: EECE 2020 Circuit Theory ll, and PHYS 1440 Physics ll, and Co-req: EECE 3110 Electronics l Lab.

A continuation of 16.365 with discussion of differential amplifiers, operation amplifiers and op amp applications, transistor amplifiers at very high frequencies; direct-coupled and band pass amplifiers; small and large signal amplifiers; feedback amplifiers and oscillators. Active filters, wave form generation circuits including Schmitt trigger, multiplexers, and A/D and D/A converters. Circuit design employing integrated circuit operational amplifiers and discrete devices. Circuit analysis using SPICE. An electronic design project constitutes a major part of the course.

Pre-Req: C- or better in EECE 3650 Electronics I,or Spring 2020 grade of "P", Co-Req: EECE 3120 Electronics Lab II.

This course is the first in a two semester capstone sequence. In a group, students will work with a client to define their project, by identifying the problem, objective and requirements, and engage in design, analysis, test and fabrication tasks as appropriate to meet the project goals. Project management tools are discussed and applied in this process.

Pre-Reqs: EECE 3110 Electronics I Lab, and EECE 3170 Microprocessor Sys Desgn I, and EECE 3650 Electronics I.

An introductory course in the analysis and design of passive microwave circuits beginning with a review of time-varying electromagnetic field concepts and transmission lines. Smith Chart problems; single and double stub matching; impedance transformer design; maximally flat and Chebyshev transformers; microstrip transmission lines, slot lines, coplanar lines; rectangular and circular waveguides; waveguide windows and their use in impedance matching; design of directional couplers; features of weak and strong couplings; microwave filter design; characteristics of low-pass, high-pass, band-pass, band-stop filter designs; two-port network representation of junctions; Z and Y parameters, ABCD parameters, scattering matrix; microwave measurements; measurement of VSWR, complex impedance, dielectric constant, attenuation, and power. A design project constitutes a major part of the course.

Pre-Req: EECE.4610 Emag Theory II.

Fabrication of resistors, capacitors, p-n junction and Schottky barrier diodes, BJT's and MOS devices and integrated circuits. Topics include: silicon structure, wafer preparation, sequential techniques in microelectronic processing, testing and packaging, yield and clean room environments. MOS structures, crystal defects, Fick's laws of diffusion; oxidation of silicon, photolithography including photoresist, development and stripping. Metallization for conductors, Ion implantation for depletion mode and CMOS transistors for better yield speed, low power dissipation and reliability. Students will fabricate circuits using the DSIPL Laboratory.

Pre-Req: EECE.3650 Electronics I.

An introduction to properties of individual antennas and arrays of antennas. Retarded potentials, dipoles of arbitrary length, radiation pattern, gain, directivity, radiation resistance. The loop antenna. Effects of the earth. Reciprocity, receiving antennas, effective length and area. Moment methods. Arrays: collinear, broadside, endfire. Array synthesis. Mutual coupling. Log-periodic and Yagi arrays. Radiation from apertures: the waveguide horn antenna, parabolic dish. Antenna noise temperature. Numerical software packages. A design project is required in the course.

Pre-Req: EECE.4610 Emag Theory II.

Provides an opportunity for qualified Electrical Engineering students to investigate specific areas of interest. The actual project undertaken may be software or hardware oriented. The most important characteristics of the projects are that the end results represent independent study, that they are research and development oriented, and that they are accomplished in an engineering environment. Design reviews and progress reports are expected for each project. A final formal report to be permanently filed in the EE Department is required for each project. Engineering Design (100%).

Pre-Reqs: EECE 3550 Electromechanics,EECE 3600 Emag Theory I, EECE 3620 Signals & Systems I, EECE 3650 Electronics I,and EECE 3660 Electronics II.

The purpose of this course is to provide an opportunity for qualified Electrical Engineering students to investigate specific areas of interest. The actual project undertaken may be software or hardware oriented. The most important characteristics of the projects are that the end results represent independent study and that they are research and development oriented, and that they are accomplished in an engineering environment. Design reviews and progress reports are expected for each project. A final formal report to be permanently filed in the EE Department is required for each project.

Pre-Reqs: EECE 3550 Electromechanics,EECE 3600 Emag Theory I,EECE 3620 Signals & Systems I,EECE 3650 Electronics I, and EECE 3660 Electronics II.

The purpose of this course is to provide an opportunity for qualified Electrical Engineering students to investigate specific areas of interest. The actual project undertaken may be software or hardware oriented. The most important characteristics of the projects are that the end results represent independent study and that they are research and development oriented, and that they are accomplished in an engineering environment. Design reviews and progress reports are expected for each project. A final formal report to be permanently filed in the EE Department is required for each project.

Pre-Reqs: EECE 3550 Electromechanics,EECE 3600 Emag Theory I, EECE 3620 Signals & Systems I, EECE 3650 Electronics I,and EECE 3660 Electronics II.

Concepts of feedback; open loop and closed loop systems. Feedback in electrical and mechanical systems. Mathematical models of systems and linear approximations. Transfer functions of linear systems, block diagrams and signal flow graphs. Sensitivity, control of transient response, disturbance signals. Time domain performance: steady state errors, performance indices. Stability related to s-plane location of the roots of the characteristic equation. Routh-Hurwitz criterion. Graphical analysis techniques: root locus, frequency response as polar plot and Bode diagrams. Closed loop frequency response. A control system design project is included in the course.

Pre-Req: EECE 3620 Signals & Systems I and EECE 3640 Engineering Math.

Power System Operations and Electricity Markets provide a comprehensive overview to understand and meet the challenges of the new competitive highly deregulated power industry. The course presents new methods for power systems operations in a unified integrated framework combining the business and technical aspects of the restructured power industry. An outlook on power policy models, regulation, reliability, and economics is attentively reviewed. The course lay the groundwork for the coming era of unbundling, open access,, power marketing, self-generation, and regional transmission operations.

Pre-Req: EECE.2020 Circuit Theory II.

A one-semester course with emphasis on the engineering design and performance analysis of power electronics converters. Topics include: power electronics devices (power MOSFETs, power transistors, diodes, silicon controlled rectifiers SCRs, TRIACs, DIACs and Power Darlington Transistors), rectifiers, inverters, ac voltage controllers, dc choppers, cycloconverters, and power supplies. The course includes a project, which requires that the student design and build one of the power electronics converters. A demonstrative laboratory to expose the students to all kinds of projects is part of the course.

Pre-Reqs: EECE 3550 Electromechanics and EECE 3660 Electronics II, or Permission of Instructor.

Cellular systems and design principles, co-channel and adjacent channel interference, mobile radio propagation and determination of large scale path loss, propagation mechanisms like reflection, diffraction and scattering, outdoor propagation models, Okumura and Hata models, small scale fading and multipath, Doppler shift and effects, statistical models for multipath, digital modulation techniques QPSK, DPSK, GMSK, multiple access techniques, TDMA, FDMA, CDMA, spread spectrum techniques, frequency hopped systems, wireless systems and worldwide standards.

Pre-req: EECE.3630 Introduction to Probability and Random Process.

This course provides an introduction to real-time digital signal processing techniques using floating point and fixed point processors. The architecture, instruction set and software development tools for these processors will be studied via a series of C and assembly language computer projects where real-time adaptive filters, modems, digital control systems and speech recognition systems are implemented.

Pre-req: EECE.3620 Signals and Systems I.

The course covers fundamental solid-state and semiconductor physics relevant for understanding electronic devices. Topics include quantum mechanics of electrons in solids, crystalline structures, ban theory of semiconductors, electron statistics and dynamics in energy bands, lattice dynamics and phonons, carrier transport, and optical processes in semiconductors.

Pre-req: EECE.3650 Electronics I, and EECE.3640 Engineering Mathematics, and EECE.3600 Engineering Electromagnetics I, or permission of instructor.

The course explores some of the mathematical and simulation tools used for the design, analysis and operation of electric power systems. Computational methods based on linear and nonlinear optimization algorithms are used to solve load flow problems, to analyze and characterize system faults and contingencies, and to complete economic dispatch of electric power systems. Real case studies and theoretical projects are assigned to implement the techniques learned and to propose recommendations. Different software applications will be used concurrently including ATP, PowerWorld Simulator, Aspen, MatLab with Simulink and Power System Toolbox, PSCAD, etc.

Pre-Req: EECE.2020 Circuit Theory II.

An intermediate course in analysis and operation of electrical power distribution systems using applied calculus and matrix algebra. Topics include electrical loads characteristics, modeling , metering, customer billing, voltage regulation, voltage levels, and power factor correction. The design and operation of the power distribution system components will be introduced: distribution transformers, distribution substation, distribution networks, and distribution equipment.

Pre-req: EECE.2020 Circuit Theory II, and EECE.2080 Basic EE Lab II.

Stability definition and cases in power systems. System model for machine angle stability. Small signal and transient stability. Voltage stability phenomenon, its characterization. Small and large signal models for voltage stability analysis. Frequency stability and control. Compensation methods for system voltage regulation including classical and modem methods. Stability of multi-machine system.

Pre-Req: EECE.2020 Circuit Theory II.

This course builds on the previous experience with Cadence design tools and covers advanced VLSI design techniques for low power circuits. Topics covered include aspects of the design of low voltage and low power circuits including process technology, device modeling, CMOS circuit design, memory circuits and subsystem design. This will be a research-oriented course based on team projects.

Pre-req: EECE.4690 VLSI Design, or EECE.5690 VLSI Design, or Permission of Instructor.

PV conversion, cell efficiency, cell response, systems and applications. Wind Energy conversion systems: Wind and its characteristics; aerodynamic theory of windmills; wind turbines and generators; wind farms; siting of windmills. Other alternative energy sources: Tidal energy, wave energy, ocean thermal energy conversion, geothermal energy, solar thermal power, satellite power, biofuels. Energy storage: Batteries, fuel cells, hydro pump storage, flywheels, compressed air.

Electric vehicle VS internal combustion engine vehicle. Electric vehicle (EV) saves the environment. EV design, EV motors, EV batteries, EV battery chargers and charging algorithms, EV instrumentation and EV wiring diagram. Hybrid electric vehicles. Fuel cells. Fuel cell electric vehicles. The course includes independent work.

This course provides both traditional and state-of-the-art tomographic reconstruction algorithms in a unified way. It includes analytic reconstruction, iterative reconstruction, and deep reconstruction based on the state-of-the-art deep learning techniques. This course provides fundamental knowledge for careers in medical image reconstruction.

Pre-req: EECE.3620 Signals and Systems I.

Two-port network parameters, Smith chart applications for impedance matching, transmission line structures like stripline, microstrip line and coaxial line, filter designs for low-pass, high-pass and band-pass characteristics, amplifier design based on s-parameters, bias network designs, one port and two port oscillator circuits, noise in RF systems.

Pre-Req: EECE.3600 Emag Theory I.

The production and processing of materials into finished products constitute a large part of the present economy. To prepare students for the use of a variety of traditional and new materials, this course will cover: atomic structure and chemical bonding, crystal geometry and defects, mechanical properties and phase diagrams of metals and alloys, electrical and optical properties of semiconductors, ceramics, and polymers; brief description of electronic, quantum electronic and photonic devices; benefits and difficulties of materials design with decreasing dimensions from millimeters to micrometers and to nanometers.

Pre-req: MATH.1320 Calculus II and PHYS.1440 Physics II.

Power delivery for customers is made possible by sophisticated distribution systems. The backbone of distribution systems is power substations which connect, control, protect, and regulate incoming "high voltage" transmission lines to "low voltage" residential and commercial customers. This course will introduce and present basic information regarding electric power substations and the distribution of electric power, including components of power substations, individual equipment components, and electric power distribution systems. General information related to operational aspects of substations and distributing electric power is included. Topics including reactive power compensation, grounding, and protection and control are introduced in a "simplified" yet "very practical approach".

Pre-Reqs: EECE 3550 Electromechanics and EECE 3660 Electronics II, or Permission of Instructor.

This course introduces the theory and design of biosensors and their applications for pathology, pharmacogenetics, public health, food safety civil defense, and environmental monitoring. Optical, electrochemical and mechanical sensing techniques will be discussed.

A survey of analog devices and techniques, concentrating on operational amplifier design and applications. Operational amplifier design is studied to reveal the limitations of real opamps, and to develop a basis for interpreting their specifications. Representative applications are covered, including: simple amplifiers, differential and instrumentation amplifiers, summers, integrators, active filters, nonlinear circuits, and waveform generation circuits. A design project is required.

Pre-Req: EECE.3660 Electronics II.

Design of logic machines. Finite state machines, gate array designs, ALU and 4 bit CPU unit designs, micro-programmed systems. Hardware design of advanced digital circuits using XILINX. Application of probability and statistics for hardware performance, and upgrading hardware systems. Laboratories incorporate specification, top-down design, modeling, implementation and testing of actual advanced digital design systems hardware. Laboratories also include simulation of circuits using VHDL before actual hardware implementation and PLDs programming.

Pre-req: EECE.2650 Logic Design, and EECE.3650 Electronics I, and EECE.3110 Electronics I Lab, and EECE.3170 Microprocessor Systems Design I, or permission of Instructor.

This course introduces heterogeneous computing architecture and the design and optimization of applications that best utilize the resources on such platforms. The course topics include heterogeneous computer architecture, offloading architecture/API, platform, memory and execution models, GPU/FPGA acceleration, OpenCL programming framework, Data Parallel C++ programming framework, performance analysis and optimization. Labs are included to practice design methodology and development tools.

Pre-req: EECE.3170 Microprocessors Systems Design I, or EECE.4821 Computer Architecture and Design, or Permission of Instructor.

CPU architecture, memory interfaces and management, coprocessor interfaces, bus concepts, bus arbitration techniques, serial I/O devices, DMA, interrupt control devices. Including Design, construction, and testing of dedicated microprocessor systems (static and real-time). Hardware limitations of the single-chip system. Includes micro-controllers, programming for small systems, interfacing, communications, validating hardware and software, microprogramming of controller chips, design methods and testing of embedded systems.

Pre-Reqs: EECE 3110 Electronics I Lab, and EECE 3170 Microprocessor Sys Desgn I, and EECE 3650 Electronics I.

Introduces software life cycle models, and engineering methods for software design and development. Design and implementation, testing, and maintenance of large software packages in a dynamic environment, and systematic approach to software design with emphasis on portability and ease of modification. Laboratories include a project where some of the software engineering methods (from modeling to testing) are applied in an engineering example.

Pre-Req: EECE 2160 ECE Application Programming and EECE 3220 Data Structures. or Permission of Instructor.

An introduction to computer system security. This course introduces the threats and vulnerabilities in computer systems. This course covers the elementary cryptography, program security, security in operating system, database security, network, web, and e-commerce. It also covers some aspects of hardware security, legal, ethical and privacy issues in computer system security.

Pre-req: EECE.3220 Data Structures.

The material in this course is a combination of essential topics, techniques, algorithms, and tools that will be used in future robotics courses. Fundamental topics relevant to robots (linear algebra, numerical methods, programming) will be reinforced throughout the course using introductions to other robotics topics that are each worthy of a full semester of study (dynamics, kinematics, controls, planning, sensing). Students will program real robots to further refine their skills and experience the material fully.

Pre-Req: COMP.1010 Computing 1 or EECE.2160 ECE Computing Application.

Explores the foundations and technologies involved in Internet of Things (IoT) from an industry perspective. Topics include Machine to Machine (M2M) communication and Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) and their relationship with IoT as well as their evolution. This involves all three main elements: (1) devices, (2) communications/networks and (3) analytics/applications. Specifically, it introduces technologies and interfaces associated with sensing and actuation of embedded devices and presents the fundamentals of IoT analytics including machine learning and rule-based AI. The bulk of the content presented in the course is focused on the industry-led standardization of IoT communication and networking mechanisms.

Pre-req: EECE.3170 Microprocessors Systems Design I, or Permission of Instructor.

This course introduces the use of nanomaterials for electronic devices such as sensors and transistors. Synthesis methods for nanoparticles, nanotubes, nanowires, and 2-D materials such as graphene will be covered. The challenges in incorporating nanomaterials into devices will also be discussed. These methods will be compared to techniques used in the semiconductor industry and what challenges, technically and financially, exist for their widespread adoption will be addressed. Finally, examples of devices that use nanomaterials will be reviewed. The course will have some hands on demonstrations.

A survey of biomedical instrumentation that leads to the analysis of various medical system designs and the related factors involved in medical device innovation. In addition to the technical aspects of system integration of biosensors and physiological transducers there will be coverage of a biodesign innovation process that can translate clinical needs into designs. A significant course component will be project-based prototyping of mobile heath applications. The overall goals of the course are to provide the theoretical background as well as specific requirements for medical device development along with some practical project experience that would thereby enable students to design electrical and computer based medical systems.

Pre-req: ECE senior/grad or BMEBT student

Continuation of Magnetostatics, Maxwell's Equations for Time-varying Fields, plane waves: time-harmonic fields, polarization, current flow in good conductors and skin effect, power density and Poynting vector, wave reflection and transmission; Snell's Law, fiber optics, Brewster angle, radiation and simple antennas, electromagnetic concepts involved in a topical technology in development.

Pre-Req: EECE.3600 Emag Theory I.

Topics of current interest in Electrical and Computer Engineering. Subject matter to be announced in advance.

An introduction to physical optics, electro-optics and integrated optics. Topics include: Waves and polarization, optical resonators, optical waveguides, coupling between waveguides, electro-optical properties of crystals, electro-optic modulators, Micro-Optical-Electro-Mechanical (MEMS) Devices and photonic and microwave wireless systems.

Pre-Req: EECE.3600 Emag Theory I.

Introduction to CMOS circuits including transmission gate, inverter, NAND, NOR gates, MUXEs, latches and registers. MOS transistor theory including threshold voltage and design equations. CMOS inverter's DC and AC characteristics along with noise margins. Circuit characterization and performance estimation including resistance, capacitance, routing capacitance, multiple conductor capacitance, distributed RC capacitance, multiple conductor capacitance, distributed RC capacitance, switching characteristics incorporating analytic delay models, transistor sizing and power dissipation. CMOS circuit and logic design including fan-in, fan-out, gate delays, logic gate layout incorporating standard cell design, gate array layout, and single as well as two-phase clocking. CMOS test methodologies including stuck-at-0, stuck-at-1, fault models, fault coverage, ATPG, fault grading and simulation including scan-based and self test techniques with signature analysis. A project of modest complexity would be designed to be fabricated at MOSIS.

Designing embedded real-time computer systems. Types of real-time systems, including foreground/background, non-preemptive multitasking, and priority-based pre-emptive multitasking systems. Soft vs. hard real time systems. Task scheduling algorithms and deterministic behavior. Ask synchronization: semaphores, mailboxes and message queues. Robust memory management schemes. Application and design of a real-time kernel. A project is required.

Pre-Reqs: EECE.2160 ECE Application Programming,EECE.3170 Microprocessor Sys Desgn I, EECE.3220 Data Structures.

This course introduces the operating principles of Solid State Devices. Basic semiconductor science is covered including crystalline properties, quantum mechanics principles, energy bands and the behavior of atoms and electrons in solids. The transport of electrons and holes (drift and diffusion) and the concepts of carrier lifetime and mobility are covered. The course describes the physics of operation of several semiconductor devices including p-n junction diodes (forward/reverse bias, avalanche breakdown), MOSFETs (including the calculation of MOSFET threshold voltages), Bipolar transistor operation, and optoelectronic devices (LEDs, lasers, photodiodes).

Pre-Req: EECE.3650 Electronics I.

Covers the components, design, implementation, and internal operations of computer operating systems. Topics include basic structure of operating systems, Kernel, user interface, I/O device management, device drivers, process environment, concurrent processes and synchronization, inter-process communication, process scheduling, memory management, deadlock management and resolution, and file system structures. laboratories include examples of components design of a real operating systems.

Pre-req: EECE.2160 ECE Application Programming, and EECE.3170 Microprocessor System Design I, and EECE.3220 Data Structures, or Permission of Instructor.

Structure of computers, past and present: first, second, third and fourth generation. Combinatorial and sequential circuits. Programmable logic arrays. Processor design: information formats, instruction formats, arithmetic operations and parallel processing. Hardwired and microprogrammed control units. Virtual, sequential and cache memories. Input-output systems, communication and bus control. Multiple CPU systems.

Pre-Reqs: EECE 3170 Microprocessor Sys Desgn I,EECE 2650 Intro Logic Design.

Covers design and implementation of network software that transforms raw hardware into a richly functional communication system. Real networks (such as the Internet, ATM, Ethernet, Token Ring) will be used as examples. Presents the different harmonizing functions needed for the interconnection of many heterogeneous computer networks. Internet protocols, such as UDP, TCP, IP, ARP, BGP and IGMP, are used as examples to demonstrate how internetworking is realized. Applications such as electronic mail and the WWW are studied.

Pre-req: EECE.3220 Data Structures.

Introduces the principles and the fundamental techniques for Image Processing and Computer Vision. Topics include programming aspects of vision, image formation and representation, multi-scale analysis, boundary detection, texture analysis, shape from shading, object modeling, stereo-vision, motion and optical flow, shape description and objects recognition (classification), and hardware design of video cards. AI techniques for Computer Vision are also covered. Laboratories include real applications from industry and the latest research areas.

Pre-req; EECE 2160 ECE Application Programming, and EECE 3620 Signals and Systems or Permission of Instructor.

This course will cover two categories of topics: One part is the fundamental principles of cryptography and its applications to cyber & network security in general. This part focuses on cryptography algorithms and the fundamental cyber & network security enabling mechanisms. Topics include cyber-attack analysis and classifications, public key cryptography (RSA, Diffie-Hellman), secret key cryptography (DES, IDEA), Hash (MD2, MD5, SHA-1) algorithms, key distribution and management, security handshake pitfalls and authentications, and well-known cyber & network security protocols such as Kerberos, IPSec, SSL/SET, PGP & PKI, WEP, etc. The second part surveys unique challenges and the general security & Privacy solutions for the emerging data/communication/information/computing networks (e.g., Ad Hoc & sensor network, IoTs, cloud and edge computing, big data, social networks, cyber-physical systems, critical infrastructures such as smart grids and smart transportation systems, etc.).

Pre-req: EECE.2460 Intro to Data Communication Networks, or EECE.4830 Network Design: Principles, Protocols and Applications, or Permission of Instructor.

Optical fiber; waveguide modes, multimode vs single mode; bandwidth and data rates; fiber losses; splices, couplers, connectors, taps and gratings; optical transmitters; optical receivers; high speed optoelectronic devices; optical link design; broadband switching; single wavelength systems (FDDI, SONET, ATM); coherent transmission; wavelength division multiplexing and CDMA; fiber amplifiers.

Pre-Reqs: EECE 3600 Emag Theory I, EECE 3620 Signals & Systems I or Instructor permission.

The objective of this course is to execute the project defined in Capstone Proposal. The design of the project will be completed, prototyped, tested, refined, constructed and delivered to the client. Practical experience will be gained in solving engineering problems, designing a system to meet technical requirements, using modern design elements and following accepted engineering practices. Students will work in a team environment and deliver the completed system to the project client. Proper documentation of activities is required.

Pre-Req: EECE.3991 Capstone Proposal.

What is a mesh network and how can it improve your home wireless speeds?

If you have read or heard the term mesh networking and like to know more about this new technology revolutionizing wireless and cable networks both in business and at home. This quick guide will take you through everything you need to know about setting up your very own Mesh network to remove wireless dead zones around your home and more.

Mesh networking is a powerful technology that is changing the way we think about connectivity. Offering a more reliable, scalable, and efficient alternative to traditional networking, mesh networking is becoming increasingly popular for both home and commercial use.

A mesh network is a and innovative new wireless technology that uses a collection of nodes, or devices, all interacting and sharing data with one another. This dynamic method of communication sharply contrasts the traditional star topology network, where each device depends on a central hub or router for connectivity. Instead, each node in a mesh forges its own connections, linking directly with multiple other nodes in the network.

Intricately woven like a spider’s web, a mesh forms an interconnected, adaptable, and non-hierarchical structure. It’s the maestro of routing techniques, skillfully directing data across a myriad of paths. This orchestrated, multi-path transmission underpins a connectivity solution that’s not just robust and flexible, but also capable of self-healing and redundancy – a shining paragon of network resilience.

Like an urban grid system, where you can reach your destination via different routes, a mesh network ensures data finds its way even when a path (or node) is blocked. This ingenious network design leverages the power of multiple routes to boost connectivity, reduce bottlenecks, and improve overall network performance. So, instead of relying on a single highway, data packets cruise down an interconnected system of boulevards, ensuring an efficient and reliable journey from origin to destination.

In a mesh network, if any cable or node fails, the system can automatically reroute data via other paths, ensuring that the network remains operational even in the face of individual component failures. This resilience and adaptability make mesh networking a valuable tool for everything from home Wi-Fi systems to industrial IoT applications. For more information on the global standards for mesh networks, visit the Wi-Fi Alliance.

Due to the complexity of mesh networking below is a simplified description of the process that the nodes used to transfer data back and for. In essence, it’s all about nodes working together to ensure data reaches its intended destination.

Node Communication: Each node in a mesh communicates directly with the other nodes within its range. This could be a direct connection (in a full mesh network) or it could involve hopping across multiple nodes (in a partial mesh network).

Data Transmission: When a node needs to send data to another node that is not within its direct range, it will send the data to a nearby node. That node will then forward the data along the best path to the destination node.

Path Determination: The best path for data transmission is typically determined by protocols such as the routing protocol, which is designed to identify the most efficient route based on factors like the number of hops, node congestion, and more.

Failover Handling: If a node within the network goes offline or a new node is added, the network automatically recalculates transmission paths. This dynamic rerouting is often referred to as “self-healing,” which is a significant advantage of mesh networks that helps maintain network connectivity even if individual nodes fail.

Data Broadcasting: For broadcasting data to all nodes (like in network updates), a mesh network utilizes a technique called “flooding,” where each node sends received data to all its connected nodes. This ensures all nodes receive the broadcasted data.

Decentralization: In a mesh network, there’s no need for a central router or switch as in traditional network architectures. All nodes participate in relaying data, which makes the network decentralized and robust against single points of failure.

Setting up a mesh network at home is quite straightforward, especially with many of the mesh Wi-Fi kits available today. Here’s a general step-by-step guide on how to do it:

1. Purchase a Mesh Wi-Fi System : Choose a mesh Wi-Fi system that fits your needs. Some popular brands include Google Nest Wifi, Netgear Orbi, and Eero. These systems usually come with one primary router and one or more satellite nodes.

2. Place Your Primary Router : This should be connected to your modem (the device that brings internet into your home). This spot should ideally be centrally located in your home for the best coverage. Connect the router to your modem using an Ethernet cable, then power it up.

3. Configure the Primary Router : Most mesh Wi-Fi systems have a companion app. Download it to your smartphone or tablet, then follow the setup process. You’ll create a new Wi-Fi network with a name and password.

4. Place Your Satellite Nodes : These should be distributed around your home, but within range of your primary router. Consider high-traffic areas that need a strong signal. They just need to be plugged into a power outlet – no need to connect them to the modem or router with an Ethernet cable.

5. Add the Satellite Nodes to Your Network : Using the companion app, add each satellite to your Wi-Fi network. The app will guide you through this process, which typically involves scanning a QR code or entering a serial number.

6. Test Your Network : Most apps will have a network test feature. This will help you ensure that your nodes are well-placed and that your entire home is covered. If there are any dead zones, you might need to move your nodes or add more.

7. Connect Your Devices : Finally, connect your devices to your new Wi-Fi network.

It’s important to note that each mesh Wi-Fi system will have its own specific setup process, so be sure to read the instructions that come with your kit. And remember, the key to a successful mesh network is to evenly distribute your nodes to ensure coverage, while avoiding placing them too close together which can cause interference.

Mesh networking can dramatically improve home wireless networks by extending coverage, facilitating seamless roaming, enhancing performance, simplifying management, and ensuring reliability.

Traditional Wi-Fi networks rely on a single router to broadcast the Wi-Fi signal throughout your home. In contrast, a mesh network uses multiple nodes strategically placed around your home to create a comprehensive network of coverage, effectively eliminating Wi-Fi dead zones.

Additionally, as you move around your home, a mesh system automatically hands off your connection from one node to another, allowing for uninterrupted Wi-Fi coverage. Mesh networks also offer improved performance by distributing the network load across multiple nodes, providing more consistent and faster speeds across all devices.

Wi-Fi 6, the latest generation of Wi-Fi technology, when combined with mesh, can provide a robust and high-performance wireless network. Other similar technologies to Wi-Fi 6 mesh networks include Wi-Fi 5 mesh networks, MoCA (Multimedia over Coax Alliance) technology, powerline networking, traditional Wi-Fi repeaters or extenders, and 5G cellular networks.

Each technology has its unique benefits, and the right choice depends on your specific needs, including the size and layout of your space, the number of devices you need to connect, and the types of activities you do online.

Unlike traditional network architectures that use a centralized model where all devices connect to a central router or switch, usually via Ethernet cables, mesh networks are decentralized. Each device in a mesh network connects to one or more other devices, creating a flexible, scalable, and robust network solution.

In summary, mesh networks offer significant advantages over traditional cabled networks in terms of flexibility, robustness, and ease of scaling. However, the best choice depends on the specific needs and circumstances.

As our need for robust, reliable, and fast internet connectivity continues to grow, technologies like mesh are set to play an increasingly important role. Whether you’re looking to improve your home Wi-Fi coverage or seeking a scalable solution for a large commercial space, mesh networking offers a powerful and flexible solution.

Latest Geeky Gadgets Deals