Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study,design,and application of equipment,devices,and systems which use electricity,electronics,and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the latter half of the 19th century after the commercialization of the electric telegraph,the telephone,and electrical power generation,distribution,and use.
Electronics is a scientific and engineering discipline that studies and applies the principles of physics to design,create,and operate devices that manipulate electrons and other electrically charged particles. Electronics is a subfield of physics and electrical engineering which uses active devices such as transistors,diodes,and integrated circuits to control and amplify the flow of electric current and to convert it from one form to another,such as from alternating current (AC) to direct current (DC) or from analog signals to digital signals.
A microprocessor is a computer processor for which the data processing logic and control is included on a single integrated circuit (IC),or a small number of ICs. The microprocessor contains the arithmetic,logic,and control circuitry required to perform the functions of a computer's central processing unit (CPU). The IC is capable of interpreting and executing program instructions and performing arithmetic operations. The microprocessor is a multipurpose,clock-driven,register-based,digital integrated circuit that accepts binary data as input,processes it according to instructions stored in its memory,and provides results as output. Microprocessors contain both combinational logic and sequential digital logic,and operate on numbers and symbols represented in the binary number system.
The 6800 is an 8-bit microprocessor designed and first manufactured by Motorola in 1974. The MC6800 microprocessor was part of the M6800 Microcomputer System that also included serial and parallel interface ICs,RAM,ROM and other support chips. A significant design feature was that the M6800 family of ICs required only a single five-volt power supply at a time when most other microprocessors required three voltages. The M6800 Microcomputer System was announced in March 1974 and was in full production by the end of that year.
A microcontroller or microcontroller unit (MCU) is a small computer on a single integrated circuit. A microcontroller contains one or more CPUs along with memory and programmable input/output peripherals. Program memory in the form of NOR flash,OTP ROM,or ferroelectric RAM is also often included on the chip,as well as a small amount of RAM. Microcontrollers are designed for embedded applications,in contrast to the microprocessors used in personal computers or other general-purpose applications consisting of various discrete chips.
An embedded system is a computer system—a combination of a computer processor,computer memory,and input/output peripheral devices—that has a dedicated function within a larger mechanical or electronic system. It is embedded as part of a complete device often including electrical or electronic hardware and mechanical parts. Because an embedded system typically controls physical operations of the machine that it is embedded within,it often has real-time computing constraints. Embedded systems control many devices in common use. In 2009,it was estimated that ninety-eight percent of all microprocessors manufactured were used in embedded systems.
Computer engineering is a branch of computer science and electronic engineering that integrates several fields of computer science and electronic engineering required to develop computer hardware and software. Computer engineering is referred to as computer science and engineering at some universities.
Zilog,Inc. is an American manufacturer of microprocessors,microcontrollers,and application-specific embedded system-on-chip (SoC) products.
A system on a chip or system-on-chip is an integrated circuit that integrates most or all components of a computer or other electronic system. These components almost always include on-chip central processing unit (CPU),memory interfaces,input/output devices and interfaces,and secondary storage interfaces,often alongside other components such as radio modems and a graphics processing unit (GPU) –all on a single substrate or microchip. SoCs may contain digital and also analog,mixed-signal and often radio frequency signal processing functions.
Federico Faggin is an Italian-American physicist,engineer,inventor and entrepreneur. He is best known for designing the first commercial microprocessor,the Intel 4004. He led the 4004 (MCS-4) project and the design group during the first five years of Intel's microprocessor effort. Faggin also created,while working at Fairchild Semiconductor in 1968,the self-aligned MOS (metal-oxide-semiconductor) silicon-gate technology (SGT),which made possible MOS semiconductor memory chips,CCD image sensors,and the microprocessor. After the 4004,he led development of the Intel 8008 and 8080,using his SGT methodology for random logic chip design,which was essential to the creation of early Intel microprocessors. He was co-founder and CEO of Zilog,the first company solely dedicated to microprocessors,and led the development of the Zilog Z80 and Z8 processors. He was later the co-founder and CEO of Cygnet Technologies,and then Synaptics.
4-bit computing is the use of computer architectures in which integers and other data units are 4 bits wide. 4-bit central processing unit (CPU) and arithmetic logic unit (ALU) architectures are those that are based on registers or data buses of that size. A group of four bits is also called a nibble and has 24 = 16 possible values,with a range of 0 to 15.
Yale Nance Patt is an American professor of electrical and computer engineering at The University of Texas at Austin. He holds the Ernest Cockrell,Jr. Centennial Chair in Engineering. In 1965,Patt introduced the WOS module,the first complex logic gate implemented on a single piece of silicon. He is a fellow of both the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and the Association for Computing Machinery,and in 2014 he was elected to the National Academy of Engineering.
Harry L. "Nick" Tredennick was an American manager,inventor,VLSI design engineer and author who was involved in the development for Motorola's MC68000 and for IBM's Micro/370 microprocessors. He held BSEE and MSEE degrees from Texas Tech University,and a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin. Tredennick was named a Fellow of the IEEE;the citation reads "For the design and implementation of the execution unit and controller of the MC68000 workstation microprocessor".
A microprocessor development board is a printed circuit board containing a microprocessor and the minimal support logic needed for an electronic engineer or any person who wants to become acquainted with the microprocessor on the board and to learn to program it. It also served users of the microprocessor as a method to prototype applications in products.
TekBots are programmable robots used by several universities to help students learn some of the fundamental concepts that are found in the fields of computer and electrical engineering.
In utility and industrial electric power transmission and distribution systems,a numerical relay is a computer-based system with software-based protection algorithms for the detection of electrical faults. Such relays are also termed as microprocessor type protective relays. They are functional replacements for electro-mechanical protective relays and may include many protection functions in one unit,as well as providing metering,communication,and self-test functions.
A single-board microcontroller is a microcontroller built onto a single printed circuit board. This board provides all of the circuitry necessary for a useful control task:a microprocessor,I/O circuits,a clock generator,RAM,stored program memory and any necessary support ICs. The intention is that the board is immediately useful to an application developer,without requiring them to spend time and effort to develop controller hardware.
Electronic engineering is a sub-discipline of electrical engineering that emerged in the early 20th century and is distinguished by the additional use of active components such as semiconductor devices to amplify and control electric current flow. Previously electrical engineering only used passive devices such as mechanical switches,resistors,inductors,and capacitors.
The TMS1000 is a family of microcontrollers introduced by Texas Instruments in 1974.
Vojin G. Oklobdzija is a computer and electronics engineer,scientist,author,and academic. He is professor emeritus of the University of California,Life Fellow of IEEE and past President of the IEEE Circuits and Systems Society.
