Four-screen representation of electronic systems

Students of electronic circuit design often overlook important aspects of linear circuit performance. Their knowledge of the joint effects of steady-state and transient responses needs improved unification. Mathematical abstractions in transient analysis help students to perform routine algebraic processes, but can obscure engineering issues and trends. The authors´ experience has shown that the various aspects of circuit response are learned more effectively when incorporated into a standard overall four-screen system representation. This representation gives, at the top, the factorized transfer function H(s), and beside it the pole-zero plot. Below these are the asymptotic Bode plots of magnitude and phase, with a graph of the time response to a unit step on the right. Focussing students attention on this picture has been found to yield improvements in understanding and design capabilities. It also yields interesting surprises, which enliven the learning experience and it forms the basis for exploratory approaches.