Cengage Learning The Digital Information Age: An Introduction to Electrical Engineering

Captivate your students - and entice new students to the electrical engineering major - with Roman Kuc's illuminating look at how commonplace information systems, like infra-red auto-focus cameras, compact disc systems, bar codes, credit and smart cards work, and how clever engineering solutions are used to solve technical problems. Designed for readers with no science background, the book introduces them to the thought processes used by electrical engineers to think quantitatively and then design useful systems. As a result, readers not only learn the facts behind information and transmission, coding and storage, but how these systems came to be developed in response to a shift of information to a digital medium. Unlike traditional science texts that begin with theory and then illustrate that theory with applications, this book starts with practical, real-world systems and then presents the physical theory and mathematical analysis required to understand their operation. Review ABOUT THE AUTHOR / DEDICATION / PREFACE 1. INTRODUCTION Overview / What is Information? / Importance of Digital Technology / Overview of Chapters / For Further Reading 2. DIGITAL SENSORS Overview / Analog and Digital Sensors / Mechanical Switches / Optical Sensors / Optimal Proximity Sensors / Inverse Square Law (*) / Digital Cellular Telephone / Summary / For Further Reading 3. DIGITIZING ANALOG SIGNALS Overview / Sampling Analog Signals / Nyquist Sampling Criterion / Aliasing Error / Binary Number Representation / Quantizer Design / Signal-to-Noise Ratio (*) / Digital-to-Analog Conversion / Summary / For Further Reading 4. DIGITAL LOGIC Overview / Logic Variables / Combinational Logic Gates / Creating Combinational Logic Circuits / Interesting Combinational Logic Circuits / Summary / For Further Reading 5. COMPUTERS Overview / A Simple Computer / Desktop Computer Hardware / Software / Smart Cards / Multiprocessor Computer System / Summary / For Further Reading 6. INFORMATION THEORY Overview / A Little Probability / Measuring Information / Effective Probability and Entropy / Simulating Randomness by Computer / Summary / For Further Reading 7. INFORMATION CODING Overview / Error Detection and Correction / Fixed-Length Codes / Digital Watermark / Bar Codes / U.S. Postal Service Bar Code / UPC Symbols / Credit Card Codes / Variable-Length Codes / Data Compression / Fax Code / Encryption / Summary / For Further Reading 8. INFORMATION TRANSMISSION Overview / Data Rate / Channel Noise / Channel Capacity / Asynchronous Data Transmission / One-Way Data Transmission / Two-Way Data Transmission with Modems / Establishing Modem Communication / Digital Cellular Telephone / Data Packets / Data Networks / Ethernet / Transmission Protocols on the Internet / Summary / For Further Reading 9. INFORMATION MANIPULATION Overview / Algorithm and Task Complexity / Playing Games / Traveling Salesman Problem / Expert Systems / Summary / For Further Reading 10. A GLIMPSE INTO THE FUTURE Overview / Continuing Advancements / The Good News / The Bad News / Summary / For Further Reading / GLOSSARY / INDEX / ANSWERS TO PROBLEMS