Practical Electronic Design for Experimenters

Book Preface

This book is for you experimenters and makers  who want to design your own electronic circuits  and equipment. There are not too many books  like this. Most books tell you how electronic  devices work and provide some projects to learn  from. But now you have in your hands a book  that is actually going to show you how to design  your own electronic circuits and equipment. It is  written in a way so that any of you who have a  background in electronic fundamentals can create  a circuit or device to do something you want to do.

You don’t have to be an engineer to design things. With the knowledge and procedures in
this book, you can create products for resale,  implement scientific projects that need special  equipment, or produce circuits for your own  DIY (do-it-yourself) idea. The book relies upon  the availability of popular integrated circuits and  the many finished modules and subassemblies.

Using existing products and legacy circuits  eliminates most of the difficult circuit design.  In many cases, you can piece together existing  circuits and modules to make a device with  minimal electronic design. However, some basic  circuit design is usually necessary and hopefully,  this book will help with that.

The design approach in this book focuses on  making a working device using standard parts  and circuits. The recommendations in each  chapter suggest that you use chips and circuits  that have been used before. Why reinvent the  wheel? The result is lesser design time and greater  success at lower cost. Your design may not  always be “leading-edge” but it will do the job.

You Are the Target Audience
When writing this book, I had the following  people in mind:
• Hobbyists, experimenters, DIYers, and  makers who want to create their own  equipment.
• New engineers-graduates who are well  versed in math, physics, and electronic  fundamentals but have not yet learned to  apply that knowledge to creating products.
• Technicians who are knowledgeable in  electronics but have not designed.
• Scientists like physicists, chemists,  geologists, and other users of electronic  equipment who often need custom  noncommercial equipment but can learn to  design their own.
• Students who can supplement their  theoretical studies with practical design  knowledge. Students in an introductory  college design course or taking a design  capstone course or culminating design  project course where the theory is applied to  a specific circuit or device.
It is likely that you are part of one those groups.

This book is for you experimenters and makers  who want to design your own electronic circuits  and equipment. There are not too many books  like this. Most books tell you how electronic  devices work and provide some projects to learn  from. But now you have in your hands a book  that is actually going to show you how to design  your own electronic circuits and equipment. It is  written in a way so that any of you who have a background in electronic fundamentals can create a circuit or device to do something you want to do.

You don’t have to be an engineer to design things.  With the knowledge and procedures in  this book, you can create products for resale,  implement scientific projects that need special  equipment, or produce circuits for your own  DIY (do-it-yourself) idea. The book relies upon  the availability of popular integrated circuits and  the many finished modules and subassemblies.
Using existing products and legacy circuits  eliminates most of the difficult circuit design.
In many cases, you can piece together existing  circuits and modules to make a device with  minimal electronic design. However, some basic  circuit design is usually necessary and hopefully,  this book will help with that.

The design approach in this book focuses on  making a working device using standard parts  and circuits. The recommendations in each  chapter suggest that you use chips and circuits  that have been used before. Why reinvent the  wheel? The result is lesser design time and greater  success at lower cost. Your design may not  always be “leading-edge” but it will do the job.

You Are the Target Audience
When writing this book, I had the following  people in mind:
• Hobbyists, experimenters, DIYers, and  makers who want to create their own  equipment.
• New engineers-graduates who are well  versed in math, physics, and electronic  fundamentals but have not yet learned to  apply that knowledge to creating products.
• Technicians who are knowledgeable in  electronics but have not designed.
• Scientists like physicists, chemists,  geologists, and other users of electronic  equipment who often need custom  noncommercial equipment but can learn to  design their own.
• Students who can supplement their  theoretical studies with practical design  knowledge. Students in an introductory  college design course or taking a design  capstone course or culminating design  project course where the theory is applied to  a specific circuit or device.
It is likely that you are part of one those groups.