NORCO COLLEGE, RCCD

ELE-28H MultiSim CAD & PCB Design, Fabrication & Assembly -- Spring, 2016
Instructor: Glen Graham, voicemail = 951-372-7166, email = engineer_ggg-rcc@yahoo.com
Helpful auxiliary information site for Electricity & Electronics classes = classjump.com (RCC/Graham)
Hybrid, ELE-28H: MultiSim CAD & PCB Des/Fab/Assy--a 3-unit, online Lecture & F2F Lab Course that meets two
nights per week, 6:30-9:25pm, Tuesdays at GGG-Cube.weebly.com & Thursdays, in IT-208. Students must do both
sessions. Rarely, we will take field-trips to the CACT Manufacturing Lab for PCB photo-fabrication demonstrations.
PREREQUISITE: None. -- Electronics 25 (Digital Techniques) is recommended, although not required.
This course covers MultiSim schematic capture, simulation, export to UltiBoard (and UltiRoute, the auto-router).
Basic Computer Aided Design (CAD)-Drafting, block diagrams, printed circuit board design-layout. The use of
Computer Aided Design tools and electronics-library component-templates will be emphasized. PCB design and
fabrication with through-hole and SMT/SMD devices; this course will consist of a maximum of 36 hours lecture and 54
hours laboratory (holidays may reduce those hours slightly).
Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs): Upon successful completion, students should be able to:
1) Demonstrate knowledge of electronic schematics and systems, using CAD tools for design, schematic capture,
circuit simulation and documentation, including bill of materials and net-lists.
2) Layout example circuits for subsequent printed circuit board design.
3) Design and document electronic circuit schematics and printed circuit boards, using CAD
tools, for both "through-hole" and surface-mount technology (SMT).
Attendance:
You will be graded on your participation in each class meeting, and on assigned research. Research quizzes are
often given and may NOT be made-up later. Regular attendance is crucial to your success in this course. You may be
dropped from this class, without notice, if you miss a total of (6) hours, unless you have each absence excused. If
you have an excusable absence, please call to report it, using the number above, PRIOR to missing the
class. The instructor may require verification of your necessity to miss class when you return. If you do not have an
excused absence, you will NOT be eligible to make-up any work. All over-due work will automatically lose one lettergrade per class meeting, unless you have an excused absence. If you must miss a lecture or lab class, be sure to
have someone else collect handouts and take notes for you (no extra handouts or lecture notes will be kept by the
instructor for you). Do not miss the MID-TERM or FINAL EXAM. If you do not take the Final Exam, as scheduled, and
you are still enrolled in this class, you will automatically FAIL. If, for some reason, you must stop attending this
course, it is YOUR responsibility to officially drop, or risk receiving an F.
Textbook & software: No textbook is required, but one is recommended, along with free download links from
classjump.com, under NI.com links for E28. We will be mostly using free web resources for our work in this class.
NI.com, the National Instruments website, is where we will find most of what we will need for this class. Although it is
quite old, the best textbook that has been available on the National Instruments MultiSim and UltiBoard software
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was for the 5 & 6 edition software releases. Much of what was in that text still applies, although modified slightly, in
some cases. That textbook can be purchased inexpensively from many on-line book-sellers, and may include a CD
in the rear cover. It was called MASTERING Electronics Workbench, Version 5 & Multisim Version 6, by John
Adams, published by McGraw-Hill, ISBN: 0-07-134484-5. Additionally, you should buy and install a student version
of National Instruments Multisim (latest version is 12). This will help you to do homework. Later, you will be
expected to send your Gerber files of your final design to a PCB manufacturer, and pay them to manufacture your
PCB. I kept the costs in this class low so that you could afford to do that. When you receive the PCB you will stuff it
with parts and make it function, per your design. This will be your final class project, worth the most points.
It is expected that every student will acquire and install the latest version of MultiSim and UltiBoard in order to
perform the required assignments in this course. The educational version costs $40, for one year, from NI.com.
Assignments:
All homework and research assignments should be completed before the next lecture class. Your homework and
internet research results will prepare you to receive the new lecture information. You may be lost if you have not
adequately prepared yourself by performing the required assignments. All homework assignments are due one full
week after the assignment is given, unless otherwise specified by the instructor. All assignments will lose one letter
grade (or equivalent points) for every class meeting they are late. Actual grades will be calculated from each
students accumulated points, at the end of the semester.

Grading:
Grades in Electronics Classes have historically reflected more Cs than Bs and more Bs than As. Rather than
using a fixed, linear, percentage-scale for grading, as in an English or Math class, I use a curve to rank student
performance, relative to others in the class. I believe that this yields a more fair distribution of grades. When I have
used such a fixed, linear, grading scale, in the past, usually only one or two As have been awarded with maybe two
or three Bs and the majority of students receive Cs and Ds. When I grade on a curve, students typically receive
a higher grade than they would get from a fixed scale. Electronics is an occupational subject and therefore is
competency-based, rather than academic. My job is to make sure that the vast majority of my students are trained
to be competent within the field of Electronics each semester. Students who apply themselves usually do very well.
Those who try to just slide-by do not. I do not GIVE away grades, rather students EARN them. Grades in this class
will be very good indicators of student competencies. I hope that you will all strive for excellence in Electronics here at
NORCO COLLEGE. I know that I will do my best to help you succeed. Together, your Mid-Term and Final Exams will
count for about 55% of your lecture-section grade. The other 45% will be the average of other lecture work, such as
research quizzes, tests and homework. The Mid-Term will count for 25%, while the Final-Exam will count for 30% of
your lecture grade. All of your Lecture-work will be combined, representing 65% of your final grade. Your laboratory
work will combine and represent the other 35% of your final grade for this course. Your 3-ring binder will also serve
as a portfolio of your work, and should include examples of all of your work. A copy of your portfolio should be
submitted to the instructor, at the email address, above, as an Adobe Acrobat *.pdf, and will count for part of your
final exam grade (25% of it). Your portfolio will then be used to evaluate your required SLO competencies, as listed
atop this syllabus. So, you should make sure that a good example of each SLO is included in this electronic portfolio,
so you can be assured of passing this course. REMEMBER, all students who expect to pass this class MUST
demonstrate competency in each and every Student Learning Outcome (SLO). You can earn a score of 0, 1 or 2 in
both accuracy and thoroughness of exemplary assignment, alternately, and incrementally, as deserved. The sum of
the two scores will represent your competency. So, scores from 0 to 4 are possible. The minimum competency
threshold for passing all SLOs is a composite score of 2 (1pt=accuracy + 1pt=thoroughness). SLO scores can be
seen as grade points. You MUST receive at least a 2 on each and every SLO before you can receive a grade above
an F. You will have as much as the entire semester to prove your total competency. You may rework assignments,
and projects, until you are satisfied with the score, if you do not run out of time before the final exam.
General:
Cheating is a violation of Board Policy 6080 and appropriate action will be taken when cheating occurs. Be sure to
consult the published, Schedule of Classes for significant dates and holidays, including the time and place of the
FINAL EXAM. Eating, drinking, smoking and weapons are prohibited at RCCD, Norco College (NC). Veterans,
disabled and handicapped students have specific rights to assure equal access to education. Please see printed
documentation and consult a counselor or other NC official to help you. Discrimination or harassment of other
students will not be tolerated. Any disturbance that disrupts the education of another student may be the basis for
disciplinary action. At the end of the first, full week of classes, you should receive a revised schedule of assignments
and research to help you to pace your progress in both the laboratory and lecture sections of this course. You must
attend both lab and lecture classes to successfully complete this course. Read and keep this syllabus for reference.
You are also expected to build a technical lab notebook, which will include a daily journal of your activities and any
notes or data needed for lab. You should log any problems and solutions that you discover as you go, and date each
entry. This is standard practice in industry. You will be graded on your technical laboratory notebook, as part of your
laboratory grade. Into this notebook, (a 3-ring binder is suggested) you should accumulate all of your class materials,
especially graded assignments that have been turned back to you. Your technical lab notebook will be graded during
Finals Week, so be sure to have it with you then. As I said earlier, it will also serve as your portfolio (examples of
your best work), and the electronic version you send me before the final exam will be used to assess your SLO
competency. Hopefully, everyone will demonstrate excellence in all that you do. I have complete confidence that you
possess the talent and intellectual capacity to thrive in this course. A schedule of assignments will be distributed to
all students in week-2 of this course, as soon as everyone has acquired their books, and downloaded the free
NI.com, Multisim & Ultiboard tutorial materials, and reference manuals we will be using. Contact me, right way, if
you have difficulty with any download from the NI.com links on my classjump.com website.
NOTE: Multisim and Ultiboard are registered trademarks of National Instruments (download from NI.com).
Changes may be made to this syllabus at any time, by my simply updating it and posting it to classjump.com, ELE-28, Syllabus

IMPORTANT: Declaring your Program of Study in WebAdvisor is important. Norco College contacts students that
have declared a certificate/degree for internships and job opportunities in that specified field. Also, by declaring your
certificate/degree goal, you can use the Academic Review tool in WebAdvisor which will calculate exactly what
classes you still need to take to finish your certificate/degree and graduate.

Lets work together to make this an exciting semester for learning, and growing even better!