John Larson Electrical/Computer Engineering 16 May 2011.

John Larson

Electrical/Computer Engineering

16 May 2011

Electrical Engineering vs. Computer Engineering

Electrical Engineering – deals with the application of electricity, electronics and electromagnetism. The field first emerged in the late 1800’s with the commercialization of the telegraph. Subtopics include power, electronics, control systems, signal processing and telecommunications.

Computer Engineering – a specialized field of electrical engineering dealing mainly with the design of computer hardware, PDAs or the use of computers to control machinery. Responsible for the design of hardware such as microprocessors and motherboards. May be involved with some software bet software is usually the domain of the computer scientist or software engineer. Computers are a mall part of the devices within this field, other computer-like devices such as video game consoles and digital data players.

Education

• North Carolina State University

Job OpportunitiesThese are some of the companies and corporations that offer job opportunities for electrical or computer engineers.

Shadowing Responses

• The qualifications for this job are a bachelors, masters, a professional engineering license may also be required.

• Knowledge that is required for (engineering in general) are computer skills, drafting knowledge, math skills, common sense, and (for civil engineering) a background in construction.

• Positions in engineering require dedication and the ability to take work home to finish it in order to meet deadlines.

• One must be highly computer literate in order to be able to survive in this field because most tasks that were once performed manually are now performed on a computer.

• One of the main advantages of this job is the ability to take time off if all of the work is done.

• After college one must complete an internship with a professional engineer.

• Other advantages are the ability to travel and see new things.

Problems/Solutions

• Internet Security – improve algorithms for authentication and encryption, stricter firewall protocols

• Illegal File Sharing – flooding peer-to-peer file sharing networks with junk files, taking legal action, developing a hardware or firmware based defense

• Internet Privacy – educate people on how to defend themselves against scams and identity theft, shut down personal information search websites, secure social networking sites.

Product Design

An electric guitar based on a Fender Telecaster designed using electrical, mechanical and sound engineering principles.

This project is an electric guitar based on the 1972 Fender Telecaster Thinline. This guitar has a number of distinct differences from the Fender. The body is solid and does not have a hollow portion. The body is made out of black walnut and maple with the center section being made of alternating strips of quarter-sawn lumber. Quarter –sawn lumber transmits string vibrations to the pickups better than the traditional flat-sawn lumber. The neck is also made of maple with a black walnut fretboard, a combination never offered by Fender. The wiring and controls include a three-position switch, and volume and tone controls, similar to the standard Fender Telecaster design. The three-position switch allows the person playing the guitar to change the selected pickup with the choice of the neck pickup, the bridge pickup or both pickups. The volume and tone controls are variable resistors also known as potentiometers. This guitar features potentiometers with a different resistance value than what is normally found in a Fender guitar.

Product Design – continued

I wound my own custom pickups based on the Gibson 1955 “humbuckers” that were designed by Gibson Guitars employee Seth Lover. “Humbucker” pickups consist of two coils, each wound in the direction opposite the other. One coil is located at the north end of a magnet and the offer at the south end. By placing the two coils in this configuration the humming noise that is produced by a single soil is “bucked” or canceled, by the other coil. This characteristic is what led to the name “humbucker”. By coupling the Fender body and neck style with the custom made electronic components similar to the 1955 Gibson, we feel that this will give the guitar a unique variation of looks and sound.

Thank You

To the panel, Mrs. Rankin and Ms. Vogt!