IMPORTANT: this course description applies to students enrolled in 2018/19. All students that started their project in 2017/18 should refer to the 2017/18 description. The main objective of this workshop is to design a hardware/software system that processes an audio signal (music) and generates various audio effects (delay, echo, distortion, filtering, etc...). The Workshop has a duration of 2 years (4 semesters). The competencies required for carrying out the project will be acquired during the five courses this workshop is based on. Students will work in teams and will be supported by the respective course teachers during the various phases of the project through dedicated tutoring hours. It is expected that all activities (both learning and design) will be carried out autonomously by the students, whereas support from the teachers will be offered during tutoring hours. Only 5 teams will be accepted; the selection of the teams will be based on first year scores.

Ability to collect and organize competencies acquired in BSc academic courses for carrying out a specific project. Ability to retrieve, understand and proficiently use learning material from external sources. Ability to make appropriate and sensible decisions on realization strategies and technology solutions. Ability to mount a circuit prototype and to measure its performance in the lab. Ability to work in a team, by organizing, allocating, scheduling and managing different project tasks. Ability to organize the results of a project in a written report, and to deliver an effective presentation.

Prerequisites consist in the full syllabus of the five courses: - Circuit Theory and Applications - Electronic Circuits - Applied Electronics - Signals and Systems - Digital Transmission

The Workshop contents, as well as the different project phases, follow the program of the five courses listed above. In particular: - Circuit Theory and Applications: fundamentals of time and frequency analysis of circuits and systems. Filters. Numerical analysis of circuits, systems and in particular filters using SPICE and Matlab. Project task 1: identification of various circuit solutions that realise various audio effects; numerical simulation of such circuits using custom MATLAB code and SPICE, using real audio signals as inputs. - Electronic Circuits and Applied Electronics: fundamentals of electronic measurements and knowledge of basic instrumentation in the lab; amplifier circuits, filters, basic nonlinear circuits. Project task 2: design, realise and test hardware prototypes of the reference circuits analysed during task 1. - Signals and Systems: Time-frequency analysis, FFT. Project task 3: in-depth time-frequency analysis of circuits and systems realised in previous tasks. Main objective, understanding and modelling the behaviour of all implemented systems. - Digital Transmission: digital signal processing. Project task 4: design and realise software implementations (MATLAB) corresponding to the analog/hardware circuits obtained from previous tasks. Compare performance.

Most of the project work will be carried out independently and autonomously by each team (formed by 3 students). Course instructors will be available for tutoring hours. A set of informal lectures (in form of tutoring open to all teams) will be organised on an as needed basis, for complementing institutional course programs with additional advanced topics required for carrying out the project. At the end of each semester, presentations by each team will be organised, to discuss results, problems, and opportunities.

See reference textbooks of the five courses - Circuit Theory and Applications - Electronic Circuits - Applied Electronics - Signals and Systems - Digital Transmission

Modalità di esame: Prova orale obbligatoria; Elaborato scritto prodotto in gruppo; Progetto di gruppo;

Exam: Compulsory oral exam; Group essay; Group project;

... The objective of this workshop is acquisition of both hard and soft multidisciplinary skills required for the completion of a specific project. The results will be evaluated by the team of course instructors that will support the students during the development of the project. The project is very ambitious and students will be evaluated on a best effort basis. The evaluation will consider both the partial results achieved for each separate task and the final deliverable, in terms of the following criteria: - effort - autonomous work - quality and performance of the realized system - quality of final report and presentation The final grade will be obtained by averaging the intermediate grades achieved at the end of each task. Grades are assigned to each team as a group.

Gli studenti e le studentesse con disabilità o con Disturbi Specifici di Apprendimento (DSA), oltre alla segnalazione tramite procedura informatizzata, sono invitati a comunicare anche direttamente al/la docente titolare dell'insegnamento, con un preavviso non inferiore ad una settimana dall'avvio della sessione d'esame, gli strumenti compensativi concordati con l'Unità Special Needs, al fine di permettere al/la docente la declinazione più idonea in riferimento alla specifica tipologia di esame.