EGB120 - Foundations of Electrical Engineering
In this foundational engineering unit you will learn concepts around the relationship between electrical energy, electronic instrumentation and measurements. This is key to begin your journey towards being a professional engineer. This unit introduces techniques for circuit analysis, instruments for measurement and practical applications in an engineering context. The ability to analyse and understand electrical circuits and related concepts plays a key role in most engineering disciplines and is highly useful not only for electrical engineers (electronics and mechatronic) but also for mechanical, biomedical, aerospace, and materials engineers. EGB120 combines real-world focused lectures, tutorials and practicals to give a hands-on experience learning about these fundamental skills. The concepts in this unit will be built upon in future engineering units and teach key fundamental concepts relevant to all engineering majors.
Instructor: Dr Andrew Stephens and Dr Scarlett Raine
Experience
I taught EGB120 as a sessional academic for three years before assuming Co-Unit Coordinator and Lecturer roles in 2026.
Course Overview
In this first-year, foundational engineering unit you will learn concepts around the relationship between electrical energy, electronic instrumentation and measurements. This is key to begin your journey towards being a professional engineer. This unit introduces techniques for circuit analysis, instruments for measurement and practical applications in an engineering context. The ability to analyse and understand electrical circuits and related concepts plays a key role in most engineering disciplines and is highly useful not only for electrical engineers (electronics and mechatronic) but also for mechanical, biomedical, aerospace, and materials engineers. EGB120 combines real-world focused lectures, tutorials and practicals to give a hands-on experience learning about these fundamental skills. The concepts in this unit will be built upon in future engineering units and teach key fundamental concepts relevant to all engineering majors.
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this unit you will be able to:
- Analyse electrical circuits and systems in written, graphical, and computer-aided modes, at an introductory level.
- Apply simulation and instrumentation tools to analyse and evaluate electrical circuits and systems, at an introductory level.
- Recognise basic safety, risk mangement, sustainability and regulatory principles as they apply to electrical energy and systems, at an introductory level.
- Apply electrical circuit theory, mathematical techniques, and computational tools, to the analysis of electrical circuits, at an introductory level.
- Explain the theoretical and practical characteristics and operation of components which compose electrical systems through experiments and calculations, at an introductory level.
Content
DC CIRCUITS: measurement of DC electrical quantities, circuit analysis using mesh currents, Thevenin and Norton equivalents, capacitance and inductance, time domain solutions for simple transient behaviour.
AC CIRCUITS: sinusoidal signal representation, impedance, circuit analysis using phasors, frequency response, power in AC systems.
ELECTRONIC DEVICES AND CIRCUITS: Diodes, operational amplifier circuits, filters, rectifiers and voltage regulators.