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Update June 20, 2007
MESSAGE FROM Dr. MIDDLEBROOK
The course I developed at Caltech, and in later years as a
three-day course for analog engineers in industry, arose from a
recognition that much of what we are taught in academia does not
translate well into real-world practical applications. Many
graduates “fall off a cliff” upon beginning their first job, and
discover two unexpected facts: design is the reverse of analysis,
and the analysis goes into paralysis when attempted upon even
slightly more complicated problems.
My courses came to be called “Technical Therapy,” because
they were directed at those who had already been indoctrinated by
the conventional approach, and who therefore had to regress, even
all the way back to high school, in order to accept the fact that
much of what they were taught is not well suited to real-world
analysis and design. Then, they are receptive to the
“Design-Oriented Analysis (D-OA)” divide-and-conquer approach, in
which the Kirchhoff loop or node equations are solved
sequentially, rather than simultaneously.
Some three thousand students and working analog engineers have
taken these courses over the last forty years. The most frequent
comment was, and still is, “Why wasn’t I taught this in school?”
With the benefits of the D-OA approach thus confirmed, it follows
that it would be more efficient to implement the D-OA approach in a
first-level linear circuits course, rather than have to replace the
conventional approach later via technical therapy.
Two professors, Don Peter at Seattle Pacific U and Arthur
Witulski, then at the U of Arizona Tucson, pressed me to conduct an
Analog Workshop for instructors to consider the question
“Could, and Should, the D-OA approach be adopted in a first-level
circuits course?” The outcome was unanimously positive, as was that
of a second workshop conducted a year later.
Spearheaded by Marcelo Simoes, a professor at the Colorado School
of Mines, Don Peter and Art Witulski submitted to NSF a proposal for
development of a D-OA-based first-level course, which was turned
down. A modified version, Proposal for development of a
D-OA-based first-level electronic circuits course, is offered [Click
here] as a template for any individual or group who may wish to
pursue development of such a new first-level course.
The most recent activity to promote such a course is the
formation of a Yahoo Group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Design-Oriented_Analysis_D-OA. The
Moderator is John Spencer, of Hewlett Packard: “It is time to
develop a first-level circuits course based on the D-OA paradigm.
Join the members of this group to discuss the application of the
D-OA paradigm, and help spread this approach to as many instructors
and engineers as possible.” Among the Files accessible to Group
Members are the Final reports of the two Analog Workshops, and the
above-mentioned Proposal for development of a D-OA-based first-level
electronic circuits course.
Finally, I arrive at the main purpose of this Message, which is
to announce that the complete PowerPoint files of the latest
version of my New Structured Analog Design Course are available
for free download from this website at
http://www.RDMiddlebrook.com/D_OA_Rules&Tools/index.asp.
The purpose is to make the D-OA approach available to instructors
who may be inspired to incorporate it into their teaching, at any
level. |
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Update January 1, 2007
MIDDLEBROOK'S
COURSE is back!
Dr. Middlebrook's career-enhancing course Structured Analog Design is now updated
to include the General Feedback Theorem (GFT), which is the culmination of the
Design-Oriented Analysis techniques previously developed. Participants in the
New Structured Analog Design Course will receive both the
Technical Therapy DVD and the Owner's Manual described below. The new 3-day Structured Analog Design course is available in-house at your
company by special arrangement. Call Val at Ardem Associates (909) 592-0317.
Click here for a complete descriptive brochure (PDF download).
Prof. Don Peter, Seattle Pacific University:
“A number of years ago I had the opportunity to hear Caltech
Professor Dr. R. David Middlebrook make a presentation at an
IEEE Frontiers In Education (FIE) conference which has had a
major impact on how I think about and teach electronics analysis
and design. He introduced a novel and effective way of thinking
about how to formulate circuit analysis so that it could be done
more efficiently, more coherently, and more practically so as to
make it maximally useful for the purposes of design. Not only
did he introduce this new paradigm, which he dubbed
“Design-Oriented Analysis”, but he also brought with it an
impressive set of practical techniques and circuit theorems that
served to flesh out his ideas for application to real-world
design problems.“
MORE… |
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Middlebrook’s
Structured
Analog Design
Course has been presented numerous times in the U.S. and in
foreign countries for many years. It is a "Technical Therapy" course for analog
circuit designers. It shows you how the value of the methods you learned in college
can be multiplied manyfold by translating them into
Design-Oriented Analysis techniques that really work to speed up
your everyday design projects by teaching you how to do your design while using little
math.
The DVD package contains a
minimally edited version of a 19 hour live presentation by Dr. Middlebrook of
Structured Analog Design, Part 1, the course notes in color in Acrobat format, and a
printed Owner's Manual that contains a Contents list with detailed annotations and
marker times for easy random access to the DVD, plus a summary of Design-Oriented
Analysis techniques.
| "I believe that
this is a timeless classic that will serve analog engineers for many
decades to come. This is an archive of one of the most important courses
ever offered in the analog field, presented with Dr. Middlebrook's unique
style. It presents techniques I use almost every day in my work."
- Ray Ridley, President, Ridley Engineering,
commenting on a prepublication version of the DVD |
Who can benefit
from the Technical Therapy Course?
How to convince your boss that the company also can benefit from the Technical Therapy
Course
What is Design-Oriented Analysis (D-OA)?
Participant Testimonials
Owner’s Manual Contents Page
Technical Therapy?? What it’s all about
PRICE REDUCED TO $25
For further information, or to
order the Technical Therapy DVD, just fill
in our Response Form, or call Ardem Associates and ask for Val at (909)
592-0317.
The General Feedback Theorem (GFT)
is the culmination of Dr. Middlebrook's longstanding efforts to develop a framework
for expressing the important features of a feedback system, such as loop gain,
directly in terms of recognizable physical paths in the circuit model. The
conventional "bottom up" approach attempts to identify distinct blocks from the
circuit model, which usually involves guesswork and approximation because the blocks
are not really separable. In contrast, the GFT is a "top down" approach in which a
natural block diagram is part of the answer.
The CD contains a 3 hour live
first-time presentation by Dr. Middlebrook.
What is the GFT?
Where did the GFT come from?
PRICE REDUCED
TO $10
For further information, or to
order The GFT: A Final Solution CD, just
fill in our Response Form, or call Ardem Associates and ask for Val at (909)
592-0317.
To access the GFT for Design Simulation:
Intusoft has implemented the GFT into their
downloadable ICAP/4
demo CD. In addition to this complete
toolset for schematic entry, SPICE simulation and design verification, the product
includes GFT Templates. The templates calculate all the GFT constituent transfer
functions generated by a user-specified test signal injection configuration. This
forms a powerful and fast tool for use in “Design-Oriented Analysis."
|
"Analog design is often viewed as a difficult to
learn mysterious art. Dr. Middlebrook's Structured Analog Design course,
on the Technical Therapy DVD, dispels this mystery in a straightforward
practical and intuitive way. The course material is a must know for
designers of all skill levels from beginners to experts. The tips and
techniques are useful for almost any field of analog design and are so
fundamental as to be never out of date. The CD on the General Feedback
Theorem presents a powerful but easy to apply approach to control loop
design which is not available anywhere else."
- Rudy Severns, President, Springtime Enterprises |
Get a preview of the
Technical
Therapy Course! It emphasizes the motivation for design engineers to learn the
techniques of Design-Oriented Analysis, and will give you a clear overview of not only
the techniques taught, but why they needed to be developed.
Suggest that your boss watch the
CD, too: he will see how you can increase your own productivity, and he will also get
some good ideas on how to improve communication with his design team and increase the
effectiveness of design reviews.
The CD is a longer (43%) and more
detailed version of Chapter 1 of the Technical Therapy DVD.
This CD, formerly available on
VHS videotape, contains a 2 1/2 hour live presentation by Dr. Middlebrook, recorded at
the International Analog Applications Conference, Santa Clara, California, on
September 30, 1992.
PRICE REDUCED TO $10
For
further information, or to order the Real World Design CD,
just fill in our
Response Form, or call Ardem Associates and ask for Val at (909) 592-0317.
Who is Dr. MIDDLEBROOK?
Biography
Publications
FREE DOWNLOADS
Design-Oriented Analysis Rules and Tools
Click here for the complete PowerPoint slides of Middlebrook’s New
Structured Analog Design Course.
The GFT Owner’s Manual
A concise description of the General Feedback Theorem, and what
it can do.
Walks you through examples of how to run
simulations using the GFT Templates contained In the Intusoft
I CAP/4 Circuit Simulator software.
Download:
GFTManual
The GFT: A Final Solution for Feedback
Systems
A new addition to methods of Design-Oriented Analysis.
Shows how nonidealities ignored in the
conventional single-loop model can be incorporated in an extra
term in the formula, which predicts a drastically different step
response from a high-frequency IC feedback amplifier example.
Although this paper first appeared on this website, it was
published verbatim in the April 2006 issue of the IEEE Microwave
Magazine.
Download:
GFTFinalSolution
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