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OCTOBER 23-29, 2019 UCW 21
EDUCATION
FTCC's Electronics Engineering Technology blends technology and fun
by JAMES HEWIN
At Fayetteville Technical Community
College, you can have lots of fun while
majoring in electronics engineering
technology. One of the courses offered,
ELN-133 "Digital Electronics," provides
the opportunity to have fun program-
ming gate arrays. Field Programmable
Gate Arrays are electronic components
used to perform a specific task or tasks.
One really cool aspect of using these
devices is that you get some great
hands-on experience with both coding,
or software, and implementation on a
development board, or hardware.
Want to create a really neat calcula-
tor? Use the toggle switches to represent
1s and 0s for your input numbers and LEDs for
your output result. As an added bonus, you get to
learn binary numbers. Want to implement a stop-
watch to time how long it takes you to do 10 push-
ups or 10 sit-ups? Use a push-button switch to
perform the start or stop operation and the seven
segment displays to show how many minutes
and seconds have elapsed during your workout.
Want to write a fun message for your friends? The
seven-segment displays will allow you to accom-
plish this.
In addition to using the development board,
you can also run simulations on your design on
the computer. This process allows you to make
sure your stuff is working right. Simply provide
the inputs you desire and validate the outputs. For
example, if I perform 2 + 2 on my calculator, do I
get 4? Does my stopwatch start when I press the
push-button and display the elapsed time? Is my
message what I expected or did I make a typo?
How about using the seven-segment display
to count in hexadecimal? Show your friends how
cool you are because you know both binary and
hexadecimal.
FPGAs are a great application of electronics
engineering technology. They provide a fun way
to learn about different aspects of the field of
study. Let's use the calculator as an example. You
learn about the theory of how computers do arith-
metic using 2s complement. You learn how to
program in a language called VHDL as well
as doing schematic capture. You gain valu-
able hands-on experience doing both simula-
tion on the computer and verification on the
development board. Learn more about all of
these things at FTCC.
In addition to this single course, the
Electronics Engineering Technology program
at FTCC offers many more classes, which
prepare you for a career as a technician or
for further study in the field leading to a
bachelor's degree. Classes in computer pro-
gramming, programmable logic controllers,
microprocessor applications, robotics as well
as others provide fun ways of learning about
electronics.
Visit our website at www.faytechcc.edu and
enter "electronics engineering technology" in the
search tool for more details about the Electronics
Engineering Technology program of study:
www.faytechcc.edu/academics/engineering-
applied-technology-programs/electronics-engi-
neering-technology/
JAMES HEWIN, Electronics
Engineering Technology Instructor at
FTCC. COMMENTS? Editor@upand-
comingweekly.com. 910-484-6200.
Learn more about electronics engineering technology at FTCC.
